Monday 9 December 2013

Tajumulco

On Thursday hiked up Tajumulco Volcano, which stands at 13,845 ft.  We arrived late and started hiking about an hour before sundown, so most of our hike up the mountain was in the dark.  We camped on the summit, the sky was very clear at this altitude, so I spent most of the night in my sleeping bag gazing at the stars.

View from the Trail Head, looking north to Takana Volcano in the distance.

We drove offroad for about 45 minutes to where we would park the vehicles.
Danny, driving his 1984 Toyota Landcruiser
View out of the truck window
Danny and Stevie.  Where we parked up before setting off up the mountain.
Looking back down the track.



Tacana in the distance again.  Tacana straddles the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
Looking toward the summit of Tajumulco.
We camped on the summit at 13,845 ft, and were greeted by this sunrise at 5:30 in the morning.
Another hiker, from South Africa, arrived just in time ti catch the sunrise.

Stevie as an aspiring Jedi and Danny as Spiderman
Looking down into the crater.
Looking south across the crater.
Danny's tent.  It was very windy at the top.
I spent the night in my bivi bag, looking at the stars.
The shadow from Tajumulco was perfectly lined up with Tacana.
The crater.
Looking into the crater, I climbed down and up the other side.
Some shots of the crater walls...
Looking west from the other side of the crater.
Looking down the lava channels on the south side...
Tajumulco's shadow receding as the sun rose.
Stevie striking an apic pose.
More lava flow shots.
Coming back down through the Hartweg Pines...
These last photos are from our previous hike up Acatenango,  this is sunrise, looking across to Agua Volcano...