Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina

Valle de Tobalina / Castilla y Leon Region, Burgos, Spain

About Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina


Hiking Distance: almost roadside
Suggested Time: 15 minutes

Date first visited: 2015-06-13
Date last visited: 2015-06-13

Waterfall Latitude: 42.84841
Waterfall Longitude: -3.33375

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina was where the Río Jerea plunged some 10-15m over a wide slab of bedrock within the namesake town of Pedrosa de Tobalina.

Unlike most of the waterfalls that we had seen throughout Spain to this point, this was one of the few that was supposed to be much wider than it was tall.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_011_06132015 - Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)
Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)

However, as you can see from the picture above, the waterflow was on the low side.

Thus, the waterfall was essentially segmented into two smaller waterfalls at the opposite ends of the exposed bedrock slab.

I’ve seen in the literature that under more normal flow (probably in the Winter and early Spring months on a year with healthy rainfall) that the segmentation was less pronounced.

This was probably one of the easiest and most convenient waterfalls for us to visit.

Experiencing the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina – The Upper Lookout

After finding parking along the main street of the relatively quiet town of Pedrosa de Tobalina (see directions below), we then walked to the signposted footpaths.

The footpaths eventually branched and led to both the top and bottom of the Pedrosa de Tobalina Waterfall.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_005_06132015 - Fork in the trail where the path on the left went to the upper lookout of Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón as this sign suggested)
Fork in the trail where the path on the left went to the upper lookout of Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón as this sign suggested)

Speaking of the signposts, there was a sign here that said “Cascada El Penon” (or more accurately “Cascada El Peñón”).

Thus, I have to believe that this waterfall was also called by this name.

Beyond the signpost, we first walked on the upper path to the left, which led us a few paces (probably two minutes or so) to the brink of the waterfall.

The photo you see at the top of this page came from this vantage point.

After having our fill of this upper lookout spot, we then walked the lower path to the right of the fork.

Experiencing the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina – The Bottom

The descending path remained paved as it went past some building before reaching the edge of the large plunge pool of the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_041_06132015 - Going around this building on the way to the bottom of the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)
Going around this building on the way to the bottom of the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)

We had to be a bit cautious on the downhill because it had been raining earlier in the day so the concrete surface was a bit slippery.

Anyways, it only took us 2-3 minutes to get down to the bottom, where we were able to get a partially obstructed view of the entire width of the falls.

I’m sure under more flow, the obstructions wouldn’t have had as much of a visual impact.

At the base of the falls, we saw some very large chunks of bedrock partially submerged in the plunge pool.

This attested to the process of erosion where I’m sure there were times when the underlying bedrock holding up the falls would collapse and make the waterfall’s brink slightly further up the river.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_020_06132015 - Looking upstream from the plunge pool at the bottom of the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)
Looking upstream from the plunge pool at the bottom of the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina (or Cascada El Peñón)

We also noticed some people were walking further upstream from the brink of the falls, which suggested to us that it was possible to walk a longer trail.

Perhaps that trail might have allowed walkers to notice even more things about the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina than just what could be seen from the two lookout spots we had visited.

In any case, we can’t really say more about these other trails because we didn’t do them.

Authorities

The Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina resides in the town of Pedrosa de Tobalina in the province of Burgos, Spain. It is administered by the local municipality of Valle de Tobalina. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may get leads from this website.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_013_06132015 - View of Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina from the upper lookout
Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_040_06132015 - Descending the paved road down to the plunge pool for the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina


We visited the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina as part of the long drive between Puentedey and Cascada de Peñaladros.

However, we’ll describe the directions from the main cities of Burgos and Bilbao.

For the specific directions from Puentedey and Cascada de Peñaladros, see the Cascada La Mea and Cascada de Peñaladros pages, respectively.

Driving from Burgos to Pedrosa de Tobalina

From Burgos, we would head east on the N-I road (or the AP-1 autovía if you don’t mind paying the toll to go faster) for about 42km to the CL-632 road near the town of Briviesca.

Next, we’d follow the CL-632 road north for about 20km before it would join up with the N-232 road.

We’d then follow the N-232 road for about 13km before turning right onto the N-629 road.

Then, we’d follow the N-629 road for about 7km to the town of Trespaderne, where we’d continue on the Bu-550 road for another 7km to reach Pedrosa de Tobalina.

Pedrosa_de_Tobalina_001_06132015 - The main road passing through the town of Pedrosa de Tobalina. Note the brown arrow sign pointing the way to the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina
The main road passing through the town of Pedrosa de Tobalina. Note the brown arrow sign pointing the way to the Cascada de Pedrosa de Tobalina

The waterfall was well-signed within town.

Overall, this drive would take on the order of 90 minutes to two hours.

Driving from Bilbao to Pedrosa de Tobalina

From Bilbao, we would take Bi-636 road southwest for about 13km, then turn left onto the Bi-2604 road (just past the town of Sodupe and towards Zubiete).

We’d follow this road for about 12km as we’d then turn right on the A-624 road in Artziniega, then turn left onto the A-2602 road.

Following the A-2602 road for about 2.5km, we then kept left onto the Bu-550 road and followed it for about 38km southwest to the town of Pedrosa de Tobalina.

Overall, this drive should take about 90 minutes or so.

Finally, for some geographical context, Burgos was 185km (under 2 hours drive) east of León, 159km (over 1.5 hours drive) southwest of Bilbao, and 249km (2.5 hours drive) north of Madrid.

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Checking out the falls from both its top and its base

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Tagged with: valle de tobalina, tobalina, burgos, castilla y leon, spain, waterfall, rio jerea, cascada el penon



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Cascada del Peñón (Pedrosa de Tobalina) January 13, 2020 9:10 pm by Jose Luis Sanchez Esteban - A couple of better looks of the whole waterfall and of its leftmost side, deserving a higher rate. ...Read More

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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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