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climbing in colombia

Travel Guide

THIS is Where to Climb in Choachi

Posted on August 29, 2019
where to climb in Choachi, how to get to Valle Escondido, climbing in Colombia, rock climbing close to Bogota, high altitude, hiking, hidden valley

It’s amazing how many epic places there are close to Bogota. I guess that’s what you get when you put a city in the middle of the mountains. When you drive through Bogota’s eastern mountain range, the landscape is absolutely striking! The area is home to one of the tallest waterfalls in the world and, much less known, some of Colombia’s most beautiful climbing areas with the most potential. Something cool about it is that they’re at a really high altitude – about 3,100 meters or 10,000 feet. This is where to climb in Choachi and how to get there!

If you’re looking to climb a lot in Colombia, we have a list of areas here!

Where to Climb in Choachi

*Note: the map to get to these areas from Bogotá is at the end of this post!

I recommend visiting these areas with a local on your first time because, I’ll be honest, getting to the climbing can be hard – the paths aren’t obvious at all. There also aren’t any great guide books.

Valle Escondido

The climbing at Valle Escondido (Hidden Valley) is amazing – long routes with overhangs, cracks and a gorgeous backdrop to boot. You can do sport or trad climbing, and a lot of routes are mixed. Since it’s a relatively new area, most climbs are pretty difficult, starting at 5.11 and going up to project-level difficulty. There are a few 5.10s, though. The potential here is outstanding, and there are climbs going up all the time! Please don’t leave trash, be a good citizen and pay your fee so the place doesn’t get closed off to us!

Agua Dulce

This is a newer, smaller area that’s really close to the road. All the climbing is sport, and there aren’t many routes. However, the climbs are absolutely gorgeous and the area isn’t as cold as Valle Escondido. It’s known for long, crimpy vertical routes with cruxes at the top. It’s honestly become one of our favorite climbing areas!

El Rinconcito

This is the newest, smallest climbing areas. If you’re wondering where to climb in Choachi, I’d recommend this one, especially from December to March, which are the dry seasons. The climbs are astounding, with a great variety of types of sport routes – and a ton of HARD climbing (13+). That I know, of there’s only one 5.10. Plus, the hike to get here and the scenery all day is gorgeous.

How to Get There

In Public Transportation:

  1. Take a Transoriente or Cootransfómeque bus from Bogota. You can grab them on Calle 6 with Avenida Caracas (see on map below). The trip costs about $10,000 Colombian pesos ($3.5 dollars) and lasts about an hour. You can grab the buses between 5:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day.
  2. For Valle Escondido, tell the driver you’ll be getting off at Valle Escondido or Cafe de los Gatos. After a while on the winding road, you’ll get to a spot where there are cliffs around you. About 30 seconds after you pass a bridge with road bumps before and after it, the entrance will be to your right with a small house and a trail leading up into the mountain. Take the trail up and down to the owner’s house to pay the entrance fee.
  3. For Agua Dulce, tell the driver you’ll be getting off at Cabaña Cuatro Elementos. You pay the entrance fee right in front at a small house, and then take a short hike up to the rocks.
  4. For El Rinconcito, tell the driver you’ll be getting of at Kilometer 11, where you’ll see a U-turn to the right. Walk on the dirt road until you see an obvious hiking path towards the right. Get on it and after that, I hope you’re with a local climber because the path is hard to describe in a blog post!

In a Car:

With a GPS: you can enter “Choachi, Valle Escondido” or “Agua Dulce Climb Zone” into Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions. For El Rinconcito, check out my map below or go with a local climber!

Without a GPS:

  1. Starting in Bogota, get on Calle 26 going East (towards the mountains) and follow it until it becomes Av. Circunvalar South.
  2. Going south, turn left where you see a sign towards Choachi. That left turn comes right after the Universidad Distrital campus.
  3. Not long afterwards, you’ll get to a sharp U-turn. Do the U-turn to stay on the main paved road instead of going straight into some bad neighborhoods.
  4. For Valle Escondido, you’ll eventually pass a bridge with road bumps before and after it. The entrance will be to your right with a small house and a trail leading up into the mountain. Park on either side of the road and take the trail up and down to the owner’s house to pay the entrance fee.
  5. For Agua Dulce, drive a little further down from Valle Escondido to Cabaña Cuatro Elementos. You pay the entrance fee at a small house, where you can also park (its on the map). Then take a short hike up to the rocks.
  6. For El Rinconcito, drive to Kilometer 11, where you’ll see a U-turn to the right. Take the dirt road until you see an obvious hiking path towards the right. You can park a little further on at a woman’s house, for about $6,000 pesos. Walk back to the path and after that, I hope you’re with a local climber because the path is hard to describe in a blog post!

