Valle de Sibundoy — Kamëntsá and Inga Highland Valley at the Top of the Trampolín

Before the Trampolín de la Muerte starts dropping, the road crosses the Valle de Sibundoy. It’s a high, flat, farmed basin ringed by cloud-wrapped ridges, with Santiago, Colón, Sibundoy and San Francisco strung along it. The valley is the ancestral home of the Kamëntsá and Inga peoples, and it feels different from the rest of Putumayo: cool air, dairy pasture, flower gardens, and weaving and carving for sale in the towns. If you’re running the trail west to east, this is where you top off fuel and food, sort your gear, and check conditions with locals before the narrow shelf road. Locals follow it closely, and slides can close it.

The Kamëntsá festival of Bëtscnaté (Día de Perdón) falls on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, and the towns fill up. Expect rain and low cloud year-round. The road through the valley is paved, but the climb and descent on either side are not forgiving. The old San Francisco–Mocoa stretch has been under variant construction for years, so verify the current routing, closures and security situation ahead of time. Coordinates are omitted on purpose, because this is a whole valley and not a single point.

Last flat ground before the Trampolín drops