The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Culture, caminatas, and climbs in Ecuador

Nearly six years ago I returned from Ecuador with some unfinished business high in the Andes. Recently I attempted to address this situation by climbing two of Ecuador’s three highest peaks: Volcáns Cayambe and Cotopaxi. Read on to see how I did as well as some of the other highlights from this amazing country. This blog is arranged thematically rather than chronologically.

Culture

Our group of 5 Mountain Madness clients began the acclimatization process with a tour of the historic center of Quito and up to the Mirador del Panecillo. Certainly, staying the first three nights at the Hacienda Rumilomo above Quito assisted us as well.

The Mirador del Panecillo Virgin overlooking northern Quito. Panecillo means roll or muffin, and describes the shape of the hill on which the monument stands.
Vista of Quito, the capital and 2nd largest city in Ecuador from the Mirador del Panecillo. At about 2850m (9350 ft), Quito is the 2nd highest capital in the world.
Hacienda Rumilomo (stock photo). We were here a total of five nights over three separate stays at this fantastic hacienda, beyond the hustle and bustle of Quito. (Though, to be honest, a rooster crowing at all hours of the night made sleep a challenge at times). Importantly for acclimatization, it also stands 400m (1300 ft) higher than the city.
My bedroom in the Montana suite at Hacienda Rumilomo
Relaxing in my sitting room at the Hacienda Rumilomo

I returned to Quito for three days at the conclusion of the climbing for some more culture. . .

View west from my balcony at the Ikala Quito Hotel. A stylish in-town option in La Mariscal at a fraction of the cost of Rumilomo, the Ikala was my home for three nights last week after the climbing.
Pre-Colombian ceramics at the Museo Nacional del Ecuador. I used a stock photo here as flash photography was not permitted and the lighting made it impossible to photograph otherwise. With the lack of background information on the cultures and no placards in English, the visit was a bit frustrating. But free entry and the amazing sculptures from La Tolita – Tumaco cultures (600 – 300 BCE in coastal Ecuador and Colombia) made the visit a worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours.
The historic Hacienda Pinsaqui. Simón Bolívar planned the battle of Ibarra from here in July 1823, the only military action directed personally by Bolívar in Ecuadorian territory. We spent a night here after visiting the famous market in Otavalo, north of Quito and near Volcán Cayambe.
Traditional Andean music at the bar in Hacienda Pensaqui

Caminatas

While sightseeing and sleeping in Quito helped, caminatas (“hikes” in Spanish) were the best way to acclimatize for our subsequent climbs in the Andes. Because of poor weather and our time constraints, we completed only two of three planned acclimatization hikes, one to the summit of Rucu Pichincha high above Quito, and the second a short hike up towards a glacier on Volcán Cayambe.

Ossy explaining the Rucu Pichincha hike. We took the teleferico (cable car) to 3945m (12,940 ft) to start the climb to 4700m (about 15,400 ft). Oswaldo, a very experienced high altitude mountaineering guide, is the director of mountaineering in Ecuador for Mountain Madness.
Chuquiraga (Chuquiraga jussieui), the flower of the Andes, on Rucu Pichincha
A traverse on the hike to the summit of Rucu Pichincha. The weather became increasingly overcast and rainy as the day progressed.
The misty scramble up the Rucu Pichincha summit block. I’m in the orange helmet at the back here. (Helmets were worn to protect against rock fall). Our guides took scads of photos which they shared with the clients. I have borrowed liberally from them for this blog post.
A Caracara on the summit of Rucu Pichincha. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: “the Crested Caracara looks like a hawk with its sharp beak and talons, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a large tropical black-and-white falcon.”
A feral canid surveys its surroundings near the Refugio San Gabriel. Brand new and at a far lower elevation than the trailhead, this refuge was an ideal place to stay before our final acclimatization hike on the lower slopes of Cayambe the following day.
The road between Refugio San Gabriel and the Cayambe trailhead at upper refuge (4600m, 15100 ft.) was a challenge after all the rain.
Our group descending during the Cayambe acclimatization hike. I’m in the orange hard shell on the left. Poor weather and the late hour kept us from reaching our objective of the glacier at 5100m.

