There are many estrablished hiking trails, one of the newest and highest in El Potrero Chico, is the trail to the summit of El Toro mountain!

View of the trail from the inside of El Potrero Chico

View of the front side of el Toro, where the trail ends.

Do you want to climb El Toro without a rope?

If so, then there is a footpath up the southern side. It should take a moderately fit person 5 hours for the round trip. It is an 800m climb, so take plenty of water. The path is marked most of the way, in the early stages by red paint dots on the rocks, and in the latter stages by rock cairns (small piles of rocks).

To get to the start of the track, follow the main road through the gorge, past the swimming pools, and through the gate. Keep walking until you go past "Los Pirules", which is marked on a gate through a fence on your right. Turn immediately right (North) up the dry creek bed, and walk about 200m, looking for a painted red dot on a boulder to your right. Turn right out of the creek bed near the boulder, and follow the railway sleepers, then red dots, up the hill. The path generally follows the ridge and if the going gets very difficult,  you have gone off the path. Someone has at one point built a fence across the marked path. When you encounter this, turn uphill for about 100m, following the fence, until the fence turns a corner and heads right. At this point you can resume following the red dots uphill. The path continues through the trees and bushes, and the track marking switches from red dots, to red tags tied to trees, to cairns.

When you are nearing the top, the path stops at a small rock ridge. You must scramble up this, at about class 3. From there to the top involves some more scrambling and rock-hopping. When you reach the top of the ridge, you must scramble along the ridge to the east (right) to reach the highest point on the ridge. Note the point at which you reach the ridge, so that you can pick up the trail again on the way back down. Be aware that the highest point of El Toro is not where you end up on this walk, but the views are great all the same.

It should take about 2 hours to return to the creek bed.

Enjoy!