Quilatoa Lake

The night was colder then expected, I didn't keep my stove burning for very long and had to take an extra blanket. I did sleep well although the cough is still lingering.

The plan was to hike up the Quilatoa crater, spend sometime at the lake and then return. The hike involves going down a canyon, up the other side of the canyon to Guyamba and then another trail to the top. Its mostly an up hill hike and the super fit club did a round trip yesterday in 7 hours.

The trail happened to be a very wide unpaved road, I promptly got off the trail, and had to find my way back to the other side. It was very nice sunny day, I reached Guyamba in about 2 hours. I asked around as pointed towards a trail that would take me to Quilatoa in about 1 hour. I later realized that this was probably the most direct/steepest route to the top, it was slow going and it took me almost 2 hours to reach the top. By now the clouds had moved in, and visibility was very low. All of a sudden a turn and then there it was, Quilatoa, absolutely magnificent. It was one of the most rewarding hikes of my life. I guess I can count this as a summit 10,440ft.

I took some pictures and slowly made my way to the other side of the rim. It was getting late and I was tired so I decided to take a truck back to the inn.

The crowd is interesting as usual; a Swiss guy who is riding his bike from Alaska to Chile, a bunch of climatologists who spent sometime at Chimborazo (highest peak in Ecuador) and are not happy with what they saw, a family with there son who is in the peace corp. I am too tired for all this, so I am in bed as soon as dinner is over.