Volcán de Santa Margarida and Volcán del Croscat - Circular through the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa

We leave the coast and head inland from Girona to the Garrotxa Natural Park and Volcanic Zone. We hike through the Jordá beech forest (fageda in Catalan) and visit the Santa Margarida and Croscat volcanoes. The weather forecast was right to the minute and hour, with the forecast for rain... well, it did, which didn't stop us from enjoying a magnificent day with a special atmosphere. In the center of the Santa Margarida volcanic cone, there's a pretty little chapel, and the beech forest is very well preserved. We didn't like the cattle fences they put up to keep people from straying off the official paths; it doesn't seem like a very elegant solution. But hey, they're not electrified 😊 By the way, the beech forest parking cost us 6.50 euros.

In the Garrotxa Natural Park there are about 40 catalogued volcanoes with 10 well-preserved explosion craters. The Volcá del Croscat is a highly explosive Strombolian volcano. The eruption took place around 9,500 BC. It is the last volcano to erupt in the Garrotxa volcanic area and also on the Iberian Peninsula. At the bottom of the crater at the Volcá Santa Margarida there is a hermitage. The volcanism arose in connection with the European Rift Valley. The age is between 8,000 and 700,000 years. More information: https://parcsnaturals.gencat.cat/ca/xarxa-de-parcs/garrotxa/inici/

Circular route from Santa Margarida Parking passing through: - Croscat volcano (1.9 km) - Vegetation (2.7 km) - Mirador Volcà Croscat (3.8 km) - Monument to Joan Maragall (7.0 km) - Jordà beech grove (8.0 km) - El Prat de la Plaça (10.7 km) - Sant Miquel Sacot Church (11.5 km) - Volcano of Santa Margarida (13.7 km) - Boxes (15.4 km)

Parking very expensive. 11 euros for 4 hours. Better to park further for free.

Very nice pleasant day with very very appreciable people, world champions of what I like

Today we drove to the Garrotxa volcanic area southeast of Olot. The two most striking volcanoes, Croscat and Santa Margarida, were our destination.

Beautiful hike with 2 volcanoes and a beech forest

Classic route in the Fageda d'en Jordà with passage through Volcà de Sta Margarida and Volcà de Croscat starting in a parking lot where it is not necessary to pay. The volcano of Santa Margarida. It is a mixed volcano that had Strombolian and phreatomagmatic eruptive phases. The latter are explosive and opened, when they exploded, a wide circular crater inside which is the hermitage that gives the volcano its name. Except for the crater, which is now a meadow, the rest of the volcano is covered with forests, holm oaks in the sun and mixed deciduous trees in the shade. The Croscat volcano. It is of the Strombolian type and its cone is the largest in the Iberian Peninsula at 160 m above sea level. It is also, apparently, the youngest of all. For years, it suffered extractions of volcanic materials on its flank that have left an impressive cut.