The natural shelter and the spring of Els Caçadors are found close to the foot of the cliff of La Tolega that flanks on the right bank the river Llobregat in Sant Fruitós de Bages below the urbanization of Les Brucardes. Specifically, the shelter and the spring are at the vertical of the eastern end of Les Brucardes and about 200 meters west of the Les Generes bridge that crosses the Llobregat, where there is the small stream that can be named of Sant Onofre because it originates from the spring of Sant Onofre. Most likely, part of the water from the stream of Sant Onofre filters into the ground and reappears at the spring of Els Caçadors. The access to the natural shelter of Els Caçadors is feasible, though it can be difficult depending on the rainfall and the vegetation growth.
The shelter is the result of the unequal resistance of the different types of rock to the washing out by water. The rocks are well-stratified. From top to bottom there is one stratum of hard and resistant limestone that makes the roof, in between a 3-5 meter thick sandstone that easily crumbles and constitutes the wall of the shelter, and the clayey, muddy and slippery, impermeable soil, which causes the spring of water flowing through the cracks in the limestone or impregnating the sandstone (photos 1 and 2). The water sources from a hole in the floor of the shelter, without any spout or building. The water from the spring of Els Caçadors quickly jumps, deposits travertine and keeps a humid environment (photo 3).
The shelter of Els Caçadors, as the whole Tolega area, suffered the forest fire in 17.07.2022.
[photos Jordi Badia]