In the past days and after several intents I went up Trinidad Hill, I say several intents, because if it rains you cannot go, since the road gets very slippery.
Being Sunday, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready and go to my meeting point, Caimito, to pick up the guide and meet the other people of the trip.
We were supposed to leave at 7:30 a.m. for Trinidad, we were a little late, but not much.
The road from the Bridge of the Americas to Caimito was foggy, which was beautiful, yes, I had to drive more carefully, but the view of the road was beautiful.
The name of Trinidad Hill means 2 things, on the one hand, to three girls who once got lost there and on the other, to the Trinidad Town.
The hill is 970 meters above sea level and belongs to the Campana National Park like La Cruz Hill.
This street is recommended, because you can go by sedan until the entrance of the trail.
There is a part that is new (a small section), it is a paved street, it has some loose gravel.
It can be slippery so much up and down, so you have to be careful.
The entrance is shortly after a junction that appears to be type 4 stops, it is not signposted, nor is it obvious.
We parked the cars at the house of a lady, since there is nowhere to border them, the lady does not charge, but of course we leave something money.
From there we prepared and only took what we were going to need. We started going up at 8:45 a.m.
Trail of Trinidad Hill
The first part, let’s say the first third, can feel heavier, but it is because we start from sitting in a car to going up a hill.
Then the body warms up and feels less heavy.
Kilo, our guide told us about some places where we would stop to rest, but we took a few breaks before the first one, for a very short time, but necessary for the group.
It gave me nausea both going up and down, but it was in the same place, I assume that maybe there is something in the environment, because it was weird.
The trail is beautiful, with beautiful views, both to other mountains and to the same trail, you can see huge rocks.
Some almost vertical as if they had been cut like that, perhaps many years ago they had another shape, but due to some factors they could have cut and have this peculiar shape.
There is a part of the trail, where a gentle and fresh breeze goes, ideal to fill up with energy and continue.
At one point, there is a small tunnel, like a fallen tree, through which you pass one by one, although the recommendation is to put your backpack in front.
I suggest it is better to go up your backpack little by little as you go through, not to wear it, because you may not even pass crawling, you almost have to crawl.
On the trail you can see deer, but you have to be totally silent because if there is one nearby and it hear some noise, it will go away and you will not see it.
We are not lucky to see one, it would have been great, really all along the trail I only saw ants.
Mostly because on the trails that are a little more hiked, the animals are not usually.
Although it had not rained, it is a cloud forest, therefore, there are usually small drizzles that keep the earth wet, so you had to be careful not to slip.
Almost at the end a young woman slipped in such a way that it seemed that she was going down the mountain, it was only 2 meters, but she tried to go up again and slipped again, another of the young woman went up to help her.
We did so in several parts with the guide, he went ahead and in the most slippery or difficult parts he helped us to go up.
Most of the trail is going up, some steeper than others, it took us 2 hours 20 minutes to arrive.
The time will depend on the conditions of the people and the number of them, because there are parts that have to be passed one by one.
I explain, although it is a narrow trail, that we literally go one after another, there are parts that until one person finishes passing it.
The next person cannot begin to pass it and we have to wait for everyone to pass to continue moving forward.
In the group was a young woman who did not get the information well and maybe she thought she was going to a different place.
They told her to go with comfortable clothes, but saying comfortable, adequate, appropriate or others is somewhat ambiguous, because it will depend on for what each person means or understands, well this person was in jeans and with casual sneakers.
I think most of us were worried and we thought she was going to have a very bad time and slipping at every step.
Yet I think she was the one who slipped the least and was even going on the head.
Although we laughed and said “I’m believing in those jeans”, which by the way I will never forget it hahaha.
The reality is that it is best to go with hiking or exercises clothes and sneakers or boots with good traction.
When you are arriving you can see an orange flag, which indicates that there is only a few meters left and it gives great joy because you already know that there is little left.
On the top of Trinidad Hill
Once we arrived, we were able to appreciate the beautiful view, and although there was a cloud that sometimes covered the other part of the hill, that gave it a certain charm.
Now I imagined the top a little different, I expected a slightly larger place, because of the photos that go up in social networks.
But the place is small, at the top is a cement Bible on a large rock that seems to be lying on the mountain.
On the mountain, there is another big rock, which I went up with a little help.
On the top there is only space for one person, mostly because of the shape of the rock, but from there you can take pictures of the Bible and the other part of Trinidad Hill.
Next to this stone there is a space where the rest sat, I clarify, I do not recommend that more than 10 people go up because there is not much space.
We stayed for a while, enjoying the place, resting and taking photos.
At first many did not want to take the photo with the Bible and the mountain, because the truth is that it is a bit scary.
