The Natural Environment area of the Tenerife Cabildo is conducting an inventory of the huts and resting areas along the trails of the Valle de La Orotava region, as well as analysing their state of conservation in order to proceed with rehabilitation or reconstruction. Many of these spaces are named after naturalists and defenders of the island’s forest crown. Resting during walks in the mountains emphasises the importance of designing a rehabilitation, construction and replacement plan for the 23 huts or rest areas that were constructed in the Valle de La Orotava, the majority of which were affected by the severe forest fire in 2023.
This network was associated with the traditional use of the villages and hamlets as meeting places, venues for leisure walks, and intersections of paths and trails, providing facilities for rest or shelter against adverse weather conditions. The initiative to build these structures was promoted in the early 1970s by the hotel entrepreneur from Puerto de la Cruz, Enrique Talg, alongside the former Institute for Conservation of Nature (Icona), as an opportunity to promote organised hiking on the Island during a time when tourism began to strengthen the Tenerife economy.
In this regard, the Environmental agents of the Technical Forest Management Service have compiled an inventory of the structures affected by the fire, as well as those that no longer exist today and others whose current state of conservation is very poor.
The recovery also acknowledges the figure of Enrique Talg, whose efforts facilitated the creation of this small network of huts along the trails and paths in the Valle de La Orotava.
The advisor for Natural Environment, Sustainability, Safety and Emergency Services, Blanca Pérez, recalls “the importance the huts had in the past as rest areas and meeting points for residents of the villages and hamlets.” This is why after the inventory “we will study the possibilities for the recovery of the huts, some of which were consumed by the effects of the 2023 fire.”
The reconstruction of two out of the 23 has already been undertaken, those of Bethencourt and Sventenius. Pérez adds, “Our aim is to gradually recover some of the 23 facilities that served as meeting points for local residents, hikers and excursionists.” The advisor also emphasises, “It will allow us to commemorate illustrious personalities from our natural history, as many of the huts were named after them.”
The Bethencourt House, now rehabilitated / El Día
Los Realejos
- Piedra de los Pastores Hut. Named after the memory of pastoral activities and coinciding with a crossroads. Destroyed by the 2023 fire.
- Viera and Clavijo Rest Area. Comprised of benches and tables, located along the path of the same name. It is in good condition and honours the figure of the poet, historian, and biologist from Tenerife, José Antonio del Álamo Viera y Clavijo.
- Cruz de Luis Hut. Named for its location, near the viewpoint and gallery of the same name, in the area of the Matanzos forest track. It is in good condition.
- Sventenius Hut. Rehabilitated after the major fire. It is named after Eric Ragnor Sventius, a Swedish botanist, who was an adoptive Tenerife resident and the creator of the Viera and Clavijo Botanical Garden for native and endemic species.
- Risco Miguel Hut. This is a resting area that is in good condition and is located on the Pino Llorón track. It features a plaque commemorating Enrique Talg Wiyss for his advocacy of the trails in Tenerife.
La Orotava
- Montaña El Alto Hut. Only its metal supports remain and it is associated with an old lookout point for firefighting crews against fires.
- Bethencourt Hut. Located at the start of the PK-26 trail, and recently rehabilitated after the 2023 fire. It takes its official name from José Bethencourt, the first official guide of Las Cañadas del Teide in the early decades of the 20th century.
- Bolinaga Hut. Found in the area of the Ramón Caminero-Izaña forest track, in the Barranquera Hondita. It is named after Juan Bolinaga, the former director of the Plant Acclimatisation Garden in La Orotava. It is in good condition.
- Wildpret Hut. Infrastructure named in honour of Hermann Wildpret, a naturalist and gardener at the Plant Acclimatisation Garden in La Orotava. His grandson, Wolfredo Wildpret, is currently one of the most prestigious scientists and botanists in Spain.
- Chimoche Hut. A resting area in the well-known Llanos de Chimoche that is in good condition.
- La Bermeja Hut. Situated near Montaña Bermeja. It is in good condition.
- Bonnin Hut. Its name refers to the watercolourist and decorator Francisco Bonnin Guerin. It is located along the Arco de Chimiche forest track and is currently completely destroyed, with only two walls remaining standing.
- The Mole Hut. This facility is located along the Monte del Pino forest track and is in good condition.
- Almadi Hut. This hut was named after the essayist and journalist Ángel Martín Díaz, Almadi, which was located in the firebreak of La Orotava and was completely destroyed by the 2023 fire.
- Cruz de La Lajita Hut. Located in the firebreak of La Orotava, in the area of the same name. It is completely collapsed.
- Pérez y Ventoso Hut. This facility is named after the physician, botanist, and tourism promoter Jorge Víctor Pérez Ventoso, and its ruins are at the start of the General de Mamio forest track.
- Pedro Gil Hut. This resting area is located along the Monte del Pino forest track leading to Candelaria and is named after Pedro Gil Quevedo, a 16th-century figure who owned land from the upper Florida to the summit. It needs complete rehabilitation.
- Francisco Dorta Hut. This space also has masonry tables and benches located at the Mirador de La Glorieta. It takes its name from Francisco Dorta and Jacinto del Castillo, a naturalist, journalist, and writer of the 19th-20th centuries. He was one of the pioneers of promoting tourism on the island. Its condition is poor and requires total rehabilitation.
- Andrés Arroyo Hut. Previously located in Lomo Colorado, along the La Puente forest track. It was named for the deputy to the Cortes (1921-1923) and promoter of a hydraulic network in the South of the Island, as well as being in charge of designing the funicular railway to Teide in 1930. It no longer exists.
- José de Izaña Hut. This hut no longer exists and was located along the Ramón Caminero-Izaña track, in an area known as Montaña Fuente de las Rosas. This facility commemorated the worker of the same name who carried out his activities at the Teide or Izaña Observatory.
- Montaña El Alta Hut. Another facility that no longer exists. It was constructed in Montaña El Alta, within the Montaña de Guamanso area.
- Ceballos Hut. This infrastructure, found in the area known as the Bosquete of the Aguamansa Environmental Centre, requires total rehabilitation, as do its benches and tables. It is named after the Spanish forestry engineer and naturalist Luis Ceballos y Fernández de Córdoba, who created Spain’s forest plan during the Second Republic.
San Juan de la Rambla
- Cruz de Fregel Hut. This hut also no longer exists and was situated at Degollada El Cedro.
