Tungurahua Volcano Hike

Jordi | May 8, 2023, 4:06 a.m. | Ecuador

Today we hiked up the base of a volcano in Ecuador called Tungurahua. Planning on this one was fairly light. From the town of Baños, we talked to a taxi driver and asked if he was able to take us up to the access point for the trail head. He said he could take us up to the "school." I was quite sure what that meant, so I showed him on google maps, and he said yes he could take me there. So off we went. On the way, I asked him for clarification on pronunciation of the name of the volcano, which he very kindly did, and also told us that Tungurahua is a woman, and she's married to Chimborazo on the other side of the huge valley the city of Ambato lies in. The town we started in, Baños, is an absolutely gorgeous town surrounded on all sides by steep mountains, including Tungurahua, and it was a 20 minute cab ride out of town and up some winding roads to get up to the start of the volcano hike. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what Baños is like. The water fall featured below is actually fed be a volcanic hot spring and at the bottom of the waterfall is an amazing public hot spring bath, which is where we went to relax after our volcano hike (10/10 would recommend). 

Back in our taxi, as you might expect, the driver did not in fact take us all the way to the volcano hike access point. He took us to within about 2 miles of it, where the road transitioned from asphalt to dirt and stone, where he understandably said "ok, we're here. There's the 'school' and if you go up that dirt road, you'll reach the volcano access point." We thanked him, gave him a good tip, and started marching. The observant among you might wonder "how are they going to get back to town?" Well that was a problem for future us at that point. Where the taxi let us out, there was a small house growing some fruit trees and a couple scruffy dogs barking at us. We walked over and said hi to the dogs, who turned out to be very friendly. So friendly, in fact, that when we turned to march up the steep road to the volcano, one of the dogs came along. 

It was a pretty long walk up to the volcano access point, but worth, and our faithful companion was running along the whole way. He'd run ahead, find a foot path off the road, go down and explore it, and by the time he'd come up, we'd already be past him, and he'd come sprinting up the road after us to diligently scout on ahead and find the next floral road side attraction for his doggie nose. He was so energetic, we named him Volcanito (little volcano). We eventually reach the actual hiking access point, where we finally started the proper trail. But the road walking was still pretty scenic. 

This was seriously the most photogenic dog I think I've ever hung out with. And once we got to the hike proper, it was magical. The trail was so worn through, that the foot path was at times 6 or 7 feet lower than the surrounding ground, and the forest and jungle was so dense that it would just grow across the gap in landscape turning the trail into a literal tunnel. And it felt like we traversed several different biomes in the 3 or 4 thousand foot ascent. What started off as a temperate looking forest interspersed with cow pastures slowly turned into a more humid and untouched jungle. And the jungle gradually gave way to higher altitude varieties of trees and shrubberies that would stick closer to the ground and were absolutely covered in all imaginable kinds of lichens and moss. 

Volcanito really lived up to his name on this hike. Every time we stopped to rest, catch our breathe, or grab a drink and a snack, he'd curl up right next to us, even seeming to fall asleep sometimes. But as soon as we started moving again, he would erupt into motion and go running up the trail to see what treasures lay ahead. Anthea also collected a rather impressive  assortment of leaves as well. Throughout the hike, we would move through layers of cloud and fog, and we never quite got the perfect view of the cone of the volcano at the top. On a whim, I brought my drone on the hike and at the highest point of our adventure, I finally took it out in a rare break between fog banks, and got some spectacular shots. 

Happy with the pictures from the drone, we finally started the return journey. It was a pretty uneventful return trek, with perhaps the most significant development of falling in with some other hikers also on their way down. Once we got back to the access point, which very little hope of easily finding a ride back among the few farmers in the area, the hikers we fell in with kindly offered to take us back to Baños on their way back to Ambato. As we were getting ready to take off, we had to explain the dog that had been with us the whole time was not our dog. They had been ready to bring us back to town including the dog though, so after a brief discussion, we decided to take him in the car. We figured he was well enough taken care of that surely he belongs to someone who lives in the area, therefore it'd be best to drop him off back where we found him. When we got back to where the taxi had dropped us off, our new friends gave a short friendly honk outside the house with the fruit trees. And sure enough, the scruffy under-bite dog came running out of the house to greet his friend, and a friendly gentleman followed him out of the house and confirmed the dog does indeed live there, and he seemed not at all surprised that his dog had joined some total strangers and climbed most of the way up a volcano. Thus we parted ways with Volcanito. We speculated on the kinds of adventures that dog must get up to, and wished our other new Ecuadorian friends well once we got back to town. They had some great advice of what else to do while we are in Baños, but that night, we had eyes only on the hot springs.