April 16, 2023
Volcano hike day was a day to remember, for sure. We completed about 10 miles, in 6 hours. The elevation gain wasn’t too bad, and half of it was pretty smooth while the other half was rocky. The real issue was the rain! After a leisurely climb up a gravel path where we took breaks to look at birds and such, we made it to the first viewpoint of the caldera of the Sierra Negra, one of the largest active volcanos in the world. It last erupted in 2018, and 2005 before that. It was huge, you couldn’t really see the whole thing at once. It was essentially a big crater with lava rocks inside. It reminded me a bit of Crater Lake in Oregon but instead of water it had rocks, and we saw a few small steaming fumeroles in the distance at one point. The trail leveled out for the next hour or so, minus some puddles that we walked around through the grass. We saw some cows and horses on the trail. The vegetation was very lush with ferns, fruit trees, and more. We arrived at somewhat of a midpoint of the one-way (1/4 of the hike), a covered shelter with benches next to another amazing viewpoint. From there, we saw another group and decided to book it to the next downhill section – the hike is very heavily permitted with limited numbers per day. A bit down I was toward the front and Paulina stopped short – we saw a wild giant tortoise on the side of the trail! Apparently very uncommon there. A little more into the gravely hike down, as it started to level off, the rain started. We were all decently prepared so it wasn’t a big deal especially after last night, but then it just didn’t stop, and ended up lasting almost the entire rest of the hike, minus the last mile or so. It was a little miserable, and my waterproof rain jacket finally failed me after about 7 years. The waterproof hiking boots were ok but the rain was so heavy it just fell into the sides. We were all drenched. The backpack surprisingly did ok, though at the end of the day my money was wet and a few other things too. That being said, the landscape was beautiful at the last bit of the out-and-back. It was essentially lava flow formations, with lava tubes and colorful lava rocks and some cacti, very other-worldly. The final viewpoint we were able to see a little bit but not great; normally you can see the whole island. We were 5 of us hiking plus Paulina and our assistant Tito – Wendy and Fiona didn’t join due to injury. We took the 40 minute taxi ride back, feet burning and backs aching, advil flying around the van. We got back around 2pm and spent the next few hours just lounging and doing nothing. It hadn’t rained at all during the day in town, but naturally it started to rain late in the afternoon. Paulina did our briefing and we walked to get drinks and then dinner, drinks at the veggie place from the other night and dinner at a local spot where I got pesto pasta. My feet are still burning, I definitely overdid it a bit despite my boundless energy. Tomorrow, we kayak in Isabela before heading to our next island, Santa Cruz.
travels.of.tara 