No 8. Volcan Baru 3,474m, Panama

Updated: Jun 23, 2022

03.02.2013 Volcan Baru 3,474m, Panama (UN Country High Point)

Information

At 3,474 metres (11,398 ft), Volcán Barú is the tallest mountain in Panama and is an active stratavolcano. It lies about 35 km (22 mi) off the border of Costa Rica. It is also the twelfth highest peak in Central America. Due to its height and the narrowness of the isthmus of Panama, it is possible (though relatively rare) to see both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean from Volcán Barú's peak on a clear day. The closest town is Boquete

Summary

First off all my Mexican partner and I are very experienced and in our fifties. I am a UK mountain leader & lead hiking tours all over the world. At the moment we are hiking the highest peaks in each central American countries. We are in very good shape and well equipped and Baru was our fourth highest country peak in Central America and 17th peak in the region.

We started from the ranger station at 1,800m at 8.30am in the morning and arrived at the ugly mast station at 3pm (6.5hrs). This included rest stops. The hike is on a rough vehicle trail that allows atv's and jeeps to support the myriad of mast stations just below the summit (very ugly area). Nowhere is the trail that excessively steep. Basically a good uphill workout with about 1,600m of ascent. We did it 6.5hrs (13kms) and this was taking our time and not breathing heavily at all. There are some good viewpoints on the way up but in the main you are enclosed in a forest all the way up.

After sleeping on the floor of the police station (nice of them) at the summit we got up at 5am to get up to the summit for 6am. The summit hike only takes about 15 mins and is quite nice but it is a scramble in places (UK grade 1). On the weekend it is also busy. We had a nice morning view of both oceans but apart from that the sunrise was unspectacular and in between the two oceans is the ugly sight of the mast stations. Not our favourite Central American summit by far. We decended in four hours.

With hindsight...I would have done it in one long day with a light day pack and 2/3 liters of water. If you are in shape you could do the whole ascent to the summit in 6 hours and descend in 3hrs quite easily. Otherwise take your own tent and camp at the mast station or about 1 hour before (nice level area). I would equate the ascent akin to a hard days uk hiking for a regular UK walker.

Parking: N/A

Route: Rough vehicle trail and some easy scrambling. Out of our 17 central American peaks, this was the least impressive of all. The trail was tedious, views ok (when you got some), lacked any real wildlife & interesting vegitation or flowers and the mast station simply sucked! In summation a good two day work out on an 'ok' mountain!

Route Statistics: 13-14kms with 1,600m of ascent done in 6.5 hours. 28km total.

Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Volcan Baru

GPX files: For gpx files click on the below.