Cocuy Things to Do

El Pulpito or the Devil's Pulpit is one of the standout features in El Cocuy National Park. It is visible from the Cabanas Kanwara. I had not really heard of the area prior to arriving in the park but soon found myself playing with the idea of a second trek. It would have only been about four or five hours up into the area from Hacienda La Esperanza and we would have just camped by Laguna Granda de la Sierra for a couple nights. It is surely a gorgeous spot with nice day hiking opportunities sans backpacks. We rested up a couple nights in El Cocuy and even went to Guican for a night, ready to do the trek the next morning. Unfortunately, the owner of the Hotel El Eden purposely misinformed us about where to get el lechero and had one of his friends try to sell us an inflated ride. They nearly died when we just left town, never to be seen again. Maybe one trek was best but if I go back, it won't be to Hotel El Eden.

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The Cusiri Pass was a relatively easy one even though it topped out at 4500m. It was a very gradual incline and though a hot sunny day, it seemed to pass easily enough. I'm sure it was in part due to the fact we knew the end was near and the trail was certainly the most distinct of the whole trip. Yes, we knew for sure we would make it and this spurred us on. Looking down at Lagunillas was a very welcome site indeed. Oddly enough, we passed right by them, deciding instead to forego one last night of camping and heading to a refugio for a some much needed creature comforts.

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I guess there were no more heartwarming sights on the entire trek than when we first laid eyes on Laguna de la Plaza. Not just because it was just as beautiful as proclaimed but because we knew that we would surely make it around the trek without getting lost. As most accounts put it, there was a very distinct trail from there back to civilization. Of course, we didn't realize just how hard it would be to get from our first view of the great lake to where this trail and presumably the campground was. It was quite a physical feat and we even one of our few navigational problems on what should have been very straightforward. Perhaps, we were just exhausted and that played a factor in our making one bad route choice. Let's just say the land around this massive lake is not exactly flat and you'll understand why we just about collapsed after arriving in what we deemed the campground!

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Laguna Hoja Larga was a surprisingly pretty little lake and one I am sure we would have liked to camp at if we had been hiking from Laguna del Rincon rather than Laguna del Panuelo. Even with the closer start, it was around 3 PM when we got to this little jewel and it would have been easy to take another easier day but with our food supply dwindling, it was not even remotely an option.

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The hike to Laguna Hoja Larga was one of the nicer parts of the whole trek. First off, it was one of the easiest and secondly, it went through a nice strand of frailejons that also happened to be home to a few hummingbirds that made for a joyful stroll. Though we never got any photos of the elusive birds, we saw quite a few and heard even more.

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Coming down off the 4800m Castillo Pass, Laguna del Panuelo was one pretty sight. Though the water might have been questionable for drinking, its reddish muddy color made for great contrast against the predominantly blue sky that once again graced us with its presence. No, staying at Laguna del Rincon had not come back to haunt us and as mentioned previously, we were sure glad we'd done exactly as we had. Since we got there around noon, it was nice to finally set up our tent in the glorious sun, cook a well-deserved lunch and basically take it easy the rest of the afternoon. I guess if you could do this every day and still make it around the circuit in a doable amount of time, it would be paradise. As it was, it was the one day of the whole trek where we really got to relax and enjoy ourselves.

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This is a trek of many passes and every one them is over 4000m. There were many hard ones but the Castillo Pass was by far the hardest. Not because it was the longest or most arduous in a stamina sense but because there had been a landslide of sorts that left it very much a rock scramble. Huge boulders had to be navigated and it was mentally challenging too. We had to re-route a few times before successfully making our way down. Luckily, our ranger friend had warned us of its current state as our guidebook was woefully inaccurate in its description. Going up was straightforward enough but coming down was not only time-consuming but also tiring. This again might have been fun without a pack but with one seemed unending. We were very happy we did not follow the guide's recommendation of going over the pass on the third day. Even in the best of conditions it would have likely been too long a day for us but in this case, it would have been downright dangerous. As it was, we decided to camp at the very next lake after the pass even though we had only been hiking for about four and a half hours!

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Laguna del Rincon is just reward after navigating your way through the Valle de los Cojines. This was originally one of our planned stops but the national park ranger we spoke to said it was a very nice place to camp, much better than the next lake up in the chain. He seemed to know what he was talking about and even though it was clear when we arrived it was too late to even think about climbing the pass behind it. It was clear and very tempting to do but we were glad we took his advice when we did it the next morning. It was a shame it was so late when we arrived to truly enjoy Rincon but it we did get some decent shots in the morning though we were on the trail long before the sun really was on the lake.