Lost City Trek - Day 1 - The killer hill

We start the 4 days trek to the lost city in Tayrona national park. Pick up is around 7am and we spend the morning in the pickup truck to the national park.

We are a group of 9 hikers.

A little before noon, we arrive in El Mamey, which is where we have lunch and a briefing about the next few days on the trail.

We are going to reach the highest point of the trail (680m) today and the first 2 hours are very steep. I have no energy and my legs are slightly cramping. I probably was dehydrated and the heat is not helping. I keep drinking hoping it will pass. But I did wonder on a few occasions why I was doing this to myself. I am the slowest of the group, but not by far 5min behind only, I think in the next few days, I will get more company - i am at a good steady pace and I know I won't be dead tonight. The others seem to go really fast, I don't know if on real jungle trails, they can maintain this. ( spoiler alert: they did maintain the pace… )

It's mostly open road, with not as much cover as I would like and starting the walk at the hottest time of the day is making it harder than it should be.

We have nice views of the fields and pass a few rest stops where the farmers sell some produces and fresh drinks. There are also toilets regularly along the way at COP1,000 at those rest areas.

This first camp can be reached by motorcycle, and for COP25,000 they can bring your bags. Mine is not that heavy so I keep it. Most of our food and support materials are transported by mule and they pass us by as we walk up. After the first night, only mules can go on the trail.

About 20min before reaching our camp, we stop by a river with a natural pool. You can jump in and cool off. It feels divine after this long and hot day.

From this river actually, the trail becomes what I expected jungle trekking to be. And then we arrive to camp. It's composed of 2 massive awnings. One has the kitchen and the tables for diner and breakfast. Another one has 4 long rows of double decker all prepared with mosquito nets. Everything is open to the outside. At the back of the dorm are showers and bathrooms. Everything is basic, but quite well maintained and it will be just fine. It looks like a gipsy camp once everyone has hung up their stuff to dry !

Tomorrow will be twice as long and we keep going up. The lost city is at 1,200m and we are now around 400m above sea-level. Thankfully we start trekking at 6 am, so we should escape the worst of the heat, however it started to rain heavily and it will be very muddy.

Hike profile - The Lost City Trek - Day 1