When first reading about Boquete, where we’d be spending a week with our Spanish school, Alex noted the opportunity to go up Volcan Baru, at 3,443 m (11,296 ft) the highest peak in Panamá, and the highest in Southern Central America. Alex was keen but when we looked up the hike we realised that a climb of 1,636 m (5,367 ft), starting at an altitude where you can experience altitude sickness, might be beyond us considering that neither of us do well at altitude without acclimatising!
The last thing that really made me think this was a bad idea was that in order to avoid the heat most people attempt the climb at night starting at midnight for a 6 hour hike to the summit in complete darkness.
There is another way though. You can visit the summit in a modified 4×4 that climbs up the rough track in 2 hours leaving at the only slightly more reasonable time of 3:30am.
As we approached our week in Boquete, there emerged two camps in our group. One group wanted to take the 4×4 up for $95 each, and the other wanted to hike, which without a guide is nearly free. There was, in fact, a 3rd group of two who thought the whole idea was insane and preferred to get some sleep.
Alex and I were content with both options. We didn’t mind the cost of the drive up but two hours on bumpy roads each way didn’t sound like much fun (especially afternoon Alex’s travel sickness the week before) and although the climb in the dark was pretty daunting, we like a challenge and thought we might just about be fit enough to manage it.
As it turned out, only two others really wanted to hike, so Alex and I were quite happy to join them to make it a group of four.
Our little group consisted of Laura, our Danish friend, who I introduced in the Panama City post and Sandra, a quiet Norwegian who, from her stories of having spent a year in military service, I suspect is one of the toughest and most experienced members of the group.
We set about buying and borrowing coats, head torches, and snacks, and arranging a taxi for midnight on Thursday.
When Wednesday evening came we were both a little nervous, I had started to feel a blister forming on my big toe during our dance class, which didn’t feel like a good omen. As soon as we’d eaten a hearty dinner, we set the alarm clock for 23:30 and tried to get a few hours of sleep. Surprisingly (as sleep is not my forte) I managed to get nearly three hours sleep, but Alex didn’t fare quite so well. When the alarm went off the power was out and it was followed, a few minutes later, by the water shutting off too! We got ready by torchlight and headed to the front of our hostel to find Laura and Sandra nearly ready to go.
The taxi arrived on time and $20 later at 00:25 we were at the end of the tarmac and the start of the rocky path up the volcano. We quickly came across the guard hut where paid our $5 to enter the national park. Whilst Sandra was asking whether there were any creatures we should be wary of, we were shown a small dead scorpion with the explanation that we should watch out for them as they were deadly (the finger drawn across the throat left no uncertainty about this).
At this point we started the hike proper. We were lucky that we had a full moon so it wasn’t as pitch black as it could have been, and cloud cover meant that even at 1,800m altitude it was warm and we were all quickly stripping off layers of clothing.
The first kilometre passed quickly and before we knew it we were 1 hour in, making good time and stopping for a 10 minute break. Both Sandra and I could feel the altitude but it wasn’t bothering us. The next few hours progressed similarly stopping every hour for a snack and water, adding layers as it got colder and keeping track of both distance and altitude to gauge our progress against a sunrise time of 06:52. There were regular progress signs along the way that reflected in our torchlight when we passed.
By the fifth hour Alex and I were finding the attitude much harder, we’d already climbed over 1,000m by this point. After every break, the first 100m or so would return my heart rate to its maximum and leave me panting for air. We’d slowed down significantly, but thanks to good progress earlier, we were still on track to reach the summit for sunrise.
It was at this point that vehicles started to slowly approach and then pass us, as the rocky, rutted track that we’d been walking on was also the road that the 4x4s climb the mountain by. We had to stop to let each one pass, a difficult task in the dark where sometimes you couldn’t be sure if the land dropped away steeply off the road. We studied each one eagerly, as we knew that one would contain the other group of four. At the end of the fifth hour, the seventh and final vehicle passed us, and we didn’t need to study the occupants as we heard the screaming as it came around the corner. Of course, the other group had also been looking for us to pass the time and we were the first group they’d seen! Their driver stopped for a few minutes while they took photos of us and congratulated us on our progress. Seeing the others and knowing that the summit was getting close gave us all a little more energy, however for Alex and I by this point with the air thinning we didn’t have a lot more to give so we continued slowly and steadily.
