As you can see below, Antofagasta has unique geography because it is situated narrowly between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. While this stretch of the Andes lacks the lush greenery that the Andes are known for, the surrounding montanitas or cerros (small mountains) provide a sharp change in elevation as you head inland.
Instead of spending the morning body-boarding with some of our adventurous friends, a few Canadian teachers in their early 40s suggested that we get out of the city and climb to the top of Cerro Moreno.
Despite the mountain's looming presence to the north of Antofagasta (located uphill of Juan Lopez), we had never before considered climbing it. So why not? As the coastal waters were starting to cool off and the surf report looked relatively flat, we decided to pack some avocado sandwiches and make a day of it.
After picking up our friends in Jardines del Sur we drove up the coast and out of the city. Halfway to the Cerro Moreno Airport, we hung a right on the exit towards La Portada (one of the seven tourist-attractions in Antofagasta) and headed towards La Rinconada. Thanks to the relatively calm waves and high winds, La Rinconada or "The Corner" beach is a great spot for kite surfing and beginner surfers. We quickly passed the beach and downshifted to start our ascent. Somewhere beyond the switch backs and before Juan Lopez you will turn off the road onto a not-very-well-marked side trail, go over a few unnecessarily tall "speed-bumps," and arrive at the base of what didn't previously appear so tall but suddenly seems like it could be a lot of work, aka Cerro Moreno. Only later will you Google it to find out that the elevation of the summit is over a kilometer higher than where you start your trek.
The way up was not a very forgiving one. At a steep incline with plenty of sharp rocks waiting to gouge you, our pace was a very conservative one at best.
Halfway up the hill we paused to take in the view. The Rinconada can be seen in the background, right beyond a small iron-rich section of the hill.
The slow pokes. We spent a fair amount of the morning trying our best to keep up with the two pace-setting mountain goats ahead of us.
Alas! 1290 vertical meters
The northern view from Cerro Moreno was slightly obscured due to the fact that we were above the lower cloud level. The high winds we encountered at the top made for a quick lunch before we began our descent.
One last view of the ridge before heading down. The sun-bleached rock against the sky.
Just in case you were wondering about the validity of that mountain-goat comment, there's Shauna on the bottom right about 500 meters ahead of the pack with Julian trailing closely behind on the left. Don't feel bad if it takes you a minute to spot them, I nearly lost them myself.
One of the steeper sections going down. This is where I really started kicking myself for not bringing any of the following: skis, a snow board, a bicycle, a para glider, a hang glider, or a water slide.
Without an inclinometer we were left to speculate on the grade but spend the majority of the way down sideways for safety.
Back into the waterless ravine
There was no way to capture everyone's excitement at seeing Esteban, so you will have to believe me when I say that we couldn't have been happier to find him still waiting for us at the base of the "mountain" after a nice 5-hour jaunt.
