Dirt Roads of Colombia

After seven weeks in Medellin, it was time for us to hit the road once again. This time with a focus of riding the dirt back roads of Colombia’s mountains. Our first destination was Salento, a small tourist town in the Coffee Triangle of Quindo department. Visited for the rich architecture, coffee tours, and the famous Cocora Valley hike, the city was mostly made up of tourists. Lines wrapped around the central square as people waited to board jeeps to visit the wax palms of the Cocora Valley. Colombia’s national tree, these palms trees are the largest in the world growing up to 200 feet tall. Our route did not take us to the most commonly visited area of Corora Valley but a bit further south to areas rarely visited by tourists. The road climbed up to the town of Toche, around Volcano Cerro Machín and ending in Ibagué.

This four-day ride over the most unspoiled, indigenous mountain roads we have seen in Colombia, became our favorite ride of the trip. The hills were tough, yes, but the views made up for all the sweat and tears. During the whole duration of the ride, we were passed by more people on horseback than by cars. With our new 2.1 inch tires, we were descending the rough roads with a sense of confidence we did not have in Baja. It had happened, we became dirt road converts.

We broke our first hill into two days. Our first camping spot, a pull out in the forest was accompanied by two stray cats who helped themselves to our bread when we weren’t looking. Our second night was on top of the mountain with a view overlooking the small town of Toche, with Volcano Cerro Machín right behind.

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After the descent into Toche, we were meet with many curious eyes. Asking around for Tinto, we were ushered into a woman’s home, where she served us breakfast to fuel us for the climb up the Volcano. We knew that the top of the Volcano had hot springs waiting for our sore muscles. Pushing our bikes up the steep gravel sections, we finally made it to the top to find that the thermal springs had been washed away by a landslide. Luckily, they still had a spot for us to camp, where we spent our last night before our final climb and descent into Ibagué.

At the top of the last hill, we finally could see our destination along with the highway that we would usually have taken. Looking across the valley, we saw many semi’s traversing this road from Cajamarca to Ibagué. At that moment, we were thrilled to have chosen this route.

Reaching town a day before Hank’s birthday, we cleaned up, celebrated and got ready for Trampolin de la Muerte, Colombia’s Death road. Energized by our recent venture from Salento to Ibague, we were excited to tackle Colombia’s Death road. With 16,000 feet of climbing, we knew we were in for some pain but were optimistic about the conditions.

Unfortunately, this road is still used for transportation heavily, meaning that the street was in worse conditions than that of the Salento-Ibague road. Giant, jagged rocks with loose dirt made the path difficult to navigate. The descents had to be taken with much more care as not to puncture a tire. And to top it off, we had the worse rain of the trip so far.

Again, we split the first hill into multiple days — this time taking three to reach the top of the first. We knew of a police station a few kilometers before the first high point, where many people would make camp. Upon reaching the police station and restaurant, loud techno music echoed throughout the forest, which made getting any rest impossible. We could not shake the image of these cops with aviators, piles of cocaine and techno music as they raved in their war-ready bunkers with machine guns. So, we climbed on to make camp elsewhere.

Our last day of Death Road was wet, very wet. The rain made the road muddy and even more challenging to navigate. Luckily, we finished Trampolin de la Muerte without witnessing or experiencing any death. Although, we did see maybe over 30 ambulances, lights on blasting down the road.

Sitting in Pasto, we have three days left in Colombia. We have come to love this country, but after 4 and a half months here, we are excited to make entry into our next, Ecuador. Colombia was a great start to South America and what we are calling Act 2 of A Bike Story. Stay tuned for our adventures of the Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route.

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Hank Boehmer