A Journey In Pictures Pt 2
I love hiking. For me it can be quite relaxing and refreshing even if it is physically strenuous.
Thursday and Friday I had the chance to do one of the most epic hikes ever. It involved hiking up and camping on Volcan Acatanango roughly 1mi from Fuego – an active volcano – and an elevation gain of ~5150ft. Thankfully, tents and sleeping bags were provided at the campsite so all we really had to carry was water and food. (The best part about is that means staying hydrated lightens the pack.)
We started around 11:30am. We hiked through three ecological zones (farmland, tropical cloud forest, pine forest) and entered a fourth (volcanic) before reaching our campsite around 4:30. After spending the night at ~11,712ft elevation, we set off around 4am to climb the remaining ~1300ft to the summit which we reached around 5:30am. The trip back down involved a lot of running and took about 3 hours.
While it was definitely the hardest hike I’ve done yet, I would do it again if the opportunity arose.
The view at the beginning of the hike
Lunch time
Walking through clouds
Clouds at sunset featuring Volcan El Fuego
Fuego! Fuego! I tried to keep track of how many times Fuego erupted but I lost track around 23 and that was before bed. I could hear it going of all night long.
Sunrise is coming
The moon looked cool too
More lava
The sun has appeared
Running/skiing back down to camp
One last look at camp
Part way down and still above the clouds
Getting closer to the end
A final break before the end
