Mt Solmar is a rocky peak 544 feet above the ocean at the very tip of Baja Peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. It is the home of a well traveled hiking path with spectacular views of the not only the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean but also most of Cabo San Lucas itself. Mt Solmar is entirely on private property and the hike is guided and takes place at 8:15 AM daily except for on Saturdays.
Enrique is the guide on these hikes. There is no cost to do the hike, but there is a mailbox where you are invited to tip at the end of the hike. I have no idea what the expected tip is for this, I think I tipped the equivalent of $5 US each, but honestly that could be on the low side, I just don’t know. There were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 hikers on the morning that we went. If this was ever a secret, than this secret is getting out. I don’t know if Enrique ever turns people away because they are full, but I can’t imagine him allowing many more people than that on the hike.
I had heard about this hike on YouTube and was not only excited about the hike itself, but also because the hike was always done with a dozen or so dogs. Who doesn’t want to go on a hike with a bunch of dogs, right? Enrique starts out the hike with a short lecture on the history of the area mixed with philosophy and religion. To be honest, I was having a hard time following him, because I was too busy watching all the dogs running around excitedly, darting in between all of the hikers. They obviously love doing this hike and they were definitely ready to go.
While Enrique was giving the initial talk, I did manage to hear why the dogs go on the hike. Essentially, they are there to scare away the snakes, which I was grateful for, but I wasn’t thinking about snakes before and now I was. He let us know which snakes to worry about and which ones not to worry about, but I’ll be honest with you, I avoid all snakes, even little garter snakes. My philosophy on snakes has always been that they walk without legs, they’re evil and you should kill them with fire. So after Enrique was done freaking me out, we started on the hike.
The first half of the hike is a fairly gentle climb on a rocky and sandy path with brush on both sides. Moving up the hill, the views of the Sea of Cortez and the marina slowly become more and more impressive. You also start to see more of Cabo San Lucas as well. The dogs pretty much lead this hike with Enrique also in the front. This was the easy part of the hike. After maybe around 15-20 minutes, Enrique stopped on a concrete slab and talked some more about the history of the area and again I got distracted by the dogs, because now the dogs were running back and forth between people getting pet by as many people as they could. I was happy to oblige.
After the stop, we went on the more difficult part of the hike. In many parts of the second half of the hike, it was more of a climb than a hike and we definitely were using our hands. There are quite a few spots where I felt a little apprehensive because I was walking on fairly polished rocks with sand on them in a pretty steep area. It did feel like there was some chance of me slipping and falling down the hill a few feet. It was moderately challenging, I would imagine that for experienced hikers this was fairly easy and for people with little to no experience this might seem impossible.
All of the work to get up the hill is paid off in a big way. When you get to the top of Mt Solmar, you are greeted with sweeping 360 degree views of the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Cortez, Cabo San Lucas, as well as Lover’s Beach and Divorce Beach directly below.
The top of the hill is fairly large, but there are large boulders everywhere and you have to negotiate around those as well as the other hikers to get the chance to stand on the viewpoints.
There are also views of the Pedregal area on the other side of the hills that border the Pacific beaches.
After about 20-30 minutes at the top of Mt Solmar, we began the trek down the hill. Enrique said we were going down the easy way, which was probably easier, but not easy. It was rocky, uneven and steep in some places. It definitely helps to be both tall and flexible on the way down. There are spots where you will be taking steps that are 3 feet down and there are plenty of places where you could twist an ankle or fall. After about 20 minutes hiking down we found our way to the entrance and left.
If you are thinking about hiking Mt Solmar, I would not only dress appropriately with comfortable hiking shoes and clothes, but bring along a large bottle of water. You will need it. I would also recommend that you think about whether you are fit enough for the trek. We are both runners and we didn’t struggle with the cardio part of the hike, but we did struggle with the flexibility and coordination aspect. You should keep that in mind before you show up for the hike. That being said, if you do feel you are in shape enough to handle it, it is a unbeatable view.
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