More things to do around Choachi:

Go to La Chorrera

You can see Colombia’s tallest waterfall only about 10 minutes down the road going towards Choachi. It’s also the 6th tallest in South America and the 60th tallest in the WORLD! Ok, enough bragging about my country. If you want to check it out, read this blog post about the place, it’s totally worth a visit!

Hike

There are tons of trails here, but, as most in Colombia, they aren’t official at all! They have no signage, and I have no idea where they may lead, but they’re there! If you’re looking for a great place to hike, this is definitely it. You can ask Don Sinai for tips or just go and start walking. The area is beautiful!

Take Photos

Like I’ve said already, Valle Escondido is striking. To change it up, I’d describe it as eye-catching, impressive, memorable and stunning. So yea, definitely take a camera.

Some things to know:

  • Choachi is a town that’s very close to the climbing areas. People (and I) will very often refer to the climbing areas as Choachi, but the places actually have their own names.
  • Pack your trash out… take it back to Bogota! This way we make sure access doesn’t get denied to us!
  • The fee for Valle Escondido is $7,000 pesos per person, and I think this applies even if you’re only going to hike around. Parking costs about $5,000 per car down at Lucas’ house.
  • The fee for Agua Dulce is $6,000 pesos per person and 10,000 for parking.
  • The parking fee for El Rinconcito is $6,000 pesos and entering the climbing area is free, for now.
  • The best climbing guide is pictures local climbers have taken, so network a little and find yourself some obscure guides.
  • You’d do well to have a 70 meter rope and about 22 draws to climb without worries.
  • There are NO tolls between Bogota and any of the climbing!

Well, hopefully this shed some light as to where to climb in Choachi and how to get to Valle Escondido, Agua Dulce and El Rinconcito! Enjoy!

If you’re looking for places to hike, camp and enjoy the outdoors close to Bogota, read this blog post here!

Travel Guide

How to get to Suesca

Posted on August 29, 2018
outdoor adventures close to Bogota, Suesca Rocks, Rocas de Suesca, Virgin, climbing, colombia, railroad, how to get to Suesca, where to climb in colombia

The reason Suesca has so much tourism, and especially so much adventure tourism, is the Suesca Rocks (Rocas de Suesca in Spanish). The climbing here eventually also attracted mountain bikers and hikers. Then, hostels and restaurants started springing up, and now Suesca is a common weekend getaway for people from Bogota. There is so much to do: if you want adrenaline or nature and relaxation, Suesca’s got it. This is how to get to Suesca. You’ll also find what to do in Suesca and some things to know below!

If you’re in Suesca to climb, you’ll be interested in reading this blog post on Macheta, a less touristy place with steep, 5.12+ climbing!

How to Get to Suesca

*The map to get to Suesca from Bogota is at the end of this post!

In Public Transportation:

  1. From Bogota, take a bus directly to Suesca. You can take the bus from the Portal Norte, which is Bogota’s Northern Bus Terminal, and anywhere on the Autopista Norte (the main highway going north) after Calle 183.
  2. If you’re going to the town of Suesca, tell the driver and it will be obvious when to get off.
  3. If you’re going to Suesca’s touristy area, or the Suesca Rocks, tell the driver you’re getting off at the entrance to the Suesca Rocks (la entrada a las Rocas de Suesca, in Spanish). Stay alert to when you’re getting there because sometimes the bus driver will forget to tell you you’ve arrived (you’ll see a lot of restaurants, climbing centers and hostels on your right).
  4. You’ll find the entrance to the Suesca Rocks on a corner with a Monodedo store. Go in that road and you’ll get to a railroad.
  5. Follow the railroad left and you’ll get to the Suesca Rocks.

In a Car:

With a GPS: if you’re going to the town of Suesca, enter “Suesca, Cundinamarca” into Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions. If you’re going to the Suesca Rocks, enter “Suesca Rocks” and do the same.

