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Along La Estrella Road

12/30/2011

A Thursday morning hiking in the sun the sky is blue, no rain in sight. Life is good! Today we hiked along a road I call, La Estrella, I named it this because Finca La Estrella is located all along this road. It is a seldom used road only workers traveling back and forth use it. La Estrella has many chicken houses on this mountain and they are heard while walking along the path. Today, we are seeing countless tiny orange and black butterflies fluttering all around us for the duration of our hike and the cicadas are in rhythm in one area on our hike. Horses are tied to a fence post, feeding on grass, a woman in front of her home stops us asking if we would like to buy dirt, children in front of their homes wave to us as we trek along. We pass the La Estrella La Valle elementary school which to me is one of cleanest and well manicured schools in Boquete and we stop to in the small church along this road.

A man on a horse stops to say hello, someone in our group stops, begins a conversation with him asking about other areas to hike in this area. We find out he has a home close to Piedra La India mentioning there is a trail to hike up to La India. He suggested we contact him and getting together showing us the way there.

Many times are hikes become an opportunity to talk to the locals about trails and many times this is how we discover them. The Panamanian people are very friendly, always ready to start up a conversation. Each time we pass a car or pass people sitting in front of their home along the way, we always make it a point to greet, "buen dia" or "buenos dias or tardes" or "hola." This day has been no different.

The views way up here are beautiful lucky for us today is a clear day and we can see the Pacific side and the outlying mountains are just stunning. I am hoping my photos of them turn out.

Well another breathtaking fine day in paradise, it's just too precious up in the highlands of Boquete.
Explore - Discover - Dream

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Hiking Along Cerro Sabana

12/26/2011

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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Hiking this trail is great; the road it seems can go on forever, thats what it seemed like on that day. Possibly a hiker would be able to carry on for 10 hours or more. Where it ends I have no idea. The road along the this trail has few homes and the further and deeper you go there are fewer cars traveling on it. To get here take the Jaramillo Arriba Road, taking Cerro Sabana road. Many rivers flow along the roadside here and crossing one of the rivers is necessary, though at this of the year it is not deep. We cross the Rio Robalo but this time I decide that instead of balancing on rocks to cross the river, I choose to tread through the river. My new hiking boots are waterproof, it the perfect opportunity to try them out. I purchased them at Sportline, Chiriqui Mall in David near PriceSmart.

On this day, it was a Bajarenque morning in Jaramillo. Bajarenque means misting from the mountains. As we began, it was to somewhat clear, but then the month of December is near the end of rainy season and many hikes at this time of the year are always a catch-as-catch-can. The further we walked up this quiet road the more we were getting into the clouds; the visibility level to the Pacific was becoming systematically very dim, the area becomes very mystical and a feeling of calmness saturates the air, it had turn out to be a very beautiful morning hiking up this trail road. I feel very strongly that this is the true meaning of a nature hike. Breathing the fresh air and spicy scents.

This trail is not the greatest to hike on during the rainy season but I thought since the season was ending the trail road would not be as wet. The road is hard red clay and when wet it can be difficult to walk becoming very slippery. It’s okay when walking on an upward incline but walking downward it can become uncomfortable. Only a section of the trail road is clay most of it has small rocks, even so I try to avoid this road during heavy rain.

This trail has much to offer if you enjoy nature and like to take fantastic photos. There are varieties of wild flowers and other things that catch the eye on this road and today, I had many photographic moments.

In the dry season, the group will hike along this road again and will attempt to go up the Piedra La India. We have tried in the past but have always past the trail that leads to a rock but one of our avid hikers found the path leading towards Piedra La India head.

I hope you can join us on that hike. Explore – Discover - Dream

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Hiking La Estancia Loop Trail

12/23/2011

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Saturday, 12/17/11
Today is a beautiful day to hike, it’s not raining like it had on Thursday. The area we hiked today is what I call the “La Estancia Trail.” The road we walk is a loop we start hiking down and back up on the other side of this mountain back to where we began. Not many cars travel this road yet and so it makes for easy walking.

About La Estancia Hotel
We met this morning at eight and car pooled up the Volcancito Road in Boquete parked at the La Estancia Hotel and Restaurant. La Estancia is a hotel with 20 rooms, the restaurant serves “typico” meaning Panamanian food, although they serve a good pizza, still the main attraction is the swimming pool with a very long slide. The pool is not extremely deep coming up to the waist even so it is still a very popular place to be on the weekend. During the week, there is not much activity but one thing to know La Estancia does charge to use their pool if you have not reserved a room. However, on the weekends, families from David pack the place spending the whole day swimming. It is a very lively place, I get a kick watching the youngsters’ play, while listening to the music in the background, lounging, and sipping a drink.

All the above photographs taken by me while hiking at different times on this trail. Every time I trek this trail something interesting and new always catches my eye. The bright colored caterpillar was a beautiful sight when someone found it crossing the road. Just an example of some of natures little creatures one may find along the way.

