Catarata Gocta

Catarata Gocta is perhaps the most impressive waterfall in all of

We were able to experience this waterfall in two different ways. The first way involved hiking to the base of the upper waterfall. The second way involved hiking to the base of the lower waterfall.

For the hike to the upper waterfall, we started from the village of San Pablo. For the first 2 hours, we hiked along a taxing uphill trail with a few steeper sections along the way. The trail skirted a wide ledge overlooking Cocachimba and the valley through which Gocta's stream flows. Along the way, we passed by a short detour to a cave with rock art, a contextual view of Catarata de Golondrina, and a farm with a dog that liked to follow us. Eventually, we reached an exposed overlook of the entire waterfall.

About another hour later, our hike crossed over part of the Chorro Negro waterfall before it led us to the bottom of the Upper Catarata Gocta. There were lots of ladders in order to get right up to the base. Some trail work was going on during our visit in April 2008 so I'd imagine future visitors should have less trouble than we had negotiating this steep part of the hike.

Overall, the whole out-and-back hike took us about 7 hours including a few breaks here and there.

As for the hike to the lower waterfall, we started from the village of Cocachimba. Even though we could see the waterfall from the approach to the village, it was definitely worth the trouble to get a closer look since the views were so distant.

The trail involved lots more up-and-down hiking as we had to get through at least two gullies (one of them crossed the stream containing Salto Golondrina). During our trip, the swinging bridge over this stream wasn't complete so we had to climb down the steep embankment and cross the stream before climbing back up the other side of the embankment. We also noticed lots of rocks along the trail with shell-like fossils as well as an old Chachas ruin.

About 3 hours into the hike, we finally reached the base of the waterfall where we were close enough that we could only see the lower waterfall (the upper waterfall was concealed by the tall cliff in front of us). Overall, the time we spent on this excursion for the entire round trip was also 7 hours.

Given all that this hike offers in addition to the Catarata Gocta, I have to believe that this has all the makings of a world class attraction. However, Julie and I do fear that continued acts of vandalism (like taking the fossilized rocks from the trail) might ultimately take away from its world class appeal.

Fixated on the upper waterfall from its base

Bottom up sweep of the upper waterfall

Distant view of the falls as we approached Cocachimba

Fixated on the falls from afar as we approach its base

Bottom up sweep of the lower waterfall from its base

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TRIP REPORTS

• April 24, 2008

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