Our Favorite Hikes: Boquete, Panama
I think we picked a great time to explore Boquete. This is considered summer/dry season here, but it's not hot. It is quite windy though! Boquete's higher elevation and close proximity to the equator keep the temperature in the 70s during the day and low 60s at night—perfect weather for exploring the trails.
There aren’t a ton of marked trails in the area, but there are a ton of unmarked trails to explore for an adventure. We (mostly) stuck to the known trails in the area and it was enough to keep us entertained. Especially since every hike brought new sightings and experiences.
A Paula’s Clearwing butterfly.
The Lost Waterfalls
Take 1, 4 miles, elevation gain of 1300ft ish
What a fun hike this was! The trail and all three waterfalls are located on private property, but the owners have done a fantastic job maintaining the muddy, steep trail. It costs $8/person, but it is 100% worth the cost. The owners have added ropes to help get you up some of the muddy slopes as well as placed a few railings and wood slab steps on the steep spots. Like most hikes in Boquete, it was in the cloud forest and the vegetation felt prehistoric.
(click on the picture to see the full uncropped image)
The Lost Waterfalls
Take 2, 4 miles, elevation gain of 1300ft ish
Since the first time around was so much fun and we had fellow nomad friends Kirsten and Peter in town that wanted to hike it, we decided to hike this trail a second time with them.
It was just as beautiful the second time around!
(click on the picture to see the full uncropped image)
Il Pianista
5ish miles, 2000ft elevation gain
You would think since we’ve been to Costa Rica a few times that we would know all about cloud forests. Nope! This was definitely one of my favorite trails here. The landscape, the variety of plants, and the nice short length and easy elevation gain made this a trail one I would happily do again and again. Dry season in a cloud forest is still misty and wet though! This one was free although we read reports from some that there was a fee. You walk along a road for the first bit through a small local neighborhood, but we didn't see a shack or spot where you would pay or get any information. We saw a lot of cute kids, dogs, roosters, chickens, and chicks in the small neighborhood as we hiked through.
The highlight of this trail was the the cool canyon-like trail with steep sides and just being in the misty clouds as we hiked.
(click on the picture to see the full uncropped image)
Hidden Waterfall/Pipeline Trail
4.2 miles, 1000 ft elevation gain
This trail was also on private property and the owners charge $5 to access the well-maintained trail. We adventured on this trail a few times. It’s known to be a good one for spotting wildlife—specifically the quetzal, but also sloths and howler monkeys. It's more of an easy walk than a hike, so a nice one for those days we wanted to be in the jungle but not climbing straight up a mountain. It was probably the busiest trail we visited, but it had the friendliest people and we enjoyed a lot of conversations with ex-pats and travelers.
We did have a sloth sighting, but really only because Beyond Adventure Tours was on the trail with their sighting scopes set up and showed us where she and her baby were. We never would have spotted her on our own! I was also on a hunt for a clearwing butterfly. They are generally only found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. I was so excited to find a Paula’s Clearwing on this trail. They are only found in Costa Rica and Panama. (I promise it is NOT photoshopped!)
The trail leads you past a few 1,000+-year-old trees. Magnificent trees. If I was a quetzal, I would totally want to live in one of those trees. And there were plenty of quetzals to see! Que pájaro tan hermoso! What beautiful birds they are!
I’m a Quetzal
Side note: I visited a salon while in Boquete and was told that I look like a quetzal with my hair. The ladies decided to adopt me and I am now half Panamanian 😂
Cerro de Lino Trail
2.8 miles, 1300 ft. elevation gain
This was the very first trail we hiked when we got to Boquete. It is short, but clearly the trail was established before switchbacks were invented! We went straight up the mountain on a small trail made up of silty soft dirt and nothing to grab to pull yourself up with. I mean this trail was straight up.
The view from the top was spectacular. There were views of the town and surrounding farms and plenty of room to chill on a rock and enjoy it all. Worth the hike up, but not enough to do it a second time.
Fortunately, we met an expat at the top and he lead us along with some other tourists down an alternative path. The alternative path was still steep, but was through a nice forest with plenty of rocks and tree roots find your footing on. We weren’t looking forward to going down the way we came up so we were grateful for the alternative. Our expat friend warned us that we would be cutting through a farmer’s field and that the farmer might charge us a couple of dollars to pass. We were ready to happily pay the farmer if needed, but we never did see him.
(click on the picture to see the full uncropped image)
We decided against attempting the hike up Volcan Baru. They recommend hiking it at night to arrive at the summit for sunrise, but Panama was technically still under a Covid curfew making it risky… Who wants to show up at the trailhead at 1am to be turned away by park rangers? Not this girl!