It has been about one week since the infamous climb of Victoria Peak at Cockscomb Basin Park in Belize, and I finally feel a little bit reenergized.
As you can imagine — or maybe not, because honestly, the experience was far from what I expected — the climb took it out of all of us. The three of us trained, but the terrain in PG does not even come close. Not even in the same family.
I was not sure how I wanted to structure this experience. At first, I thought about writing three separate posts, but I decided to aim for two: one that captures our training and Day 1, and another that captures Days 2 and 3.
Preparation: Do More Than You Think
I decided to do this climb months ago when I first arrived in Belize. I love the outdoors and have done multiple hikes and climbs over the past few years, so when people said, “Train, train, train for this hike,” I took that somewhat seriously.
We had it all planned out.
Copal Tree Lodge has a huge hill, plus 360+ steps, and we thought that could help simulate the terrain of Victoria Peak. We also packed our hiking bags with items to weigh us down so we could get used to carrying our packs. My coworker and I walked to and from work. We each completed a 15–17 km loop with our packs. Given our circumstances, we felt as prepared as we could be.
When the day arrived to leave, we had our supplies ready. This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of what we were carrying:
- 2–3 pairs of pants
- Undergarments
- 2–3 shirts
- Hats
- Hydration tablets
- Water purifier, water filter, etc. — I used a LifeStraw
- Hammock
- Blanket — or in our case, ponchos used as blankets for the cool night
- Shower shoes and toiletries
- Bug spray and sunscreen
- Ramen noodles, pasta, MREs, snacks, and Clif Bars
- Multiple pairs of socks
- Hiking poles — I will never underestimate the benefit of these poles again
- Hiking boots or hiking shoes
- CamelBak
- 2–4 liters of water
The list only captures part of it, but the picture below gives you a better idea of what we had to carry on Days 1 and 3.
We settled into the lodging on site the night before the climb. The plan was to start around 6–7 a.m., and my coworker’s husband was kind enough to drop us off — all smiles and eager to get going. We made sure to carb-load the night before with pasta, meat, bread, and fruit.
Day 1 was only hours away, and by 8:30 p.m., we were hitting the hay in our bunk bed cabin.
Day 1: It’s Mostly Flat Terrain… They Say
Around 4:30 or 5 a.m., we all got up and started getting ready for Day 1. We ate a hearty breakfast, changed into our hiking clothes, repacked our bags, and headed out to meet our guides, Alex and Mac.
By the time they met us, both guides had already completed TWO previous three-day hikes back…to…back.
Little did we know just how strenuous and tiring those trips probably were for them by the time they got to us.
The morning was fairly overcast, and the clouds were low. Thankfully, rain was not in the forecast. The total distance we needed to complete on Day 1 was 19 km, which is about 12 miles.
I was feeling confident. Maybe too confident.
I kept thinking, “I’ve got this. I did a 14-miler in 2024 and climbed Mt. Fuji in August 2025. I bike to work daily and hit the gym.”
And honestly, the first part of the trail was not horrible. There were some inclines here and there, but nothing that had me questioning my life choices yet.
We stopped a couple of times to fill up at streams and eventually made it to KM 12, where we were reunited with some of our items. The rangers were taking the ATV to KM 12, so our guides offered us the option to offload part of our packs.
We should have offloaded the whole thing.
From KM 12, the terrain changed quickly.
The inclines became steeper and more frequent. The streams became fewer. The forest grew denser. Flat surfaces basically disappeared. Hanging onto branches and leaning heavily on our hiking poles became our new normal.
We each slipped and fell at least once — some more than others. Anja was a trooper.
Luckily, none of the falls resulted in serious injury, which easily could have happened given the environment. This was not a cute little nature walk. This was the jungle reminding us that we were in her house.
From KM 12, it took us about five hours to finally reach our campsite at KM 19.
My dogs were barking, and my piggies were squealing for a chance to take a load off.
We felt accomplished and exhausted. The guides showed us where to shower, then got the campfire started so we could boil water for our “meals.” I ended up eating two meals: a pack of ramen and pasta with tomato sauce and tuna.
I did not say they were good or healthy. But they got the job done.
By that point, we were all so brain-dead that the guides had to help each of us secure our hammocks. The brain fog was real. So was the realization that we still had TWO DAYS left in the jungle.
We were relieved to know we did not have to bring our overnight packs on the second day.
And we were not too far from finding out why a day pack was preferred, but still may not offer the relief we were itching for.
Click here to continue the journey…
