Ancón Hill, Transmitter mast on a hill in Ancón, Panama City, Panama.
Ancón Hill is a 199-metre forested hill within Panama City, in the Ancón township. A single-lane road, open to vehicles only during daylight, leads to the summit, where two broadcast towers stand. The hill remains undeveloped and is a protected area, with sloths, coatis, armadillos, tamarins and deer living in the woodland.
In 1671 the pirate Henry Morgan sent scouts up the hill to study the city's defences before sacking Panama City. The hill later lay within the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone, where Quarry Heights housed the Southern Command and the Canal Zone governor's residence. Panama regained the hill under the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties and raised a large flag on the summit.
The hill appears in Amelia Denis de Icaza's poem "Al Cerro Ancón", written while it was under US jurisdiction; a statue of the poet stands at the summit. The name Ancón was given to the SS Ancon, the first ship to transit the canal in 1914, and is the acronym of the Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (ANCON).
The hike to the summit starts with check-in at the guard station and takes about one to two hours to complete. The trail is well-marked with moderate incline, so comfortable shoes and plenty of water are advisable.
The flag on the summit measures about 15 by 10 metres, roughly half a basketball court, and weighs 44 kilos. By decree it is never lowered at night or in rain, unlike other Panamanian flags. It was first raised on 1 October 1979, when the Torrijos-Carter treaties took effect.
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