Without a GPS:

  1. Exit Bogota going north and stay on the main road to Tunja, not the one that passes Chia.
  2. Shortly after passing the second toll from Bogota, you’ll see a sign that says Guatavita and Suesca are to the right. Suesca is actually to the left, but you have to turn right after the bridge to take the roundabout, get on the brigde and cross it, and take the other roundabout to get on the road back to Bogota.
  3. About 50 meters (150 feet) from there, you’ll see two roads to the right: an unpaved road that goes through a gas station and then an actual road that’s in terrible condition. Take either of them.
  4. Following this road, you’ll soon get to a fork in the road where you have the option to go left towards Nemocon or right towards Suesca. Go right and you’ll be headed straight to Suesca.
  5. Right before Suesca, there’s a sign that points to the right towards the Cañon de la Lechuza (Owl Canyon). Stay to the left to get all the way to the town of Suesca.
  6. If you’re going to the Suesca Rocks, which is before the town, you can park shortly after you pass the road to Owl Canyon, where you’ll see a bunch of restaurants, climbing centers and hostels on your right. The parking lot is to the left, in a big grassy area.
  7. After parking, walk the way you were driving and you’ll find the entrance to the Suesca Rocks on a corner with a Monodedo store. Go in that road and you’ll get to a railroad.
  8. Follow the railroad left and you’ll get to the Suesca Rocks.

What to do in Suesca

Climbing:

If you’re not a climber, you can find a lot of hostels and tour agencies that offer climbing services. The best ones are on the street before the entrance to the rocks. I’ll warn you now, it can be pricey, but climbing is so worth it. Climbing is an extreme sport, but it is totally safe if the people you’re with know what they’re doing. It is a physical and mental challenge and a beautiful sport.

If you’re a climber, you can buy the guide book to Suesca at the Monodedo store that’s on the corner of the road you take to get to the Suesca Rocks. Other than that, do your thing. The climbing in Suesca is known for being old-school because the park has been developed since the 70s. Nowadays, the park has over 500 routes, with so many left to be opened. It has sport climbing and trad and can have some crazy run-outs. The rock is slick from use, slabby as hell and a 5.9 can be a 5.11. There are multi-pitch routes all along the cliff that you can top out. The climbing is very mental and very vertical. Enjoy!

Where to Stay:

Suesca has an endless amount of places to stay – hotels, hostels and AirBnB’s. But we know the best place! Some friends of ours have a large property right outside Suesca with a beautiful house with big windows all around. That’s without mentioning the huge fireplace, great for a rainy day spent under blankets, and the fountain that murmurs all day long. It’s one of the most comfortable place we’ve ever been. Here’s the link to their AirBnB site – they rent the house out or do it per person, and the property also has a perfect camping area.

Cycling:

Mountain biking in Suesca is almost as popular as the climbing. Suesca has some trails with long, difficult climbs and equally long, much more fun downhill rides. It’s a great place to bike because you can get some good exercise and then walk to the cliff, have a picnic or eat at an amazing restaurant. Here’s a link with a ton of bike trails to can take around Suesca. Get out there on your bicycle and enjoy this place!

Hiking:

  • Laguna de Suesca (Suesca Lagoon): one great place for a hike is the Suesca Lagoon. It is a big lagoon, not too deep, where you can fish. How to get to the Suesca Lagoon: enter Mirador de la Laguna de Suesca” in your GPS and follow the directions. If you don’t have a GPS, stay on the road on which you enter Suesca, which is Carrera 4A. Once outside of the town, where the road splits into three, take the middle road. Follow this road until an intersection where there will be a statue of the virgin mary to your left. Go left. Then take the next left turn and you’ll get to the Suesca Lagoon Lookout Point.
  • Tunnels: there’s a hike where you get to a tunnel that’s part of the Suesca railroad. I haven’t been there but it looks amazing! To get to these tunnels, turn left once you enter Suesca and then take the following right turn to get on Carrera 5. Follow this road out of the town. At the following intersection, turn left. Stay on this road and you’ll arrive at the railroad and tunnels, which will be on you left. Look at the map below to understand how to get there!
  • Cañon de la Lechuza (Owl Canyon): this place is known for the owls you can see during the afternoon and night and the tall cliffs that surround this part of the Bogota river’s riverbed. The best way to get here is to walk from the entrance to the Suesca Rocks, go left and follow the railroad. That way, you’ll see the rocks, the large statue of the virgin Mary, the camping area and Owl Canyon. The other option is to walk above the Suesca Rocks to the canyon. To walk up there, don’t go left with the railroad. Instead, keep going straight up the hill. You can see all this information in the map below!

