Hike to the windmills atop the Cerros de Escazu
Elevation gain: 1,487 ft, 450 m.
​
The windmills on the Cerros de Escazu mountains are an easy target to spy from most anywhere in the western portion of the central valley. There are many routes to hike to them from the surrounding towns of Piedades, Puriscal, Santa Ana and Ciudad Colon. This route description starts about half-way up from Ciudad Colon. You could start in Ciudad Colon and make a really good day of it, but you can also drive up as far as your vehicle will is capable and start from there. The road becomes quite ugly, and should only be attempted by the most capable off-road vehicles, just above where I start this description. There is a small side road with enough space to park a large vehicle about 1.6 miles from the Farmacia Mora.
The basic plan for this hike is always go up! The trail starts out as a well traveled, though steep, road. It quickly gets so rough that only the best prepared off-road vehicle would dare drive up anymore. The road ends in a T-intersection with another road that leads down to the left towards Piedades, and up to the right. Like I said, always go up! This is where the trail starts to get more remote and less like a dirt road. After another quarter mile or so the first panoramic view will be on the left.
​
​
​
​
​
​
On a clear day, three volcanoes (Irazu, Barva, and Poas) should be visible.This view comes and goes as the trail continues to climb along the ridge. Soon though, the trail will get off the ridge and follow the south face into some beautiful cloud forest. At this point the trail is really single track, or single track with runoff gully next to it! This section of the trail is beautiful under blue skies or in fog, both of which are equally likely on any given day.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
About 0.8 miles from the last intersection, there is another, and again we follow the “go up” rule. This will be a left turn. This stretch of trail is interesting due to the wide road that is impassable to vehicles. The road is lined with very large agave cacti, and affords the first views of the windmills, as well as into the valley between Ciudad Colon and Puriscal.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Follow this path for another 0.2 miles until there is a bit of a Y in the path. Again, go up! This is the final stretch. Follow the trail up a short steep section which leads into the most magical spot on the hike, through a lovely grove of trees and up to the best view on the trail.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
As the trail climbs, it gets a bit disorganized, but each branch leads to the same place. Once up the steep section with braided trails, follow the trail to the right for the aforementioned view.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
After this, follow the trail to the top of the hill and climb through the fence to get to the base of the windmills!
The windmills are fenced off, and there’s no way to get closer than this, but if you desire, you can follow the fence to the left of the windmills where there is a trail that continues, but is very overgrown. After exploring the area around the windmills, retrace your steps back to your starting point. Remember where you made the left turn and the right turn on the way up!
There are many other interesting things to see besides panoramas along the way of course. There are jocote trees, and guava trees, usually I see and smell the fruit on the ground, and then look up! Expect to see a lot of butterflies including the blue morpho and hear and see a lot of birds. I’ve seen and heard large flocks of parrots and I’ve even seen toucans flying about over the trail. Each stretch has a unique feel to it. Some are very steep and rocky and others are flat with a closed-in feel provided by hills on one side and cloud forest on the other. The variety of views, wildlife, and character of each stretch make this one of my favorite hikes in Costa Rica!