My final caminata was after climbing Cayambe and Cotopaxi, but for want of a better place, I insert it here.

Bamboo loggers, Mindo Cloud Forest. Bamboo (an exotic invasive) was planted a few decades previously for use in construction. I had never visited a cloud forest before, and hired a private guide for what turned out to be a 13 hour day trip from Quito.
Río Pachijal, seen here on our hike
At Cascada Tatala, the objective of the hike. Apart from the bamboo harvesters, we saw no one else the whole time.
Plate-billed mountain toucan (Tucan Andino). My guide and I spent an hour bird watching at a finca (farm) before the cloud forest hike. At dawn with a 1″ sensor, this photo was as good as I could get. We then spent an hour at another finca enjoying a tour and tasting from the fruit trees. A variety of jack fruit was my favorite, but the flesh of a cacao was tasty too and a mandarin orange sublime.

Climbs

Of course the main reason I traveled to Ecuador was to climb, the focus of the rest of this blog.

Volcán Cayambe from the Refugio San Gabriel two days prior to the climb. At 4790m (19,000 ft), Cayambe is the 3rd highest peak in Ecuador. Its South slope (4690m) is the highest point in the world crossed by the Equator.
My rope mate, Todd, and I resting before final Cayambe summit push. We started at 12:30 AM for what turned out to be a nearly 6.5 hour climb.
Some of the rest of our group arriving on the summit at sunrise. Each rope consisted of 1-2 clients plus a guide.
Our leader and my rope guide, Pablo, brought his drone to the summit to capture some video. After processing, this was the result. I’m seated here, hydrating and fueling up after the challenging (for me) ascent.
Summit vista with Antisana, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo far in the distance. Together with Cayambe, they comprise the four highest mountains in Ecuador.
Me leading the Cayambe descent with Todd following, over some easy terrain. For safety, the guide anchors rather that leads the descent.
Another photo with Todd descending Cayambe
Glacier near the upper Cayambe refuge. It has retreated hundreds of meters over the past couple of decades and its broken nature make it no longer suitable for climbing school.
With other clients at Chilcabamba lodge, following the successful ascent of Cayambe. The lodge was quite comfortable and in an ideal location for many hikes and climbs around both Cotopaxi and Pasaohoa Parks. Highly recommended and less than a 2 hour drive from Quito.
Nele drying her mountaineering boots. She was a definite positive addition to our otherwise all male group of clients.
Volcán Cotopaxi (at 5897m (19,347 ft) the 2nd highest mountain in Ecuador) from Chilcabamba lodge prior to our summit attempt. A very aesthetic peak, here it looks somewhat benign. . .
Cotopaxi’s Jose Ribas Hut. Despite its spectacular location and ideal starting point for the climb, not a very pleasant experience.
Seracs on Volcán Cotopaxi, an additional hazard on summit day. The main issue, though, was the 30-60 cm (1-2 ft) of new snow at higher elevations, creating hazardous avalanche conditions.
Cotopaxi climbers near dawn. I’m at the far right. Todd and I, with Pancho guiding, started at around 12:30 AM. These alpine starts got tiring!
I turned around at 5600m (18,370 ft), and the rest of the group after another hundred meters due to the extreme avalanche hazard.
The Vagabond Hiker taking a photo from below Jose Ribas Hut on Volcán Cotopaxi after the failed summit attempt
Volcán Chimborazo. Chimbo was our group’s ultimate objective, but we did not attempt it due to snowfall creating unacceptable avalanche hazards during our trip. Apart from yours truly, who returned to Quito and the Mindo Cloud Forest, the remainder of the group split, two climbing Cotopaxi successfully three days later and the others summitting the more technical (i.e. steep) but far lower, Illiniza Sur. (I wish this were my photo, but in fact one of the guides took this great shot).

Writing this blog from my base in St. George Utah, I’m preparing for my winter road trip through the desert Southwest. First stop for four weeks will be southern New Mexico, near the Arizona border and the Chiricahua Mountains. Stay tuned. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

Wildflowers of Northern Utah

This past summer I lived in Park City, Utah, lying at 7000 ft elevation east of Salt Lake City. Known mostly as a winter skiing center, in summer it attracts outdoor adventurers, including mountain bikers, climbers, and hikers. Both my brothers visited to share with me some of the great mountain scenery and trails of the Wasatch and Uintas ranges. I tried to capture the amazing landscape in some of my photos, but often the Idaho, Oregon, and California wildfires obscured the view. At times hiking in the smoke was so unpleasant that I retreated indoors to my reading chair or to the local sports club to swim.

