Pico Mágina

Turn off the A-324 between Huelma and Cambil onto a dirt track that is normally passable in an ordinary car and drive about 5 km to the Cañada de las Cruces (about 1,600 m), where most parties park. (The track can be followed further, to its end just below the Collado del Puerto; the Junta de Andalucía's waymarked trail starts lower down at a farmhouse and is 14.8 km one way.) Continue on foot along the wide track, which loops around the valley for about 2 km before becoming a path that reaches the Collado del Puerto (1,787 m), a crossroads of paths with signposts. About 50 m above the col a signposted fork splits: right for Miramundos, left for Mágina. The Mágina path climbs north-west across the whole slope in zigzags with a few short dips, through karst, well marked with posts and cairns. It reaches a small hollow and col with an old snow pit (pozo de nieve) just west of the summit; from there the summit with its trig pillar is a few minutes east (Peña de Jaén, 2,147 m, is about 1 km west along a faint ridge path). Allow about 1 hour from the Collado del Puerto to the summit, roughly 2–2½ hours from the Cañada de las Cruces. Return the same way, or make a loop east along the main ridge over two or three tops of almost the same height and down to a col from which a signposted path returns south to the Collado del Puerto; 400 m further east along the ridge is the small Miramundos refuge (2,077 m). Between Mágina and Miramundos the path is often lost and fog is common, so this section needs care in poor visibility. The loop from the Cañada de las Cruces is 9–12 km with 600–700 m of ascent, typically 4½–6 hours including stops.