Across the Mountains

Trip Start Feb 19, 2005

Trip End Feb 27, 2005

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Flag of Panama Boquete, Panama
Thursday, February 24, 2005

It was cold in the mountains last night about 5 degrees Celsius, don´t really know what that is Farenheit. Fortunately, we had lots of blankets and slept fully clothed to stay warm. This morning, we left our dome for the Sendero Los Quetzales, a 6km trail traversing Volcan Baru from Guadelupe to Boquete. The trail itself starts a good distance from Guadelupe and we were fortunate to catch a ride with some local boys going up to the national park. Even more fortunate was the fact that their ride was 4 wheel drive and continued beyond the paved road for another 6km to the ranger station and the actual start of the trail.

We headed out about 10:15 into the cloud forest. Boquete is about 1200 feet below Guadelupe, so we were able to go downhill much of the way. Sounds nice, until you realize going downhill means stairways with random stairs missing, mudslides to cross, and slippery wooden stepping stones across patches of mud

Chris Hiking Through Clouds

. Add to that a fifty pound pack on your back, and you have an adventure. We were very glad for Chris´s trekking poles. The hike itself was beautiful. Green forest, trees with moss growing all over their trunks, amazing views, and waterfalls and streams. The 6km trail took us about three hours, but what they don´t tell you is that when you finish the trail, you still have to hike 4km mostly uphill to the ranger station and a possible ride into Boquete. Additionally, there was conflicting signage regarding just how far we had to go. It seemed the further we walked, the further we had to go. We passed a sign that said 1km, then one that said 3km, and finally a 4km sign. Rather discouraging.

We finally made it to the ranger station around 2:45 and weren´t we glad to be there. Initially the ranger said it wasn´t possible to get a ride into town, but fortunately some government guy was heading into Boquete and he gave us a ride. It took a full 20 minutes driving to get into town and he didn´t even charge us! Definitely glad we didn´t have to walk.

Our pension in Boquete is run by a German guy who has decorated it in a most interesting manner. It´s outdoors with a number of small buildings with assorted sized rooms in them. One big wall outside has Tintin drawings on it, our own room has a space mural on one wall, a picture of a volcano and waterfalls, and brown and yellow squares painted on the ceiling.

After dropping our stuff off, we headed into town for some groceries for our hike tomorrow. Boquete´s a nice enough town, though neither of us can figure out why so many American´s retire here. We returned to our room, packed for tomorrow, and set off for an Italian dinner.

As soon as we finish writing this, we´re heading to bed as we leave at 3:30am tomorrow on our attempted summit of Volcan Baru. Wish us luck!