Ultimately, the real stars of my photography this past summer were the amazing diversity of wild flowers. A few were captured with my Panasonic Lumix, but most were taken with my Samsung Galaxy camera phone. This blog highlights 38 of the 81 flowers I identified with the help of the PlantNet app as well as some websites and flower guides. A few landscape photos are interspersed amongst the flora, and some fauna shots provide a coda. Enjoy!

Calochortus nuttallii. The Sego lily, state flower of Utah. A fave of mine only a few steps from my condo.
Erythronium grandiflorum. Avalanche lily. The only specimen of this beauty I spotted all summer.
Primula parryi. Parry’s primrose gave color to otherwise gray alpine landscapes on my way to many a mountain summit.
Gymnadenia odoratissima. The only orchid I saw, and this one by chance as I was photographing another (since forgotten) flower.
Twin Peaks from Butler Forks loop in the Wasatch
Aquilegia pubescens. Colville’s, sierra, or alpine columbine, the more frequently encountered of the two columbine species I saw in northern Utah, and one to always bring a smile to my face.
Hackelia floribunda. Manyflower stickweed. For the longest time I thought this plant was a forget-me-not, but now I’m fairly certain it is in fact a stickweed. Still beautiful whatever its taxonomy.
Lupinus argenteus. Silvery lupine, very common in this area, but a beautiful addition to any meadow nonetheless.
Ipomopsis tenuituba. Slender tube skyrocket. Closely related to its even more vibrant cousin, scarlet gilia.
Naturalist Basin stream in the high Uintas in the early morning light.
Wyethia angustifolia. Narrowleaf mule’s ears. An early bloomer, it brightened many hikes this past June.
Pedicularis groenlandica. Elephant’s head. I had missed this distinctive flower since my last visit to northern Utah five years ago.
Aconitum columbianum. Western monkshood enjoys riparian areas. Toxic though it may be, I find its morphology fascinating.
Rudbeckia occidentalis. Western coneflower. Understated for sure, but oddly I always checked for the dimunitive yellow flowers that did not survive long into the summer.
Polemonium foliosissimum. Leafy Jacob’s ladder. I only spotted this rarity the one time, on a local Park City hike!
View southeast from Park City Hill summit
Argemone pleiacantha. Southwestern prickly poppy. Native to Arizona and New Mexico, it seems to be spreading northwards as the world warms.
Iris missouriensis. Rocky Mountain iris, listed a a weed in some areas of California since livestock find it distasteful. Twisted priorities IMHO.
Monardella odoratissima. Mountain coyote mint, mountain beebalm, mountain monardella or mountain pennyroyal – call it what you will. A distinctly minty odor as its name implies, it was prolific on one early July hike above Brighton ski resort.
Aquilegia saximontana. Rocky Mountain columbine. Not as common as in Colorado, but all the more special for that. Spotted on the eastern slope of Mt Nebo.
Nebo Massif in the southern Wasatch Range, viewed from northeast on a rare clear day in early July.
Collomia debilis. Alpine collomia. I spotted this twice, both times high in the southern Wasatch. I’ve also misidentified it twice, wrongly thinking it was Alpine Springbeauty or Parry’s Primrose. I attribute these errors to the effects of altitude. A stunning sight after a hard ascent, Alpine Collomia surely deserves a Wiki page.
Mt Nebo North Peak summit view back along my ascent route in September
