Mirador de Balcés

The river Balcés, also called Belcez or Balced, is one of the six great rivers of the Sierra de Guara, together with the Isuela, Flumen, Guatizalema, Alcanadre and Vero. The great canyons of Guara like this one have a predominantly north-south direction, while the mountain ranges they cross are mostly oriented east-west. This means that the rivers cross the mountain ranges transversally, giving rise to the deep canyons.

The Balcés canyon is more than 20 kilometres long and has escarpments that exceed hundreds of metres in height. There are two very different sections; the Upper Balcés, excavated on Eocene limestone, easily eroded, which has given rise to a landscape formed by large rocky outcrops covered by large wooded masses.

The other section, known as the Lower Balcés, has been excavated on conglomerates that are much harder and more resistant to erosion, so that this section has convex reliefs, very narrow ravines and a predominance of Mediterranean scrubland.