Camping:

If you follow the railroad for about 10 minutes with the cliffs on your right, you’ll come to a large campsite right by the railroad to the left. It’s a great place to camp close to the rocks, but a lot of the people who stay there are there to drink and not to sleep. It’s a fun plan, but not everyone’s thing. It costs $15,000 Colombian pesos (about $5 dollars) a night per person. Another option is to go glamping, which is camping glamourously. NIDDO is a hostel with tent-like rooms that are very comfortable and even more attractive. It’s a cool experience!

Some things to know:

  • You can buy the climbing guide to Suesca at Monodedo, which is indicated in the map below.
  • The climbing here is technical, as much in the climbing style as in gear knowledge and mental strength (leading can be scary).
  • Make sure you take cash in Colombian pesos, especially small bills to pay buses and stores/services that can’t take your card.
  • Camping in the campsite in front of the Suesca Rocks costs $15,000 pesos per person a night.
  • The road right before the entrance to the Suesca Rocks is full of hostels, restaurants, stores and tour agencies that can help you with practically anything.
  • The rainy seasons are from April to June and October to November.

I hope this helped you learn how to get to Suesca and what to do in Suesca! If you’re looking for another place to explore close by, you can check out out blog on the Neusa Dam!

Travel Guide

How to get to La Mojarra, Santander

Posted on October 18, 2017
refugio la roca, the rock refuge, where to climb in colombia, climbing, How to get to La Mojarra, Santander

How to get to La Mojarra, Santander:

*Note: You can find the map to get to La Mojarra at the bottom of this post!

Using Waze or Google Maps: search for “Hostal Sol de la Mojarra.” This is the entrance to the park, but the hostel here isn’t great. There are two hostels a block away that are much more comfortable, and minutes away from the park there are lots more.

In a car from Bogota:

  1. Exit the city from the north and take the Zipaquirá-Ubaté highway. Follow the signs towards Bucaramanga.
  2. After you’ve descended the Chicamocha Canyon in Pescadero and passed the Los Curos toll booth, take a left on the Teleférico (Cable Car) Piedecuesta Highway.
  3. 5 kilometers down this road, you’ll come to a fork in the road. Don’t head down to Piedecuesta. Stay left towards La Mesa de los Santos.
  4. Stay on this road for 22 kilometers until you see the Refugio la Roca on your left. One block away is the entrance to La Mojarra.

On a bus from Bogota: Take a bus going to Bucaramanga. Tell the bus driver, “Me bajo en Los Curos para irme a La Mesa de los Santos (I’ll get off at Los Curos to head to La Mesa de los Santos).” Make sure you remind the bus driver after you go down the Chicamocha Canyon. Cross the street where the bus drops you off and take a bus that says Los Santos. The words may be very small; another option is to take any bus that says Flota Cachira. Tell the bus driver “Voy para la Mojarra (I’m going to la Mojarra) and get off where he tells you. Good luck pronouncing all that! J

On a bus from Bucaramanga: get on a Flota Cachira bus headed to La Mesa de los Santos.

On a bus from Piedecuesta: get on a Flota Cachira or La Culona bus headed to La Mesa de los Santos.

Some things to know:

La Mojarra is a natural preserve and rock climbing park. There’s been a lot of work put into it and it’s a privilege to have this place open to the public. So make sure you pay the entrance fee to the park. Find the park’s rock climbing guide here.

Take lots of insect repellent. Once we went during fertilizing season in the valley and the amount of flies was insane!

What to do in La Mojarra:

Climb: well, La Mojarra is a climbing park. If you’re a climber, grab a partner and do your thing. If you’re not, you can book a guide here or ask around hotels when you arrive.

Hike: the path through the park is beautiful and great for running or hiking. The path gets interesting at one point where it stops and the only way to continue is on a via ferrata, on steel cables and metal footholds put in the rock. To use this path you have to have climbing gear and know how to use it!

Take pictures: La Mojarra has a unique, spectacular landscape. Don’t leave without having taken some good pictures!

Watch sunrises and sunsets: these are the best times of the day! Sunsets are easy to watch; they happen while you’re awake. But it takes a little more will power to wake up and see the sunrise – which makes it more special. You have to watch at least one sunrise!

Want more tips on what to do while in Colombia? Check out our latest post, a list of great outdoor spots close to Bogota!

Here’s a video of one of our latest trips to La Mojarra!


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