2025-01-11

Cercedilla Field Notes: The Seven Peaks

If the first field note was about the iconic red trees in Cercedilla, the second of course has to be about the iconic background of Cercedilla: the seven peaks (Siete Picos) that are visible from most parts of the town (providing they are not clouded in).

On my 2021 Solstice Vacation I and my trusty companion Leia tried to hike the seven peaks and here are my notes from the adventure:

Kinda low visibility at the peaks, and then it got very complicated hiking:

Not sure if i lost the trail due to the fog, but it was NOT easy going and not a hike for the whole family. Fortunately Leia is 4x4 and had no problems, but I decided to abort and head straight down to what I thought was (and fortunately was a trail) to the Schmidt trail cutting off a couple kilometres, and getting out of the clouds. Unfortunately it was pretty steep going:

We shed 318 meters in 300m of distance, which as near as i can figure is pretty much a meter decent per meter walked…my knees wept with joy when we got to the Schmidt trail:

and from there out it was beautiful views and easy going:

All in all a great hike, especially because it reminded me even though we are just 40 minutes out of Madrid, you have to respect the power of nature and always be safe…

Now that I spend more time in Cercedilla I have a much larger appreciation as to what the Seven Peeks are and I am looking forward to a second attempt, but will make sure to do so on a day with better climactic conditions.

Update 23/06/2026: a second attempt with my trusty companion Leia

Five years later, and now with a much better appreciation of the Siete Picos as I see them daily when in Cercedilla, Leia and I made our second assault during the 2026 Solstice vacations and this time we made it!
Leia with her eye on the objective as we left the cabin:
Steady girl

This time we were suffering a really rough heat wave and even at Puerto de Navacerrada at 07:19 it was 21º (on other Solstice excursions on sunny days it had been 10º first thing in the morning):
Already hot
We hiked the peaks in reverse order than I have been presenting them here and we never actually climbed to the actual peak peak, as that would require rock climbing skills and although the billy goat dog companion was probably up for it, I am too risk adverse so we just took a pic in front of each one:
Wooooohoooooo!
For the way back there were two options:

Below the 7 peeks where it is supper step with little shade
On the other side of the mountain on the beloved savior from the previous expedition, the Camino Schmidt, with lots of shade from large European red pines

Given the aforementioned heat wave we and previously mention risk aversion, we opted for 2 and had a wonderful hike back identifying 3 new butterflies that you can see here. Here is the final trail:
TracksS

If you first don’t succeed try and try again:

Stats:

Height of each peak (right to left looking from Cercedilla:
- 1^st: 1934 m (6,345 ft) (Majalasna Peak)
- 2^nd: 2093 m (6,866 ft)
- 3^rd: 2097 m (6,879 ft)
- 4^th: 2097 m (6,879 ft)
- 5^th: 2109 m (6,919 ft)
- 6^th: 2121 m (6,958 ft)
- 7^th: 2138 m (7,014 ft) (Somontano Peak)
Distance from first to last as crow flies: 1.63 km (1 mile)

Other Facts:

The peaks are granite
They were named by the geographer Juan López (1859–1936) who named the peaks after mountaineers who traversed the area. He always referred to them as Six Peaks (Seis Picos) since he did not include Majalasna Peak as part of the same set. These names have fallen into complete oblivion:
- 1^st: Tomás López Peak (Cartographer of King Charles III)
- 2^nd: Benito López Peak (Cartographer)
- 3^rd: Francisco López Peak (Geographer)
- 4^th: Nemesio López Peak (Court Physician)
- 5^th: Juan López Peak (Geographer Engineer)
- 6^th: Nemesio López Peak (Geographer and Meteorologist)
Every September since 2016 the town of Cercedilla organizes the “Siete Picos Integral Hike of the Sierra” (Siete Picos Integral Caminata de La Sierra) in commemoration of the first documented race in the local mountains which took place on October 1, 1916, had 15 participants, and had a route from Cercedilla to the peaks of Siete Picos and back.