La Piedra del Peñol

La Piedra del Peñol is a granitic monolith towering over the towns of Guatapé and Peñol in Antioquia, Colombia. The lake is actually a man-made reservoir created in the 1970s when a hydroelectric dam was built, displacing most of the local population and leaving the town completely underwater, except for the fortunate structures and church steeples that managed to be high enough to survive the flooding. As tragic as that event was, the resulting lake has become a large source of tourism and beauty for the local community and travelers. La Piedra can be seen from miles away in all directions, but it’s not until you get close that one sees just how intimidating it is. With 740 steps between us and the top, we were anxious to see just how quickly we could summit the rock. What started out as a playful race between a bunch of competitive travelers, quickly became a slow and steady pace to ensure that we didn’t die as we ascended. Never have I ever been so happy to get rained on after a climb. The cooling rain was more than welcome, and the view was just as astonishing as I expected.