Gran Piedra

April 1, 2024

1249m

Santiago, Cuba

La Gran Piedra is a popular tourism destination about an hour of driving away from Santiago de Cuba. A paved but windy road goes almost to the top and there’s at least one hotel and one restaurant at the parking lot. The area is not in a national park, so hiring a guide is only “recommended” but not “required”, and the hike to the summit would only involve 100 m elevation gain. The high point is a massive boulder and some ladders and staircases had been carved onto the boulder as otherwise this would be a technical climb. The peak boasts over 900 m prominence and that’s how Raphael and I noticed it. Our primary objective in Cuba was Pico Turquino but we had a few extra (buffer) days due to the limited available flights, so we would also hike Gran Piedra as well as La Mensura if we could sort out the logistics in situ. The company that offered us Pico Turquino trek also gave us a quote for this bonus objective (180 GBP) but we refused the offer. Instead, our lead guide Damian managed to connect us to a local taxi driver and we were able to bargain the price down to 60 USD for the round trip transportation, including the waiting on the summit.

The taxi driver showed up at 5:30 pm to pick us up and the plan was to watch sunset from the summit. The vehicle was very old and broken and the driver was definitely not taking care of his vehicle by driving aggressively on those narrow roads with pot-holes, but we made it nevertheless after about an hour. The driver did speak some English and was a bit too talkative even for Raphael, but I got the lucky backseat spot and were able to stay silent throughout.

Our driver and the small taxi at the parking lot
Gran Piedra drive-up and short hike. GPX DL

The hike to the summit was no-brainer as we just needed to follow the trail that was built with concrete staircases the entire way. There was about 100 m elevation gain so this wasn’t exactly the “drive up” that we were hoping for. Seeing the actual Gran Piedra (big rock) was cool and the trail wrapped around to the backside where a stone ladder located. This ladder provided the only possible way of tagging the high point without technical climbing. The summit was engulfed in clouds when we arrived, but we had about an hour up there and the clouds eventually dissipated, revealing an amazing sunset panorama. When I got back to the vehicle the driver was still there, but informed us to must pay 100 CUP (~30 cents) per person for the entrance fee. Damian said on the following day, that we were definitely ripped off as the correct entrance fee was only 25 CUP but for less than a dollar’s worth of payment who would care. It’s also worth mentioning that the power went down in Santiago de Cuba a few minutes before we left, but the electricity was back on when we got back from the hike, about 3 hours later.

Leaving the trail-head restaurant behind
As you can see, the trail is made of staircases
Seeing the “big rock” for the first time
This ladder provided the only viable path
Raphael was thinking if this qualified “aid climbing”
Raphael was already on the summit waiting for me
Summit Panorama from Gran Piedra. Click to view large size.
Raphael with the sunset horizon behind
The clouds were about to clear up, revealing more views
Raphael standing on the highest possible point
It was then the time to watch sunset
There was some changes in the lighting in the next half an hour
The other peaks in this range. Unfortunately not quite doable
Raphael posing for yet another shot with the sunset
We both went to stand on this trig point more than one time
Me contemplating about some other P100m objectives in the area
Me with the dusk horizon. We were about to leave at this point
Raphael taking in the views
Another photo of Raphael from a different angle.