Volcan Tajumulco

Volcan Tajumulco looming in the background
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Hi. My name is Sam and I have a problem... I´m addicted to climbing volcanoes.

Volcan Tajumulco marks my third volcano in 6 weeks, so it looks like I´ve got the addiction pretty bad.  At 4,220m (13,845 feet) its the highest peak in Central America, and the 40th highest in the world. To put it in perspective, it was high enough for us to have to send two people down before they reached the summit because they were both suffering from Altitude Sickness - which really is something unpleasant to witness believe me.

Highest peak in Central America

The descent
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To be honest, the hike to the top of Tajumulco isn´t that interesting.  It lacks the four different zones of Acatenango, having instead just farmland and thinly populated alpine forest sections (deforestation on Volcan Tajumulco is much worse than on Volcan Acatenango or Pacaya).  The start of the hike is about 5km from the volcanoe´s base, which means that a large part of the hike is just trekking to the volcano.  Whilst the lack of switchbacks made the hike steep enough (the last section upto the campsite is a real killer!) that I spent nearly all my time watching my feet.

Superbowl party
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Nonetheless, watching the dawn sun rise from the highest point in Central America really did make me feel like I'd accomplished something special.  Plus the view was truly amazing, all of Guatemala was laid out below me with all of its beautiful volcanoes visible.

But if the ascent was a bit of a blowout, then the descent alone made the hike worth while.  The route took us across a beautiful ridge and then down through a fantastically thick pine forest.  With the trees around us plus mountains and volcanoes sloping away in the distance I felt like I was in New Zealand.

In the evening it was the Superbowl and pretty much all of us from the hike got together for a really great night.  Unfortunately the Bears who I was cheering for (because they were the underdogs) were completely crushed by the Colts.  Oh well, NFL never was my sport.

The trek was run by Quetzal Trekkers in Xela and was 350Q.