After yesterday’s relaxed afternoon at D&D Brewery (read Nature Walking in lake Yojoa), today we want to do something more adventurous and explore the nature surrounding the beautiful Lake of Yojoa. Upon asking at the reception, we get told that there is indeed a nice nature path (Cerro de “Las Nalgas”) to do which leads up to a cerro form where to enjoy majestic views onto Los Naranjos village and the lake itself. Although at D&D’s we get told that it can be done only with a guide (to which they refuse to give us any directions at all for that reason), convinced that paying 10$ for a guide for just a 1-hour long path its not worth, once again like Volcano Santa Maria in Guatemala, we decide to try do it ourselves to see whether the path is so difficult to find and so hard trek as the many said.
Well, amazingly enough even before reaching the main road from which you turn for D&D, we already know where to start our walk for the Cerro de “Las Nalgas”; apparently, everybody in towns know the way and doesn’t mind sharing “the very easy path” (yep, very very very easy) with the wondering tourists. In total, the whole excursion starting from the doorstep of our room to the top of the Cerro takes us 55min for the ascent (15 to reach the entrance to the path and 40 to reach the top of the Cerro) and 40min for the descent. Here follows a map for the first part of the itinerary (PART 1) but make sure to keep reading for more precise directions!!!
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PART 1: FIND YOUR WAY THROUGH THE VILLAGE
Once arrived at the junction of D&D on the main road, we leave the town “center” behind us and keep walking on the main road for around 200m until we reach a junction with a fairly large group of houses (probably a small community of Los Naranjos) on our left.
There, we take the left and keep following the road for no more than 50m, until we reach a junction with another road that turns right.
We take the right and in less than 50m we end up hitting some kind of a junction, which marks the end of the village.
At the junction, we keep following the road for no more than 100m until we reach another small junction where the main road seems to turn left and a smaller road keeps going straight.
Here, instead of taking the bigger path, we keep going straight following the smaller road. This smaller road pretty much leads out of the community and down to the base of the Cerro in less than 5min. After walking for around 500m and passing a couple more houses, we reach the junction at the end of the road where we have the option to either turn left or right.
Not sure on what to do, a small chat with a local living nearby (the last house) solves our doubts. We get told that we need to turn right and keep following that road until the end.
Once at the end of this other road, we have to turn left through a small path that swirls up into the coffee plantations. And this is the beginning of the Cerro de Las Nalgas path!!!
PART 2: FIND YOUR WAY TO THE TOP
If you managed like us to reach this point without losing yourself around the Honduran countryside then we have a good & bad news for you. Bad news first as always: the hardwork starts now, get your muscles ready! But the good news is that from now on finding the right path will be dead easy! From this point, it took us 40min of uphill muddy hiking to get to the top, so we would place it in the easy-medium hike difficulty. Back to the path!
After having walked for around 20min on the same path, we reach a small break area with a big rock in the middle. Here you can either keep following straight (and go down the other side of the hill we’ve just climbed), take a left or take a right, both leading upwards. Since we could see the lake in front of us and the Cerro on our left, we take a left following the steepest path that goes upward toward it.
*UPDATE 19/05/2019: Thanks to Amelia who recently solo-hiked the path to the top, we got to know that just before the rock there’s now a barbed wire gate to deter hikers without a guide. Hiking the path is still possible by opening the gate as nobody seems to be guarding it but caution is advised.
*UPDATE 13/08/2019: Thanks to Jub, we know the barber wire fence is still guarding the ascent! Keep an eye out!
Following on that same path for less than 2min, we end up at another junction with a path leading uphill (left turn) and another leading downhill (right turn).
After splitting up and walking both paths for 10m, we realize that the path going left uphill doesn’t lead anywhere and that the correct path is the one going right downhill. In fact, path on the right only goes downhill for a little for then starting to go uphill toward the top of the Cerro. For the next 15min on that same path we meet several junctions from which other smaller paths deviate left or right from the main path but we always stick to the clearly visible main path until we reach another plateau-break area.
