cerro mogoton (highest point in nicaragua)

Hiking Cerro Mogoton is a unique experience. How many hikes allow you to experience hiking in a river (stream), coffee fincas, cloud forests and ridge line border traverses all while thinking about land mines in the back of your head? It was an adventurous hike and although it was challenging in places, it was a hike that most reasonably fit people can do. The most difficult thing may be getting some basic information about the hike before you do it. So, I thought I would provide some information from my experience. I hope it helps.1. Getting to the trailhead:1. The summit of Mogoton lies on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras. Access to the trail is best from Ocotal, Nicaragua. Ocotal is a mid sized town with all of the amenities (hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, etc.) you will need. From Ocotal, the trailhead is about a 1 hr. drive, the last 10k of which is on a dirt road that requires 4 wheel drive. This road crosses the Achuapa river 5 or 6 times (and there are no bridges). Luckily in dry season the Achuapa river is more creek than river. The trail starts at Brisas de Mogoton, a coffee finca owned by the Jiminez brothers. 2. Guides:A. A good guide is absolutely essential to do this hike. 1. You will not find the trailhead without a guide 2. You will not be able to stay on the correct path without a guide. 3. The hillsides of Mogoton, on both the Nicaraguan and Honduran sides, were planted with land mines in the 1980's. Although efforts have been made to remove them it would be an especially dangerous place to be lost or off trail.B. Make sure you use a reputable guide. In doing some research before my hike I heard numerous stories of people paying "guides" who did not know where they were going and never got there clients to the real summit. C. Guides I would recommend: 1. Jiminez brothers (Ramon and Bayardo). They and their brothers own the Finca where the hike begins. They live in Ocotal and met me the night before to talk about the hike. The next morning they met me on time and drove me to the trailhead. Ramon and one of his employees guided me to the summit, the employee clearing the trail with his machete. When we returned they drove me back to the hotel. They were competent, friendly and good company. Their contact info. is:Ramon and Bayardo JiminezHome: 505-2732-2267Cell: 505-8827-0595 They speak no English. Their sister (Tatiana) speaks some English and lives with them in Ocotal. Ask to speak with her if necessary. They charge $60 per person for 2 or more people and $100 if you are hiking solo. In my opinion, money well spent!3. Trail:The first 20-30 minutes is on a dirt road. Eventually you will cross another coffee finca and descend to the Achuapa River, which again during the dry season (Dec-April) is the size of a creek. For one hour you will walk along, and in, the river. You will also be climbing on and over a lot of large rocks / boulders which are slippery even when dry. Make sure your shoes have good traction. You will also need to use your hands a lot. If you are bringing hiking poles, make sure you have a good way to strap them to your pack. The river section takes about an hour. Leaving the river you will climb steep for about an hour up to the ridge line. Again, you will be using your hands in places. You will enter the cloud forest where everything is damp, misty and otherworldly. It is magnificent. Once you summit the ridge line you will hike another 15 minutes to the summit of Mogoton which is nothing more than the highest point on the ridge line. The summit will be marked by a 4 ft high stone with both Honduras and Nicaragua written on it. There are some views in places but the real highlight of this hike is the trail itself. The shortest and quickest way back is to backtrack. Instead I recommend doing the loop trail for two reasons. First, it is beautiful. Second, you do not have to descend the slippery boulders of the Achuapa River. After descending from the ridge line you will walk through some more fincas eventually reaching a dirt road. Another 30 minutes of walking will bring you back to the trailhead. 4. Water: 1. There is no water on the trail after leaving the Achuapa River (about 1 1/2 hrs. from the start). Fill up there. 2 liters was more than sufficient for me. 5. Bugs - Bring repellent6. Trail Length: 1. Approximately 4 miles to the summit 2. Approximately 5 miles descending if you choose the loop trial.7. Elevation: 1. Brisas del Mogoton 4490 ft 2. Summit 6910Including ups and downs it is a climb of 2550 ft. to the summit. If you back track from here there is only 130 additional feet of elevation gain for a total of 2680 ft. If you choose to do the loop hike there is an additional 1155 ft. of elevation gain for a total of 3705 ft. 8. Climbing Times: This is always a hard thing to predict due to conditioning, pack weight, weather and trail conditions, etc. The following estimates are for reasonably fit hikers carrying a day pack. Some can do it faster, others will take longer but I believe these are good estimates for most hikers. 1. Ascent: 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hrs. 2. Descent (backtrack): 2-3 hrs. 3. Descent (loop trail): 2 1/4 - 3 1/4 hrs.This experience was full of variety (trail) and local color (guides and fincas). And the cloud forest and ridge line hiking are magical. It was the highlight of my trip in Nicaragua. I hope it will be yours also. Enjoy!

Hiking the highest point in Nicaragua is not a simple task. The hike itself isn't but so demanding by the numbers (6 miles, ~2600ft), but getting there can be a challenge. Cerro Mogoton sits in an area once fought over by contras and still contains active land mines. As such, a guide is more or less required. The only guide we could locate or heard of was Roberto Castellanos. He has a primitive website directing you to his parents house in Ocotal. We managed to find the house, get in touch with him, and schedule a trip for the following morning for $60 per person.The day starts early at 5am for a 1.5 hr drive back to his coffee farm. The hike begins on a dirt road before becoming a walk up a streambed with plenty of big rocks to climb over. The very primitive trail (I assume due to lack of use and quick plant growth) would be near impossible to follow with Roberto bushwacking the way with a machete. The trail breaks away from the creek and starts gaining elevation rapidly as you ascend a ridgeline towards the summit. Eventually you reach the cloud forest and the trail gets a bit muddy. It hike up took 3 hours, but we probably could have gone much faster without the third, slower member of our party. There is no view to speak of as the jungle is quite dense and cloud cover thick. We descended a much more pleasant route after a bit of a ridge traverse and got back to the farm in a total of 6 hours.This is not a hike for inexperienced hikers. Expect rugged terrain and plenty of opportunities to slip. The hike is certainly unique and we had a good time. The language barrier with Roberto (he spoke no English and we spoke little Spanish), made for minimal conversation with him. In fact, not a very good guide, but necessary for access to the mountain and to avoid land mines.