Twenty minutes later, I saw a line of dark crimson through the trees that meant that sunrise was coming and told the others. By this point it was clear that both Laura and Sandra had a little more energy for the final push and were keen to get to the summit as soon as possible so Alex told them to go ahead. They didn’t hesitate and a few minutes later they rounded a corner and Alex and I were alone.
The last forty minutes of the climb were some of the hardest either of us had ever done. We’d started our climb significantly higher than the top of Ben Nevis and at this point already climbed higher than ascending Ben Nevis from sea level so we weren’t too dissatisfied, but as we progressed at a snail’s pace gasping for breath the summit only felt like it receded further away with the sky constantly getting lighter. Ten minutes from the summit, the sun finally peaked over the horizon and luckily it was behind us, so we got a great view, stopping regularly to catch our breath and take photos.
The final 30 or 40 metres climb used to be a rocky scramble, however, a couple of months previously, metal stairs had been installed. Once we reached them it was all I could do to haul myself up by the handrails. At the top, we were re-united not just with Laura and Sandra, who’d arrived 10 minutes or so in front of us, but also the four who’d taken the 4×4. After hugs and plenty of team photos, we admired the view. The risk with this walk is that clouds at the top obscure the most unique element of this trip, a view across all of Panama to the Atlantic ocean on one side and the Pacific on the other, one of very few places on earth that this can be achieved. We were in luck as all of the cloud was above us, giving us an incredible view.
It was incredibly cold on the summit, as we were now at 3,443m (11,296ft) and even with plenty of layers, without gloves we were cold. So once we’d taken all of the photos, we headed back down the steps to join the 4×4 group who were enjoying a lovely picnic. Mariel and Thomas took pity on me and shared some of their food while we snacked on some of the remaining things that we’d brought on the journey. I’d felt slightly sick most of the way up, so hadn’t eaten much during our stops. This gave me some much needed energy because of course, our journey was only half complete.
It was now 07:30, we’d been awake since 23:30. We’d climbed 1,636m in 6 hours and walked 13.5km (8 miles) but we now needed to do it all in reverse. We’d re-arranged the day’s Spanish lesson to 13:00 so we had a deadline to meet. We left the others enjoying their picnic and started our decent.
The air was thin enough at the top that, even though the initial decent was far easier than the climb, I could still feel my chest pounding for the first few kilometres and we took frequent breaks for snacks and to remove layers.
There was a lovely 6 or 7 kilometre period where the air started to feel thicker, it was light so we could admire the stunning scenery that we’d only caught hints of during our ascent and although our legs were tired, they weren’t yet tired of descending and the distance just seemed to disappear. There was no real age advantage on this section and we all kept up a reasonable pace enjoying a lovely walk through the rainforest, almost as if we hadn’t walked through the night!
By the last 5 kilometres however we were all tiring. We’d descended over 1,000m and, having already walked over 20km, it was punishing our legs. Sandra was persevering at the front with Alex, and Laura and I were at the back. Laura has a bad knee from her time as a gymnast and it was starting to trouble her. One of my ankles was also starting to bother me so I was quite happy to walk a little slower. We distracted ourselves by chatting about life, Laura’s boyfriend, and anything really to take our minds off the last few kilometres.
Nevertheless, as on the ascent, the last few kilometres of the descent seemed to last forever and we were delighted when we finally saw the guard hut where we’d paid nearly 12 hours earlier. On the way down I’d organised a taxi and a few minutes later we reached the road to find the taxi already waiting for us.
We took a final picture in the taxi and headed back to the hostel, just in time for our Spanish class!
So how do I summarise this adventure for anyone considering the climb?
In some ways this is an easy hike, it’s near impossible to get lost. We’d considered taking a guide, but we’re glad we didn’t bother, and for the cost conscious, doing this on our own was a very cheap option compared to either a 4×4 or a guided walk.
In another respect though, this is probably the hardest hike we’ve ever attempted. It combined a considerable distance of 27km (nearly 17 miles) with a serious altitude gain of 1,636m (5,367ft) starting well above sea level. For all but the most experienced this will be a challenging hike, but it’s not so challenging that anyone with a reasonable level of fitness would struggle to complete it.
For us this gave us some confidence to potentially tackle some more difficult multi day hikes if we have enough time later in the trip.
Either way it was hard enough to feel like a real achievement and for most of the time it felt like we weren’t slowing down the 20 year olds!
