Visiting Cotopaxi National Park

The first place I visited in Cotopaxi National Park was the visitor center and its small museum. Of course, everything here revolves around the massive Cotopaxi volcano. The volcano is fairly active, and I happened to visit shortly after the park reopened following a four-month closure caused by volcanic activity and heavy ash. Cotopaxi rises to 19,347 feet (5,897 meters), making it one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.

Unfortunately, the frequent cloud cover means there’s no guarantee you’ll actually see the volcano. The painting above showed what Cotopaxi looked like without the clouds, but it also illustrated how much its glacier had retreated. According to information at the visitor center, the glacier once extended much farther down the mountain than it does today. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Right outside the museum is a small garden filled with native plants found around Cotopaxi. The cool, humid conditions allow cloud forest vegetation to grow in parts of the park. The tree above was completely covered in moss, while below is a native paper tree, named for its thin, paper-like bark.

Along the drive to the visitor center I also passed large numbers of introduced pine and eucalyptus trees. Unlike the smaller and slower-growing native trees, these species were planted because of their rapid growth and usefulness for timber. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

My driver pointed toward the clouds and told me Cotopaxi was only a few thousand feet away. Since I couldn’t see anything whatsoever, I just had to trust him that one of the world’s largest volcanoes was sitting directly in front of me. The clouds were high enough, however, that I could see horses grazing across the open grasslands surrounding the volcano.

I was surprised by how much birdlife lived across Cotopaxi’s high-altitude plains. With very few trees at this elevation, many species live and nest among the grasses. Above is an Andean lapwing, with one of its chicks photographed below.

Lake Limpiopungo is a popular place for hiking near the base of Rumiñahui volcano. Since Cotopaxi itself was off limits during my visit, hiking toward Rumiñahui gave me another way to explore the park.

My first impression of Lake Limpiopungo wasn’t too impressive. From ground level, I thought it looked more like an overgrown pond or a flooded parking lot than some mystical mountain lake. Once I started hiking along the shore and gained a little elevation, the scenery improved. The wetlands also attract plenty of birds, and there’s a small observation shelter where you can stop and watch them.

Most of the landscape here consisted of tall grass, shrubs, and a few small trees. It didn’t look particularly wet, but much of the ground was waterlogged like a sponge. Step into the wrong patch of moss and your shoe could disappear straight into the mud. It brought back nightmares of my trip to Carstensz Pyramid, although nothing could ever compete with the horror of that place.

After only a few minutes on the trail, a large bird of prey began circling overhead. I wasn’t sure of the species, but at that moment it was definitely dominating the sky. Lucky for the lizard below, I spotted him but the bird apparently didn’t. I wasn’t sure of the lizard species either, but his unusual tail certainly made him stand out.

Later in the hike I came across one of South America’s most famous birds: an Andean condor. I had no idea how special the sighting was at the time, and I wish I had spent more time watching it. At first the condor flew directly toward me before suddenly turning and disappearing back into the mountains.

Eventually the clouds cleared just enough for Cotopaxi to finally appear. I kept hoping for even a few seconds when the entire volcano would be exposed, but every opening was quickly replaced by another wave of clouds. I was lucky to see as much as I did.

After about two hours we reached the base of Rumiñahui. Unlike Cotopaxi, this mountain wasn’t hidden by clouds, so I could finally see an entire volcano. Hiking to the summit was possible, but I was already above 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) and had arrived in Ecuador from sea level only a few hours earlier. Going any higher that day was out of the question.

A few days later, after having some time to acclimatize, I climbed a peak over 17,000 feet (5,000 meters). From there I finally got another view of Cotopaxi, its enormous summit poking above the clouds in the distance. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}