What was I thinking?

When researching what to do in Colombia, we really wanted to do some hiking. All the websites and blogs mentioned the Valle de Cocoa loop near the town of Salento. Salento is in the southern part of Colombia in the coffee growing region. There’s no fast and easy way to get to Salento from Medellin. You can take a 10 hour bus or you can fly into a relatively close airport and take a car the rest of the way. Neither of us was interested in sitting in a bus that long so we opted for the flight from Medellin to Pereira. The flight usually takes about 45 minutes so we could get to Salento before lunch with our 7:40am flight and one hour drive. Or, so I thought. As the saying goes, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. The flight took off as planned and we were descending into Pereira when the plane suddenly climbed back up and started circling the airport. The flight attendant told it was due to weather, but I’m not 100% sold on that. I was looking out the window and could clearly see the ground. After about a half hour, we turned around and went back to Medellin. We sat on the tarmac as they refueled. We were going to try again. About 45 minutes later, we were back in the air and headed back to Pereira. This time, we made it! Mike had arranged for a car to pick us up for the drive to Salento. Luckily, Mike was able to contact the hotel to let them know the issue and they were able to send the car back to get us. Wow, what an experience. I hope that’s our only big snag for the trip!

Our updated flight plan

We still got in early enough to walk around the town and get our bearings. As our driver told us on the way, Salento is a tranquil town, not like Medellin or Cartagena. He was not wrong, which is a good thing. Salento is built into the foothills of the Andes mountains. I mentioned to Mike that we keep picking vacation spots that require a lot of climbing to and from our hotel. Not that I’m complaining, Hotel Mirador del Cocora certainly lives up to its name. The views of the Andes are amazing.

The view from our room

The next morning, we had set aside for our hike. To reach the Valle de Cocora, you catch a Jeep, which the locals call Willys, in the town square. Each Willy seats about 6-8. However, if you’re daring, you can stand on the back and hold on for the 30 minute bumpy ride. You’d be amazed at how many folks do it. We had three folks on the back of ours! I was absolutely going to pull my white-haired old lady card if they wanted me to do that!!

Fully loaded Willy on the way to the Valle de Cocora

The Valle de Cocora loop hike is just over 6 miles. 6 miles is a long hike, but I’d read several blogs about the hike and figured it was doable. More on that later. The big draw for the Valle de Cocora hike is the wax palm trees which are the National tree of Colombia. The loop goes through jungle, rain forest and farmland. Depending on the direction you travel, you can reach the wax palms early or near the end of the hike. The blog posts we read said to go counter clockwise to reach the palms first. Apparently, those folks don’t know how to read a dial clock. Oh, I forgot to mention that the loop has a steep incline going up 3,000 feet. (I had read about the steep incline, I hadn’t seen how high and for how long we’d be climbing.) Luckily, I had downloaded a map of the trail on AllTrails which allows for navigation even without cell service. This map was essential to our hike. There are no blazes or way finding anywhere along the trail. The other essential was a last-minute purchase I made - hiking poles. I cannot stress enough how much we truly needed those poles!

The trail starts out following the Quebrada Cardenas river. We crossed the river the first time on a pretty wobbly bridge. We’d both read there were a couple of river crossings on rather sketchy bridges so we were expecting that. After the river, the trail started to climb. Shortly after the river crossing, one couple who had ridden in with us turned around saying it was getting too steep for them. 15-20 minutes later, another couple turned around saying they didn’t have time to do the whole loop. Those were the last hikers we saw until nearly the end. Apparently, most people just hike a little on either end and don’t do the whole loop. The last person we saw for the next 4 hours was a local man on horseback with his dog and several pack mules going up the trail. I assume he was heading for a remote village with supples.

Our first river crossing

Pack mules on the trail to who knows where

A little while later, the trail started to descend again, which is not what the map showed. However, we hadn’t seen any other trails, so we followed it back down to the river where the crossing was only two logs spanning the fast-moving river. We took turns crossing the bridge and started climbing up again. The trail is very muddy and I’d noticed that there weren’t any footprints on this part of the trail. Just horseshoe prints. I looked at the map again and realized we had gone off-trail. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the only time. So, back down we went, crossed the logs and went back up the hill we’d just come down looking for the point we missed the turn-off. We’d noticed a sign earlier showing the animals to look out for. At least, that’s what I think it said since it was in Spanish and had pictures of a bear, mountain lion and tapir. Right behind that sign was the trail we missed. That trail was narrower so we didn’t even see it. We both commented that the blogs that discussed the train in detail hadn’t mentioned that VERY IMPORTANT detail. That added about a half hour and about 1/2 mile extra to our hike.

Crossing the sketchy log bridge

The river

From this point, the climb became muddier and much steeper. We climbed for the next three hours straight. I have asthma and I made frequent use of my rescue inhaler. I had to stop to catch my breath often. As we climbed, the views that were extolled in the other blogs were nowhere to be seen. The trees and other flora were interesting, but the higher I climbed, the more I just concentrated on going just that little bit further. Since previously losing the trail, I checked the map every 30 minutes or so - to confirm we were still on the trail and also to see how close we were to the top. When, at last, we submitted the top, I was finally able to take a deep breath and smile. It was all downhill from there.

The misty trail up

Of course, downhill in the mud isn’t exactly easy either. That’s where the hiking poles paid for themselves! I’d plant the pole, step down, try not to lose my shoe in the mud and go again. We were moving faster, but not much easier. As we were getting close to where the trail met up with another main path, we somehow lost the trail again and ended up in a boggy marsh. No matter where I stepped, I ended up ankle deep in muck. Looking at the map, we decided we could keep going just a little further in the muck to get to the main path. As we approached the other path, we heard voices and saw a couple walking where we wanted to be - on the other side of a line of trees and down a 15-20 foot drop. Ugh! They said we could go back a little ways and join up. We went as far as we could on our level and found a spot with about a 10 foot drop. We decided this was our best option and slid down the side. I was already muddy, what’s a little more dirt? I’m just happy neither of us got hurt!

Mike making good use of the hiking pole on the muddy trail

This main path is a road that leads from the park entrance to a hummingbird sanctuary. While researching the loop, I was hoping to see the hummingbirds. Now, all I wanted to do was get back to the start. We continued back downhill waiting to see the beautiful views of the wax palm trees. When we reached the first viewpoint, I was a little disappointed. The skies at the start of our hike were sunny and clear. Now, it was foggy and there was no view. I still took a few photos of a few trees in the mist then we continued down. Finally, as we neared the end, the majority of the wax palms were in view…sort of. There was still fog, but it was clearing enough to see the majesty of those beautiful, tall trees. I snapped even more photos.

Wax palms in the mist

Looking up at the giants

Sitting at the pick-up spot for our ride back to Salento, several of the people looked amazed when we mentioned we’d done the entire loop. I have to say, I was a little amazed myself. I felt sore and tired but also pumped that I DID IT!

Am I glad I did the hike? The jury is still out on that. However, I’m proud as hell that this white-haired 59 year old lady was able to make it! Would I do it again? Absolutely not! Even though I thought I’d read up on what to expect, I think I was viewing it through rose colored glasses and not realizing what the altitude would do to me. This trail was the second hardest hike in my life after the Inca Trail. Would I recommend this trail to others? Yes, if you are fit, experienced and have the proper tools. Would I recommend visiting the Valle de Cocora to everyone? Absolutely! The hike from the drop-off point to the wax palms is relatively easy. And the views, if you go the right direction, are amazing!