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outdoors

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A walk along the Las Cruces Trail
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Walking the Las Cruces Trail
photos by Allan Hawkins V.

Before there was a Panama Railroad or a Panama Canal, the way you got from the Atlantic side to Panama City was by navigating the Chagres River as far as you could and then setting out on foot, mule or horse on the Camino de Cruces, or Las Cruces Trail. The railroad, the canal and the Panama City metro area's expansion have obliterated parts of this old colonial route to the capital, and most of the rest was neglected and became overgrown by the jungle during the Canal Zone era. But parts of the trail remain, and when the lands through which it passes reverted to Panama the late General Omar Torrijos made much of them into the Camino de Cruces National Park.

However, in recent years the trail has been threatened by developers and politicians who don't mind trashing historical sites on the one hand, and by maleantes who rob hikers on the other.

A movement has arisen to restore and preserve the Las Cruces Trail, and one symbol of it was an April 1 hike for 10 kilometers along its route.