Penstemon venustus. Venus penstemon is the third species I saw in northern Utah, along with Rydberg’s and Whipple.
Verbascum thapsus. Common or great mullein. An old world flower naturalized in the US.
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Erigeron speciosus. Showy daisy or fleabane. An early bloomer, in September it can still be found. One must admire its persistence.
Penstemon whippleanus. Whipple penstemon. A glorious deep wine color, seen on the lower slopes of Santaquin Peak in the southern Wasatch.
Fireweed and burnt trees on the northern slopes of Loafer Mountain
Santaquin Peak summit flag in the hazy smoke that day. Note the mailbox that contains the summit register.
Lynda tending her feet on Santaquin summit
Campanula rotundifolia. Harebell, in the early morning light.
Pedicularis racemosa. Sickletop lousewort. One species that definitely could use some better PR!
Chamaenerion angustifolium. Fireweed, or rosebay willowherb to you anglophiles. One of the earliest colonizers after a fire. It should become even more common here in the west.
Anaphalis margaritacea. Pearly everlasting. This diminutive member of the sunflower family is another of my favorites.
Brassica oleracea. Really not a flower at all, just a head of broccoli in a demitasse.
Castilleja miniata. Giant red paintbrush. The small yellow tapered tubes are the inflorescences.
Mertensia ciliata. Mountain bluebells. Native to the western US, it prefers moist habitat and can carpet large areas of hillside.
Meadow and Mt Watson in the High Uintas, one of the few mountain ranges that run East-West in the United States
Ipomopsis aggregata. Scarlet gilia. I saw these too many times to count – and loved them every time.
Gentiana calycosa. Mountain bog gentians. I took this photo at Notch Pass in the High Uintas back in 2016.
Naturalist Basin and Mt Agassiz (far right) in the High Uintas
Penstemon cyananthus. Wasatch beardtongue, the most common of the three penstemon species I identified in northern Utah.
Castilleja parviflora. Mountain paintbrush. Such a beautiful color. Look closely to see the yellow-green inflorescences.
Polemonium viscosum. Sky pilot. No one ever sees this high alpine species in the wild without earning it. This photo was taken on Mt Baldy in the High Uintas in 2016, though I also spotted it this summer high on Wind River Peak, as I traversed the continental divide above 13,000 ft.
Naturalist Basin from Mt Agassiz ridge in the Uintas
Wind River Peak ascent route from an unnamed lake. Lynda and I did a four day backpack in the southern Wind River Range
Wind River Peak summit view East
Frasera speciosa. Monument plant. Earlier in the summer it was a common sight above the rail trail in Park City.
Park City rail trail view. Beavers were active in the area, and those I saw them several times, never managed a photo.
Rosa pendulina. Alpine rose. These flowers provided a wonderful scent at Brighton ski resort among many other locales this summer.
Brighton loop view from Catherine pass to Lakes Catherine and Mary
Oenothera caespitosa. Tufted evening primrose (aka desert evening primrose, rock-rose evening primrose, or fragrant evening primrose).
Geranium richardsonii. Richardson’s geranium was a frequent sighting in shadier areas in northern Utah.
Triteleia grandiflora. Known by the common names largeflower triteleia, largeflower tripletlily and wild hyacinth. I finally identified this flower that I’d seen from time to time.

