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Natural Monuments

Sant Cugat Del Vallès

Vallvidrera Stream

Natural Monuments

Sant Cugat Del Vallès

Vallvidrera Stream

Highlight • River

Vallvidrera Stream

Name: Vallvidrera Stream
Rating: 2

Recommended by 43 hikers

This Highlight is in a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Parc de Collserola

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Location: Sant Cugat Del Vallès, Valles Occidental, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

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Best Hikes to Vallvidrera Stream

4.5

(24)

hikers

1. Vallvidrera Stream – Can Calopa de Dalt loop from les Planes

13.7km

04:12

480m

Hard hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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Hard

4.9

(15)

hikers

2. El Abuelo Tree, La Floresta – Vallvidrera Stream loop from la Floresta

6.04km

01:43

140m

Hard hike. Great for any fitness level. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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Hard

4.4

(7)

hikers

3. Salt de l'Aigua Waterfall – Vallvidrera Stream loop from Molins de Rei

16.0km

04:20

210m

Hard hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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Hard

Tips

Martin Villaverde 🐶🥾🌲

October 9, 2021

The Vallvidrera stream accompanies you from its beginning in the reservoir, to its end in the Llobregat river.

Translated by Google •

Francesc Garcia - MONTFRANC

October 17, 2022

The Vallvidrera creek basin, due to its proximity to Barcelona, is a basin that lives under strong anthropogenic pressure. The different urbanizations of the Plains, the Floresta and the Rierada, the tunnels of Vallvidrera, the protection of the Park, the use of leisure... are conditions that denote an aspect specific to this stream.
The current source of the stream is inside a large pipe that was built parallel to the construction of the Vallvidrera tunnels. Thus, with an unknown origin, the first tributary is found: the Les Plaines treatment plant. The low chemical quality of these first meters will irreversibly mark the ecological state of the entire stream, which will improve to an acceptable quality. This improvement, however, will not happen until you reach the Can Busquets area where a riparian forest enables self-purification with the absorption of nutrients, the contribution of primary production and the creation of fluvial habitat for the development of fauna.

Once the stream reduces the initial organic pollution load, a structured food web appears with fluvial species of large predators such as the red-tailed barbel, the water snake or amphibians such as the frog, toad or salamander. Despite this new stability, new factors prevent the correct recovery of the ecosystem. On the one hand, the diffuse pollution that comes from the small urban centers that it passes through, which, despite having a low incidence, is aggravated in times of drought. The drought, however, is the last major problem of the stream since, despite being a temporary river, human extractions have a strong impact reducing its flow to 0.

The passage through agricultural areas reduces the quality of the riparian forest, despite the fact that, in central areas of the park, it enjoys protection. The figure of the Collserola park is important for the development of this forest typology and its connectivity with the adjacent forest. This fact significantly improves, as already mentioned, the ecological quality of the stream.
Finally, the stream reaches its final section, in its alluvial plain where an industrial estate awaits it that will dump its waste water and exterminate the entire riparian forest. The ecological improvement that the stream has achieved after an origin in a sewage treatment plant, is destroyed a few hundred meters before it is lost in the waters beyond the Llobregat

Translated by Google •

Joan Prats

June 16, 2024

Currently, the only living stream left in the Collserola range is the Vallvidrera stream, also known as "la Rierada", it is a tributary on the left bank of the Llobregat river and the only permanent watercourse in the Collserola Park.

Translated by Google •

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Informations

Elevation 170 m

Weather

Saturday 13 December

14°C

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Location: Sant Cugat Del Vallès, Valles Occidental, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Other Popular Places to Check Out

Riera de Vallvidrera

Monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès

Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor

La Plaza de la Calma

Sant Pere Màrtir Summit and Observation Towers

Section Between Vallvidrera and Les Planes

Torre de Collserola

Vallvidrera Funicular – Vallvidrera Superior Station

View of Barcelona from Parc de Collserola

Bridge Over La Rierada

View from the Creu de Can Cartró

Vallvidrera Stream

1. Vallvidrera Stream – Can Calopa de Dalt loop from les Planes

2. El Abuelo Tree, La Floresta – Vallvidrera Stream loop from la Floresta

3. Salt de l'Aigua Waterfall – Vallvidrera Stream loop from Molins de Rei

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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