Silent Hiking in Los Picos de Europa Spain

In July 2024, I went to hike a 150km loop in the Parque Nacional de Los Picos de Europa. Unfortunately, the mountains defeated me on the first day. I was a little tardy with my progress at first and after I started a fairly steep climb (just after the orange farm huts (at 06:30), the weather changed to sleet and I got a little stuck.

I was following Harmen Hoek’s GPX route (an adventure YouTuber who inspired this video entirely). Harmen does give fair warning however that “This hike is hard!” in his hiking guide. In reality, I was not too far away from the summit where I needed to be but I reached a bedrock section which was particularly difficult to navigate. After a few attempts, I was getting cold, having been saturated already from sweat and rain, and then went a little into survival mode.

I was worried because while I had all the right gear with me if something went wrong, clothing, an inReach tracker, etc, it would be hours before anyone help arrived if I had a tumble; also my tent really did need flat soiled ground to pitch being not freestanding. The climb was steep and I couldn’t remember seeing anywhere suitable.

As luck would have it, about 200 metres down from where I was there was a little perch of rocky ground with maybe a 12 degree slope - definitely worst night sleep ever as I kept sliding town towards the front of the tent and cliff face - but I was able to get warm. So while the building crescendo of the music when you ultimately see the pitch (at 07:15) does feel a little kitsch, it demonstrates my relief!

Anyone who has done the hike will see I back tracked a little and decided not to do the loop. I instead stayed near the mouth of the hike for a few days where I did the first astro time lapse from light to dark. I didn’t actually expect to see the stars at all but when I did, I realised I had to let it keep going until the battery died.. so it was a long night and I finally crashed at 3am.

Had I realised the stars going to be so visible and that it was a new moon, I would have put more thought in where I pointed the camera as the galactic core was just behind me… so on the next day I hiked the trail in reverse and went to ‘Planet Veronica’, which is a small little refuge made from bits and pieces of a World War II plane, and captured the second time lapse having stayed there by myself alone that night. While the Milky Way was front centre … the mist!! Oh the mist… well it adds to the atmosphere I guess.

I’ve spoken about Harmen a lot but really go a check his channel, he puts this first attempt of mine to shame. I hope he won’t mind me appropriating his format, (I’ll buy you a beer next time I see you).

Anyways, hope you have liked my little Lost adventure. I do photography on the weekends and shot this trip with my Fujis. I haven’t really done video before so but trying to learn the process quickly. Also, I apologise if the colours or white balance is off - I usually don’t advertise but I’m fairly colourblind so colour grading isn’t the most natural thing for me… I think that’s why I opted to filter the whole video with Dehancer which in effect stylises the video.

Any thoughts and comments on the grade would be great. With the exception of a few clips which were difficult to manipulate in low light, probably due to a few incorrect settings on my behalf, the cameras were great.

PHOTOS
https://capturedbyscott.com/lospicosd...

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro - Sunset over Los Picos de Europa
00:24 Arrival - Hike from Fuente Dé to Cable Car
01:44 Enter Parque Nacional via cable car
04:14 Hotel Refugio de Aliva
04:55 Birds of Prey - Griffon Vultures
05:36 Water - Literally fell in after this shot…
06:31 Abandoned village with the orange roofs
07:14 Worst tent pitch ever
07:59 Coffee
09:25 Return to Aliva and Camp under the stars
13:17 Climb to Cabana Veronica aka 'Planet Veronic'
15:57 'Planet Veronica’ Refuge in the mountains
17:25 The Galactic Core - time-lapse
17:53 The descent
19:32 Outro - Snaps

GEAR (affiliate links)
Primary Camera: Fujifilm XH2S https://amzn.to/47gPSdC
Secondary Camera: Fujifilm XT5 https://amzn.to/4e67zOW
Primary lens: Fujifilm 18-120mm f4 https://amzn.to/4e9pbK5
Secondary lens: Fujifilm 16-80mm f4 https://amzn.to/3TcCUaT
Wide lens: Fujifilm 10-24mm f4 https://amzn.to/3z0YgkF
Astro/wide lens: Samyang 12mm f2 https://amzn.to/3z4DDUL
Portrait lens: Viltrox 27mm f1.2 https://amzn.to/3yOXW8I

ND Filter: Nisi Swift System: https://amzn.to/3T6y9PV
Blackpromist filter: https://amzn.to/4glLbn1

Microphone: Rode Video Mic NTG https://amzn.to/3Xo3iRw

Angelbird CF Express Type II https://amzn.to/4dIsaJG
Sabrent 512Mb SD Card https://amzn.to/4ga6EyO

Tripod: Sirui Carbon Fibre Tripod https://amzn.to/47ba7td

#Silenthiking #lospicosdeeuropa #solohiking #FujifilmXT5 #FujifilmXH2S #kodak2383 #dehancer #davinciresolve #cinematicvlog #cinematic #arcteryx #picosdeeuropa #ambientfilm #picosdeeuropa #picos #fujifilm1680 #fuji1680 #hilleberg #nammatj

Filmed in Flog-2 6.2k