Here the main path splits into two smaller paths, one leading to the left in the direction opposite to the lake and one leading right in the direction of the lake. Obviously we decide to take the right turn and thankfully, after no more than 5min we reach the final junction of the day.
PART 3: CHOOSE YOUR VIEW
Once reached the last junction (the top is very close here!), we have the option to go left or right but here the choice is a good-ending in either way.
Turning left (on the path with a rock in the middle), we quickly end up to a beautiful mirador overlooking the whole village and the mountain range behind it. What a great view!
And by turning right, we end up to the actual top of the Cerro de Las Nalgas which overlooks the whole lake of Yojoa! Here the view is even better than the other mirador but don’t forget to climb to the tallest rock for a top-notch tree-free view over the lake!
In the end, the walk result in being a very nice way to spend a couple of hours immersed in nature enjoying the breathtaking fauna & flora surrounding us. The path was not only easy to find but if in doubt everyone we asked to managed to give us proper information on how to reach it. Have fun!
In case you want an easier explanation, watch the following video. Marta is gonna show you how we did it! 😀
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NycyKfqVxZw[/embedyt]
PLANNING A TRIP TO HONDURAS? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!
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Hey team,
Thanks for the epic directions, it was so satisfying finding these ‘rocks’ you mention…they were always where you said haha.
I just completed the hike today (13th August 2019) with another fellow traveller staying at D&D. Amelia’s barbed wire fence is still there.
D&D offers a guided walk up there for $10 pp or $15 pp, but we did it self guided. We didn’t see anyone until we were close to the bottom of the descent on the way down. A local was spraying something about, he wasn’t happy we didn’t have a guide but we apologised and he gave us no actual trouble (our Spanish is poor, so that’s what we could make out). Would be cool if they added an honesty box to the barbed wire fence or something!
Epic views!
Hey Jub!
We’re glad to hear the article was useful and you could reach the top with no troubles! Yes, they seem to not like people without a guide but sadly they don’t understand that not everyone has the same budget! Especially, if you ask us, a guide for that walk is highly unecessary! And great idea for the honesty box, if the place gets more tourists with a more open-minded mentality having such thing will definitely make everything goes smoother.
We hope you’re having fun in Honduras and if you need any help with your itinerary don’t hesitate contacting us!
I just hiked it today, 5/19/2019. There is now a gate with barbed wire, about 5 minutes after starting the ascent. It is basically 5 minutes into your direction that says “After having walked for around 20min on the same path, we reach a small break area with a big rock in the middle” I guess it is to deter solo hikers. I just opened the gate and went anyway and took my chances. I went from d&d at around 730am, and had returned by 915. I saw no one on the trail, only the people at the last house. It is probably not as safe to do it alone, but I lucked out. It is a pretty strenuous hike, and I was able to find everything pretty easily thanks to your directions
Hi Amelia, we’re glad you managed to hike the trail safely thanks to our directions 🙂 Thanks for letting us know that there’s now a barbed wire gate just after the ascent trail. When we went there was nothing like that but plenty of local guides were thinking about putting measures to deter hikers. Sadly, self-guided activities are not well seen in the country but hopefully that will change with time! Thanks for your hike report, much appreciated! Hope you’re enjoying your visit to the country!
Thanks for this useful guide. I went there by myself based one your information and also referred to maps.me. It was much easier even I went by myself. Unfortunately on my way up to the top(1/3 way) a local who was working and was holding a machete blocked my way and asked for money. I didn’t want to pay for it and also I wasn’t sure if it was safe even I paid. I didn’t regret I gave it up since i have traveled over 1.5 years in Latin America and have seen so much amazing places. I am sure even i paid for it, it would not ad beautiful as I thought. Anyways just wanted to thanks and also a headsup for someone do it solo.
Hey Denise! Sorry to hear that! That’s so sad that locals are trying to take advantage on solo travellers like that ! When we were there locals seemed to be so friendly but guess the black sheep is always hiding in plain sight.
We’re sure there’s gonna be plenty of opportunities for you to visit more amazing places! We wish you good luck with your travels and if you need more info about Honduras feel free to ask us or send us an email!