Panacam Adventure

Eli was eagerly pulling us along the trail into the dense, tropical forest of Panacam Natural Reserve.  The narrow trail wound steeply up between tree ferns and pink polka dot plants; we could hear a stream splashing down the steep gorge, and birds moving in the trees above us.  The plants glistened with rain from last night's storm, even though it was almost noon.  Small lizards darted across the path before us, sometimes right in front of our dog's nose, but he didnt even have time to react before they were gone!  Besides, we were on a mission and he was focused.  He didnt realize what was awaiting him, but he knew that we were relying on him to pull Jonny's 200+ frame up the mountain!  We soon reached a beautiful little waterfall where we cooled our heels for a minute -- and it was cold!

Climbing into Panacam Natural Reserve near Lake Yojoa.

This was truly a mountain stream-- coldest water in Honduras!

 

It took some persuading to get Eli to join us in the water... but eventually he succumbed to the temptation of .........Fetching the Stick!

Jonny waits for Eli and I.

Soon we crossed over the suspension bridge and continued on our journey toward the alleged waterfalls.   This was actually Jonny's second visit to the nature reserve, and although he compared the area to Silver Creek Falls in Oregon, I found it hard to imagine even half of those hikers attempting to scale the terrain that Panacam presented!  This was not for the faint of heart.  By the time we reached a second stream and suspension bridge, we were ready to cool off again.............

Jonny tries to shame Eli into the water by questioning his malehood......

Finally we arrived at the waterfall; it was beautiful. 



The Panacam Nature Reserve is located near Lake Yojoa in Honduras, and holds bragging rights to some of the most spectacular views in the area.  The trails are divided up, so you can choose to take the shorter routes, longer routes, or the entire loop.  The map at the lodge provides distances and locations of each leg of the journey, and also elevation changes.  There are accomodations available for groups (groups with lots of money), and the location is somewhat remote to offer the utmost in tranquillity. 



We visited the  Yojoa area in August, which is the rainy season.  It is still moderately sunny for part of most days, but you can count on some sort of squall blowing in later in the day.  Consequently, we saw very few tourists during our 4 day stay, and none at Panacam!



Once we had conquered the first leg of the loop, we were confident that we could handle the rest.  I would strongly recommend that if a person felt very fit and started early enough in the day, they should follow the trail the rest of the way.......slowly and with lots of drinking water. 




The view changes as altitude increases -- not just the views of the valleys spread out before you, but the huge trees with the limbs spreading out, supporting a thousand bromeliads, ferns, and tillandsias!  No matter how I did it, I just couldnt seem to snap a picture that captured the intensity of it all.  It reminded me a bit of that recent movie with the planet of huge trees supporting the blue flying creatures...............if you've seen it you know what I'm referring to.

This path placed us right on the ridge of the mountains, with steep drop offs to each side  and incredible views!  It was unreal.

Here you can see Lake Yojoa in the distance.

Wow!  What a View!

It did actually shower on us a little, but luckily the heavy canopy kept us and the path from getting too wet.  Unfortunately the camera battery died just as we got to some really cool plants, and we spent lots of time at the end of the trail in a steep descent via manmade steps next to dripping, moss and fern covered walls of rock.  We made it back to the lodge in about 6 hours from starting out.  It was quite an effort, but definitely worth it!