Slow and Steady Wins the Race OR To Hell and Back: Hiking Volcán Puracé

This past weekend Amanda, Mandi, Jessica and Stetson set off to hike Volcán Puracé just outside of Popáyan, about a 3-4 hour drive south of Cali.  Some co-workers had completed the hike last year with Bicivan Tours and although we all felt slightly unprepared, we were ready to take on the challenge.  We thought the most difficult part would be the fact that Puracé is about 4,800 meters about sea level, or about 2.5 miles.  We met the vans that we'd be taking outside a store near my apartment in the south at about 4:30 Saturday morning and after meeting up with the vans from the north, set out toward Popáyan. 

 

After a few coffee and bathroom stops later we made it to the condor lookout cliffs, the first part of excursion in Purace National Natural Park. A guide put out meat to attract the condors and we waited quite some time for them to decide to swoop down and eat. In the 1990s they found the condor counts to be low so they took condors to the US to reproduce and then the San Diego Zoo reintroduced them in the park.  Condors mate are monogamous and only lay one egg every two years, which may add to their low numbers.  When they finally swooped in, I was shocked by their massive size and wingspan (compare the condor to the no so small vulture next to it). Watching their flight patterns was impressive as well; at most time their wings did not flap, rather they simply let the wind carry them and would make small adjustments in their wings or feet to change direction as the circled the rock. The pictures certainly do not do it justice.

The next stop on day one was to a waterfall and then we were off to the Termales de San Juan.  This river is said to be one of the most beautiful in Colombia, second only to Caño Cristales, or the river of seven colors. It was by far one of the most beautiful and unique places I have seen yet, and even though it stunk of sulfur and rotten eggs, we took our time exploring everything before us. 

 

When we finally got to our home for the night, we chatted with a new friend and talked about our countries, travels and weather, most of us saying how we could never live in cold weather here despite our Midwestern upbringings; lack of central heating really changes the game and its not one we're willing to play.  A little walking and exploration, some hot soup and one presentation later, we were heading back to our cabin to pack for the next morning and attempt to get some shut eye. 

Our 4am wake up call came all too soon and we quickly found out how unprepared we might be.  We thought we would be taking the vans to our step-off point, instead it turns out our hike started in the pitch black morning at 5am shortly after breakfast.  Due to our lack of headlamps, we had to keep up with other more advanced hikers and blindly climb fences and start our ascent through the fields, passed cows and over small streams and bridges.  We were all just waiting for day light to break.  After the blind ascent, the sun finally rose an we could see our way through the slightly muddy trenches to even muddier land and then to the land of mossy-false-ground where every step was questionable and success relied heavily on one's jumping skills.  Needless to say I walked away from this area with a severe case of wet foot, despite the plastic bags covering my socks.  We stopped off at a shelter to take a break, sip some coffee and refuel for the remaining 2.5-3 hours that would be the most difficult and grueling portion of the hike.

While the first half of the hike was filled with greenery, the second offered nothing but ash and rocks.  The wind was strong and scary, the temperatures were quite low and visibility was less than 50 yards I would say: not quite what we expected based on the photos of other trips.  Later we were told that these were some of the worst conditions they had seen, usually common in August when they don't do trips.  Lucky us.  Eventually 3 of us (Stetson, Mandi and Jessica) made it to the top and later admitted and shared with hikers who were behind us "No vale la pena"-its not worth it.  Amanda and I trekked on despite wanting to turn around several time because of the fierce winds and ultimately made it within about 300-400 meters of the summit: close enough for us as we saw our friends coming back down.  Then we started the adventure back which was at times harder than the ascent due to slipping rocks and severe fatigue from 5 hours of high altitude climbing. 

About 8 or 9 hours after we set out, we had finally made it back to low ground and our cabin.  A little worse for the wear (some worse than others) I think we all agreed it was one of, if not the, most difficult thing we had ever done.  Given the chance, I would do it again, if I could get some guarantee of good weather, which is completely impossible to do at the top of a volcano, so I guess I wouldn't.