El Valle – Waterfall and Hiking

Today we (minus Ryan and Angie who opted to stay back) drove to the city of El Valle (means valley) to do some hiking and view a waterfall. When researching the night before, Google said that it was a 2 hour drive. When we (Tom, Vicente, Peyton and I) got in our car at 9:30, the GPS said we would arrive at 11:50 and we all made bets of what time we would actually arrive at our destination. Tom guessed the latest time of 12:30. Traffic started out ok, but we soon ran into construction. It was slow going, but it was at least moving. We did buy a chicharron from a street vendor who was walking the traffic jam area for $2. We thought we were getting a bag of chicharrons but instead it was one big one and the rest were plantain chips. The chicharron had excellent flavor but was super greasy and unfortunately we didn’t have any napkins in the car. Where the traffic jam was, they were constructing a new overhead highway. It looks like it will be amazing when it’s done. Traffic picked back up after the construction zone, but slowed back down as we passed through towns. When we turned off the main highway to head towards El Valle we found ourselves on a very pretty, but pothole filled winding road up through the mountains. There may have been potholes, but at least there was a not traffic jam!

We stopped in town and met up with the other car (Pete, Laurie, and Linda) and found a restaurant to use a bathroom. Since we weren’t planning on buy anything it cost $.50/person to use the bathroom, but that was quite all right with me as I really had to go. We found where we needed to go to find the trailhead to Chorro El Macho, a 35m waterfall. We easily located the trailhead and paid the $3/person to walk the trail. The trail was easy and consisted of suspended bridges and stairs with railings. We reached the waterfall in 10 minutes, took some pictures, and completed the loop back. Peyton and Vicente paid a few extra dollars to go swimming in a natural pool. They headed off in that direction and the park ranger said we were not allowed to go with them to watch them unless we paid, so we hung back and told them to have a good time. While we waited we figured out how to get to the trailhead for La India Dormida, the second hike of the day that I had picked out. Also while we were waiting a park ranger pointed out a sloth high up in a tree. I couldn’t pick it out from where he was pointing, but Linda said she though she saw it move. Soon Vicente and Peyton were back from their cold, refreshing swim and we drove the short distance to the next trailhead.

Once again we paid $3/person and started the trek slow and steady up the ever increasing elevation gain. I knew this was a hike up a mountain and had pre-warned everyone. I also warned everyone that there was a geocache on the trail, but this was not the sole reason for wanting to hike this trail. I had read about the trail in the Panama guide book, as well as on this website (https://www.journeyera.com/la-india-dormida-sunrise-hike/) when researching the area the night before. We took it slow and found a waterfall along the way that Vicente took another swim in. The geocache was only .33 miles from the trailhead, but with the elevation gain it did take a little bit to get there. I definitely found ground zero of where the cache should be and Laurie and I made a valiant effort, but couldn’t come up with the actual cache. This was quite disappointing since there are not that many geocaches in the entire country in Panama. It was a real bummer, but onward and upward we proceeded. A little further up the trail Linda had decided she had enough, and her and Tom decided that was as far as they were going to go. Pete, Laurie, Vicente, Peyton, and I continued and it only got steeper! A little further and the trail became slightly muddy from some trickling water. Pete and Laurie decided at this point they didn’t want to go through mud and said that was as far as they were going to go and turned around and headed back. Vicente, Peyton, and I carried on!

We ran across some other hikers and Vicente asked how much further to the top and they told us 15 minutes. We climbed and climbed and after what seemed like at least 10 minutes we ran into some locals and asked them how much further they said 8 minutes. Five minutes later we came across some park rangers and they said it was another 8 minutes to the top. We definitely felt like we were getting closer and when we though we got there we found ourselves where somebody was clearly living. It didn’t feel like we should be going though their property and we wondered around a bit, before we ran into the same locals we had seen earlier when they told us it was only 8 minutes away. We had a nice conversation with them (well mostly Vicente, but I did understand some of what Jose was telling me), and they pointed us in the right direction of the trail we missed and told us it was another 8 minutes. I feel like everyone was telling us 8 minutes for at least 20 minutes! When we finally got to the top there was no question we were in the right spot. It was magnificent!! The views were stunning! It was also extremely windy! We spent some time taking in the views before we decided that we would complete the loop of the trail versus going back the way we came. Thankfully my cell service was working so I could text Laurie and let her know so they didn’t wait for us to come back down with them. There were some points going down that were a little more perilous and made our way on our butts crab walking down. Walking along the tops of the ridges was so awesome that it was totally worth it. The way down actually felt a little harder than the way up due to really watching our footing so we didn’t slip. I could really feel it in my knees. Soon we were out of the grasslands and back into the forest, and then before we knew it we popped out into the village at the base of the mountain. We walked maybe .3 to .4 miles back to the car. We started to hike at 1:30 and was back at the car by 4:15. All in all it was an awesome hike! We got a hold of Laurie and met them back in town where they had gone to wait for us.

(Side note: The blog I referenced earlier was about a sunrise hike on this trail. The people started in the dark so they could be a the top to watch sunrise. I couldn’t imagine hiking any of that trail in the dark . . even with flashlights!)

(Second side note: We ran into a couple from Georgia who were hiking in flip flops. That seemed so dangerous. The guy said he actually likes to hike barefoot and hiked the whole Grand Canyon barefoot. That seemed completely insane to me!)

While we were hiking they enjoyed sodas at a local restaurant. They said they had only been waiting an hour for us, but it felt like we had been gone much longer. We walked back to the restaurant that we had used at the beginning of the day for the bathroom to have dinner. The couples each share a mixed meat plate while Linda had grilled chicken. It took a little bit to get our food and I was starting to get worried that we might have to drive the winding, curvy, road back in the dark, but thankfully the food came and we were able to get out of town around 5:45. We pulled over a couple of times to take some scenic photos and were back on the main highway before it got dark. We were all completely surprised when we hit zero traffic jams on the way back and pulled into the driveway (even after stopping to get gas) at about 7:45. For me, the drive was totally worth it for the hike we did. If we had driven all that way just to see the waterfall, I would have been disappointed.

When we got back, we walked up to the store/restaurant in the complex of our resort and Tom and I shared 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream that only cost $1 total! What a steal! With everyone being mostly beat from the day, they headed to bed as I set to write this entry. Tomorrow Vicente, Peyton, Tom and I are planning on make the trip into the city for Carnaval. We expect the traffic to be a complete shit show, but when in Panama for Carnaval you have to go at least once . . . right?

Stats of the Day:

Steps: 10,681 (it felt like we did a lot of walking on that hike, but maybe you don’t take as many steps when you’re going up?)
Time Stuck in Traffic: 40 minutes
Elevation Gain: I don’t know the exact number, but the height on the map says 892 meters above mean sea level