The Road Trail
The trail we are hiking on today is not long, one can finish it in one and a half to two hours depending on how fit you are. Last year the road was gravel and dirt but city hall (to my disappoint) decided to make a better connection from Palmira to Volcancito Road. Palmira is worth another story but on another blog, I will write an article when we hike in the area. Some of the La Estancia Loop Trail and road is asphalt while some is dirt. While the fauna and flora are quite limited on this road on this day we listened to the symphony of Cicadas singing while perched high up in the tall surrounding trees. The vistas on this road are grand, on a clear day one can see the Gulf of Chiriqui, which is quite gorgeous. Many of the indigenous Gnobe families live throughout this area, most of the Gnobe work on the large coffee plantations scattered throughout this area.

Our walk on the “La Estancia Loop” is steep and at a steady incline at least for awhile, though it eventually levels off about half way through the hike, then the road descends slightly ending our walk on asphalt until our return to the La Estancia Hotel. A great way to end your walk is to stop in for a beer, go for a swim, and then have lunch.

Remember our next hike is Thursday hope you can join us. Explore – Discover – Dream

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Walking in the rain on the "Canopy Trail", Boquete

12/19/2011

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I always decide on an average approximately one and a half days before choosing a trail to hike, especially during the rainy season. The reason being, Boquete has many micro-climates; one area may be raining all day while several miles away it may have not rained and dry as a bone. Consequently, Tuesday evening, I decided on the “Canopy Trail” located in beautiful Palo Alto.

This is Rio Palo Alto. It was a serene resting place at the end of the trail. Unfortunately, it no longer exists because in 2010 during a heavy rainy season this lovely area was opened up. Below is a photo I took and this is how it looks today.

It had been raining off and on for three or four days this week, one begins to lose track after awhile. Since, I organize the Thursday and Saturday hikes and attempting my hardest to be the optimistic organizer telling myself it would probably not likely rain Thursday, that it would surely have stop after three days. Well by Wednesday, my mindset changed and I began to think, it could very well rain on Thursday. I set forth sending an email to my Thursday hiking friends titled, “Rain or Shine we will hike tomorrow!” I knew there were people in the group who do not enjoy walking in the rain but for me since moving to Panama, I love when it rains. A tropical rain in my eyes is just beautiful and walking in it, mind you, I don’t do it all the time, but the few times I have, it’s great.

As it turned out, we had a great showing for today’s rainy day hike. Overall, about fifteen of us carpooled to the Springs, which is a gated community, parked our cars, and proceeded on our rainy day adventure.

The Canopy Trail is good to hike during the rainy season; it is not slippery or muddy. The road is gravel, a great workout; really gets the heart pumping, as the road is a steady incline having at least fifteen plateaus. I sometimes count the plateaus while I'm walking as I did today.

The road is seldom utilized, so trekking is great and on a beautiful sunny day the vistas are gorgeous as well the tall trees and the surrounding environment. As one continues to trek up this road the scent of freshness and looking at the emerald hills and mountains surrounding the area is what makes this walk so meaningful. Some choose to ignore the entire surrounding splendor while trekking up this road, it is such a shame that they choose to do so. I feel they are undoubtedly missing out on a great deal.

We walk past two rivers, Rio Palo Alto, Rio Palomo, as we walk steadily up towards Cerro Palo Alto ending our trek at the Canopy Tree Restaurant. One of the many fun things Canopy Tree offers is, zip lining. The Canopy is also a hotel with beautiful rooms and separate cabanas. Furthermore, the restaurant is one of my favorite places to stop and rest some, to warm up, and dry off, while some enjoy sipping hot chocolate or some other beverage as we today. What's, today the fireplace in the restaurant had a good fire going to warm us.

Two years ago, the Rio Palo Alto ripped open into large canyon during a horrendous rain during the rainy season. Boulders came crashing down like a domino affect. We use to cross a footbridge in order to trek up into one of my favorite rainforest in Boquete - well huge tree trunks knocked down the footbridge. The huge boulders tumbled through this river opening up what use to be a narrow river passage tossing tree trunks around like bowling pins. Since then we have not been able to cross the river to hike one of the many magnificent rainforests here. After the catastrophe Canopy Tree built a footbridge but they charge visitors taking them to a Geisha coffee finca (farm).

One day when the river is low enough, we will make the crossing as the indigenous Gnobe people do daily. The Gnobe have a lot more experience crossing the river more then we do.

If you visit Boquete try the Canopy Trail, it is a calm scarcely used road, with beautiful vistas. Remember to call me or email me while visiting Boquete so we can hike together on Monday, Thursday, or Saturday. Hope to see soon on one of Boquete’s beautiful trails.
Explore – Discover - Dream

All photographs on this blog were taken by, Jere McCormick (aka, JereChica). The photo to the far right is that of the Rio Palo Alto after a very heavy and long rain. The first photo on my blog shows how it looked before boulders came crashing through.

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Along La Estrella Road

Hiking Along Cerro Sabana

Hiking La Estancia Loop Trail

Walking in the rain on the "Canopy Trail", Boquete

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