To carry out this itinerary, the mesta is used, that is to say, a 75 meter wide cattle track; Traditionally, flocks of sheep and cattle mainly cross here, to go from the higher areas of the Park to Sierra Morena, mountains where they enjoy a milder climate in winter.

From Puerto de las Palomas to Arroyo Frio you descend almost 400 meters of altitude in less than 3 kilometers, which gives us an idea of ??how rugged the terrain is.
The Puerto de las Palomas suffered a major fire in 2001 that devastated more than 800 hectares, so the work to recover the area and the road itself have been notorious. Currently the vegetation cover is recovering and many plant species have already colonized the environment.

There are remains of the catastrophe that have been left on the ground to stop erosion, such as logs whose drag would accentuate said erosion and brickwork perpendicular to the slope made with the same burned logs. The steep slopes and the abundance of rocks make it difficult to regenerate the vegetation cover, which is favored by drip irrigation of some species in the summer months, so we will see PVC deposits and hoses in some places.
The route for the most part is a bridle path, which overcomes the important unevenness through continuous turns, which does not prevent even the horses that accompany the cattle in the transhumance from traveling it. The views of the Guadalquivir Valley, the Poyos de la Mesa, the Banderillas and I include the Yelmo, compensate for the severity of the environment through which we walk, since the green of the great forests that we will contemplate in front of us dominates.

Finally we cross the Guadalquivir in its head section, which in the Natural Park is still a mountain river with crystal clear waters, and immediately we arrive at Arroyo Frío, a village of La Iruela that constitutes the most developed tourist nucleus within the Park, hence the interest of this route to link with the Bosques del Sur Trail.