While flowers were the primary inspiration for my photography this past summer, I managed a few (less than stellar) photos of fauna to complement all the flora.

A mountain goat on the north face of Loafer Mountain in the southern Wasatch
A fawn watching me at my Park City condo in the early morning. One of the drawbacks of camera phone is that their small sensor size pixilates crepuscular fauna.
A bobcat on a trail above my condo. By the time I got my phone out, she was sauntering away from me.
Kings Peak (left-most peak seen here) from Dollar Lake. Our campsite, off to the left in the trees, was here for climbing Kings and Gilbert Peaks, the highest and third highest, respectively, in Utah.
Big Horn Sheep ewes and lambs on the slopes of Mt. Gilbert (zoom)
A Pika on Gilbert Peak summit. This relative to the rabbit is one of my favorites, and a poster child for global warming. I recommend this wonderful article on Pikas, with an included YouTube video.
Gilbert Peak summit selfie showing the magnificent view

For those interested, about 45 wildflowers I identified can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Currently I am back in St. George Utah, spending much of the time hiking in this amazing place. I have not taken many photos as I lived here for a couple of years and have become somewhat jaded. In any event, it is a wonderful change to simply enjoy the moment rather than trying to capture it for some future time.

As international travel opens back up, as you may imagine I am making future plans. While I will spend most of the winter in the desert southwest (New Mexico and California) and hope to post a couple blogs from those places, in November I will be returning to Ecuador for some unfinished business climbing mountains. Back in December 2015 I had attempted three major peaks, with only one summit (the lower of the two summits on Chimborazo) to show for an otherwise amazing trip due to weather events (a hail storm blew us off Cayambe at 5000m and a volcano eruption closed Cotapaxi). As Ecuadorian food and lodging on my upcoming trip will be superb, it will also serve to provide a good test to decide whether I want to continue alpine mountaineering in the coming years. Trekking is a separate matter and I have already booked a Traverse of the Jotunheimen in Norway for late June. More on that trip and my other summer 2022 plans in a future blog post. Meanwhile, continue to enjoy the outdoors wherever you happen to be.

The Vagabond Hiker

Grand Canyon backpack: Tanner and Beamer trails to the Confluence

The auguries were decidedly propitious when the Grand Canyon Park Authority, in consultation with the Navajo Nation, opened the East Entrance after a year of Covid closure on the precise day we were arriving for our backpacking trip, saving us hours of driving time from St George, Utah. A friend’s cancellation left a spot on Lynda’s 5 day, 4 night permit, which I did not hesitate to take advantage of. Cutting short my recovery from patellar tendinitis by a couple of days, I braced myself (quite literally) for the 4700 ft descent from the South Kaibab plateau to the Colorado River. The following photos highlight a bit of this magical place. Enjoy!

Grand Canyon vista from Lipan Point, 7200 ft elevation. A few miles west of Devil’s Tower, the Tanner trailhead is nearby. Escalante Butte is in the right foreground. The weather was perfect the entire trip, with overnight lows in the 50’s and afternoon highs in the upper 80’s in the canyon.
Lynda at a view point on the Tanner trail descent
A collared lizard. Unlike many we saw, this fellow was quite bold.
Rafters at Tanner camp, sunset day 1. Our descent of 8 miles and 4700 ft took us about 6 hours at a gentle pace.
Beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris) along the Beamer trail to Palisades camp. Our second day was an easy 4 miles along the Colorado River.
Lynda hiking on the Beamer trail, early morning of day 3. In contrast to day 2, our third day demanded an early start for the 12-14 mile round trip hike beyond the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers. Despite online reviews and official park information suggesting a difficult trail, in fact it was an easy walk along a bench several hundred feet above the river.
Temple Butte at sunrise. The bench along which the Beamer trail runs is on the right above the river-level cliffs. Admittedly, we enjoyed a bit of exposure in places.
View approaching the confluence with the Little Colorado River
The Confluence. The bright turquoise color of the Little Colorado is from high levels of dissolved solids, mostly naturally occurring salts. In addition, the radium content of the LCR is very high, rendering it non-potable.
Federally protected Humpback chub (Gila cypha) at the Confluence. Although their humps are not clear in this zoom shot, their deeply forked tails are noticeable. Habitat destruction – not least the construction of the Glen Canyon dam – has dramatically reduced their population in the last half-century.
Lynda floating in the Little Colorado, much warmer than the main stem of the river, which exits Gen Canyon dam at 52F.
Vista of the Colorado looking downstream from the Beamer trail on day 3. Some afternoon overcast provided a respite from the intense sun.
Sunrise from Palisades camp, day 4. Staying two nights at the same camp had meant light loads on our day hike to the Confluence.
Dories on the Colorado River. A 16-18 day dory trip from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek is definitely on my bucket list!
Another view of the Colorado River. A portion of Tanner Rapids is visible here.
Rather than having a leisurely day 4 and making the complete ascent back to the rim on day 5, we climbed up to a great campsite at about 4800 ft elevation for the final night.
Looking up at the South Rim at sunset from our camp. The small finger of Devil’s Tower is visible.
Scarlet Hedgehog (Echinocereus coccineus) cactus on the Tanner trail, day 5
Detail of the Scarlet Hedgehog cactus
View towards the Tabernacle, Rama Shrine, and Vishnu Temple. This fantastic viewpoint provided a great snack stop before the steep final ascent to the canyon’s rim.

Although I will surely struggle to match the dramatic beauty this trip offered is future blog posts , this year I will endeavor to convey a bit of the amazing western United States. Stay tuned!

The Vagabond Hiker

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