The rock is only attached to the mountain by a small part, you have to climb the rock for that small part, go up.
Then crawl to one side so as not to be on the Bible, so they said, “I have a son at home”, “I’m young to die”, “just I’m going to lie down, I’m not going to go up”.
After a while we gathered our courage and we all climbed onto the stone, some even stood.
I just sat down, although I was one of those who thought “I’m just going to lie down, I’m not going to go up”, that was one of the last ones, mostly because I wanted the hill clear and well, I did.
Back
It was time to return, and as I was telling you, the times may vary according to the number of people.
We get off in 1 hour 30 minutes, although we slip, we fell, we went down seated a part.
Where we are almost down and I was running out of water, I was just thinking about the bottle I had in the car, so I decided to go ahead with other young women, MISTAKE.
When we got lost
We reached a point, it was like which trail, none of us remembered having passed through some plants (plantain plants).
So, it had to be on the other side, we advanced and the trail got darker, we saw a dead black snake, we continued.
Then the trail divided into 3, we did not know where take.
We started calling Kilo, but we were hiked a lot and who knows where he was, nobody listened to us.
We used the cell phone that had a signal (Movistar) to call the others, but we only had a few numbers, and only one had signal but did not answer.
Then, we started to return, now I run into a live snake, it was small and it ran away, so we saw several exotic animals, and we heard many birds.
Even one whose song was like a whistle, so it confused us because when we shouted and whistled, the bird sang and we did not know if someone was answering us.
When we reached the point where the plants were, it was the place where we thought we could have deviated, we advanced along this other trail.
A few meters away the other group contacted us by cell phone, although we tried to tell them where we were and they gave us an explanation of the trail.
The truth is that in a jungle everything can look the same, and we thought they were giving us the indication to go another trail, but we kept going down.
After a few meters, I saw the giant fallen tree, which was the only thing I remembered about the trail.
Although the locals say that it may be about 40 years old, for its width (approximately 2m) I say that it may be about 200 or more.
After advancing a little more we came across Kilo who was coming to our rescue.
Final notes
In total, we were lost about 40 minutes, so we spent a little more than 2 hours going down, we arrived at approximately 4:00 p.m.
Advice, stay with the guide and do not invent leaving in advance, it could be worse.
The trails are marked by tapes like the ones used to do scientific studies, but it is not that each trail has a color code or that the tapes have something written on them.
Trinidad Hill Trails
Trinidad Hill has are 3 trails, and each one have connections with other trails, none of them is easy.
We did the least difficult and we started it from the town of Trinidad.
Many people start from another point, a little further away, where the entrance is signposted.
But to go to the start point, you need a 4X4 car. If it is the first time you have gone up it and you do not know how its conditions are, I recommend doing this trail.
The other 2 trails require climbing with a rope and the level of difficulty depends mostly on the meters that are climbed.
Difficulty
- Medium
Trinidad River
After drinking water and recovering, we went to the Trinidad river which is quite close, by car it can be no more than 5 minutes.
In the same town one takes a stone street that is on the left and as 150m is the river.
We move forward a little in the sedans and we parked them a little before the river, because on the street there was a small lake, jijji, that is, for 4×4 car.
The river has a dam so it is a bit deep and some jump from the stones.
We sat on a rock on the shore to enjoy the place, personally I no longer had the energy to swim.
Advices
- Guide, this is very important, although the trails are marked, there are several and one can be lost. Do not separate from the guide,
- Wear hiking shoes or good neakers,
- Clothes for exercise or hiking, long pants (not jeans) and long socks,
- Hiking gloves, some guys wear and from what I saw, it was very useful, it also avoids touching a poisonous plant and slipping on a branch,
- Sunscreen,
- Bring water (minimum liter and a half),
- Snacks,
- Complete change of clothes upon return,
- DO NOT leave anything.
Prices
- $10.00 guide.
- $12.00 fuel (additional cost if you drive your own car).
- Free entrance to the place, you go through a private land, the owner may start charging in the future.
My guide
Miguel Salcedo (Kilo), a local from Caimito, Capira, (507) 6860-9634.
Tour only in Spanish.
How to get to Trinidad Hill?
Take the Pan-American highway and enter through the Cacao street in Capira, continue to the Cacao Town.
Continue along the street on the left until the Trinidad Town.
At the entrance of the trail there is a small sign that says KO + 700 but you can only see it if you go by hiking.
Other places you may like
- One Day at Arenilla Waterfall
- Impressive Journey Through Bayano Caves
- Las Fuentes de Altamira Waterfall in Capira
- Adventure in La Cruz Hill of Altos de Campana
- Bayano Canyon is Like Being on a National Geographic Chapter
- Trip to La Silampa Waterfall
- Red Frog and Hollywood Cove
