Mountaintop adventures
Jan 24, 2025
We arrived at Ecuador‘s Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park for a quick hike around the gorgeous Cuicocha Lake. We unloaded our bus, fresh from trundling up the hillside above Otavalo in the Andean Highlands north of Quito. The park was almost entirely empty on this drizzly Friday in late-January—quiet, moody, and ours to explore.
Continue reading “Cuicocha Lake Loop”
Jan 23, 2025
In January 2025 I joined a guided trip to summit some of the Ecuador’s tallest volcanoes. Typically, getting to a 19,000′ summit involves a lot of time huddled in tents, rehydrating freeze dried dinners, and staring at endless snow and ice. But climbing in Ecuador would not involve any of this “fun.” The benign climate of the equator meant we could acclimate in cities and relaxing haciendas at progressively higher altitudes. And we wouldn’t be dealing with any snow or ice until the “summit days” themselves.
Continue reading “Ruku Pichincha”