Imagine my luck, heading to one of the top hiking trails in Panama without a camera. Luckily, the Spanish girl pities my crest-fallen state and offered all the photos from her camera for the duration of the day (she also made for a great translator). Having seen photos of the quetsales bird, we were willing to take any risk to get a chance at seeing one. The danger is part of the adventure I suppose.
The trail is in total about 23 km long, we opted to go the long way from Boquete to Cerra Punta, total elevation gain 1000 meters, over course of 13 km. The remainder of the distance is just the road leading to and from the trail from the respective towns. We woke at 5am and got to the trail head by 6:30am before paying the $3 requisite fee to enter the park (part of the Volcan Baru national park). Lush indeed is the dense tropical rainforest with orchids and resplendent birds singing the entire way. However, it’s sad to report that the trail itself has fallen into disrepair as neglect compile with a freakish storm this pass November has cause massive amounts of landslide to the point that the trail is altogether destroyed at two places. It was quite dangerous at those junctions as one can’t even find the trail, and unless some serious repair work is done, some on is bound to be seriously injured soon.
We never did see the quetzales, but heard the through the thick canopy. It took us about 7.5 hours of strenuous hiking to finish the trail. The pain was well worth it. This has to be among the top five trails I’ve ever trekked! At the end, we hitched a ride from a friendly local to Volcan, then took a 2 hours bus back to David, then another hour bus back to Poquete. Exhausted.