Ruta Norte

Approach

From the main plaza in Los Lirios, drive east on the now paved road toward Laguna de Sànchez, after about 2 1-2 to 3 miles turn to the right on a dirt road heading south where a little church sits on the right hand side of the road., this is the village of La Escondida. You can either leave your vehicle here or 1/2 a mile closer to the mountain where the road turns right and goes around an apple orchard ending at a private camphouse.

Route Description

This is the most used trail on La Viga due to it`s short lenght. The trail starts where the road ends first on a gentle slope and quickly gaining steepness.
After a few swithchbacks the trail heads almost straight up through the lower oak - pine forest; a logging road corosses it several times until about 1/3 of the way up, but the trail can be easily followed just keeping an eye on the white or orange ribbons tied to the trees; then it keeps going straight up to about half way up, this whole section now looks more like a creek running down the mountain due to erosion.
Where the Pine - Fir -Aspen forest starts is where the trail starts to swithchback a little more, at times the trail forks a few times, but the main trail is marked with cairns at several spots; in the end the other less traveled trails end up coming together with the main one.
At times the trail gets very steep (40-45 degrees) and slippery when it is wet. The ridge is reached after hiking by a small rocky outcrop. At the top of the ridge the trail coming from the Lomo Route joins this one and after about 5 minutes and an extra elevation gain of 15 meters on an easy hike the summit is reached, it is marked by a pipe cross, there is also a viewing tower that stands above the pine forest and also a little hut / station for the operators of some communication antennas.

Essential Gear

Technical gear is not necessary, but crampons and hiking poles may be needed if snow is present on the upper slopes.
Waterproof and windproof gear should be carried even in the summer months, since the weather up there can get really nasty and cold in a hurry.