A paved road (no shoulders but fairly quiet) extends north out of Panama City and closely follows the Canal. It passes by the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks, then begins a long ascent up over the first and southernmost ridge of the Continental Divide. At the summit of this climb, a 10 km dead-end road goes left into the Summit Zoological Park and the Gamboa Rainforest. This diversion will bring you back directly alongside a portion of the Canal.
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| Summit Zoological Park |
However to cross the isthmus, a bicyclist continues straight ahead, over another climb, through Soberania National Forest. This is an especially beautiful part of the trip. You are likely to see other road-cyclists on this portion of the route.
After about 9 kilometers, you'll exit the former Canal Zone and all of the remainder of the ride will be through villages and farmlands outside the old Zone. After about another 9 km and another climb, you'll arrive atop the Madden Dam. This Dam helps control the Chagres River. Getting control of the Chagres River and using it to create the artificial lake which comprises most of the Canal, was the key to the US effort to build the Canal. Continuing north, in a short distance the quiet roadway you have been following will end, joining the main trans-isthmus highway near the town of Madronal. To some extent, thus far, you have been following the route of the original Spanish roadway, the Camino Real. From here, the old Spanish roadway headed away into the countryside and toward Portobello.
For the next 33 km you will follow the main trans-isthmus highway. Although this portion of the roadway is busy, it has good shoulders all the way. There are several rolling hills. You will pass through many small villages and farmlands.You can amuse yourself reading dozens of billboard advertisements of every description as you ride by. You won't see many cyclists except local children biking to and from school. While I waved and said "Hola" to many local folks along the way, my impression was that most were surprised to see a cyclist.
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| Billboards on a 2-lane highway |
At Sabanita, where there is a McDonalds on your left, the trans-Panama road to Colon continues north. To your right, is a two-lane roadway that extends 33 KM and ends at Portobello. This is not the route I took on my transcontinental bikeride, but I did travel it a few days later. It was a beautiful trip, which follows the Carribean coastline. And the historic sites in Portobello are well-worth visiting.
But the purpose of my bike ride was to follow the Canal and I continued straight ahead from Sabanita into Colon, where the Canal ends. This is about 14 Km, but a rough, tough 14 km. The roadway is 4 lanes and quite busy. The shoulder is in a poor state of repair. There is yet another hill to climb! By this time I had actually lost count of the number of hills I had climbed. My heavy mountainbike and knobby tires were certainly wearing me down. But, after struggling on, Colon was reached. You will want to go to the flight of locks at Gatun and see the Gatun dam.
Concluding thoughts. In all, my ride was 72 km or 43 miles. With water and photo stops, and a continuing struggle with my off-road bike and its knobby tires, I had made it in about 3.5 hours. This was no way near as "fast" as I had hoped, but I must have set some record for something. Maybe it was pain. I rode this cross-isthmus, trans-continental bike ride, across Panama, on March 15, 2003.
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| Luigi Calvo sets up his bike for my ride at Miraflores Locks. |
This bike trip was only possible through the efforts of a local tour company, Extreme Panama (www.extremepanama.com) and my local guide and fellow cyclist Luigi Calvo. Luigi provided the bike, directions, complete van support, essential water and food, tourist information, and a sense of security. Extreme Panama specializes in off-road bicycle tours through the extensive natural preserves and parklands that abound. I wouldn't do any biking tour in Panama, on or off road, without them. Expect a lot of hills; Panama is not flat.
Base yourself in Panama's capital city, Panama. There are many hotels to choose. Most tours of the country's many attractions are based there. It's where you'll fly in and out. It is due south of Miami, in the Eastern Time Zone. It is possible that you might find attractive lodging options on the northern coast, along the Caribbean Sea close to Portobello. There are no lodging options in Colon, and, frankly, you'll want to pass through Colon quickly, if at all. As to weather, Panama is known for just "two seasons," dry and rainy. The dry season extends from mid-December through May. You'll want to go in the dry season. 2003 is Panama's Centenary and many celebrations are planned.
How does cycling along the canals of New York and the Panama Canal compare? A New Yorker, Teddy Roosevelt, had his "hand" in both. He was Governor of New York when the decision was made to "modernize" the old Erie Canal system. As President, he certainly shaped the Panama Canal. In an engineering sense, they are quite similar. They were built using the same technologies and completed at the same time.
But the Panama Canal is jaw-droppingly immense! You will still find the highest "flight" of lift-locks in the world on the Erie Canal near Waterford,
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| Ship, locomotive and cyclist - a contrast in horsepower... |
New York, where 5 locks raise boats and barges 169 feet. The three double-locks at Gatun, on the Panama Canal, climb only 85 feet. But they raise ships! All five of Waterford locks would fit into any one of the six Gatun locks with room to spare. Horses and mules once towed barges on the old Erie Canal. Today, electric locomotives jostle some of the world's largest ships through Panama Canal locks.
Today the canals of New York are quiet and scenic. The Panama Canal is one of the world's busiest arteries of commerce. Yet, there are scenes along the Panama Canal that are quite like scenes on the Mohawk or Seneca Rivers or on Lake Champlain.
But there is nothing in the world like the Panama Canal. If you bike across New York either along the Erie, Champlain or Oswego canals, you'll travel from the Hudson River, which drains into the Atlantic, to the Saint Lawrence River or Great Lakes, which also drain into the Atlantic. Crossing Panama, it's Atlantic to Pacific! It's epic. If you bike along the Panama Canal, it's a transcontinental bike ride.
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