Cotopaxi, Ecuador (5897m/19347 ft)

Summiting Cotopaxi. That was the highlight of our 2025 December trip to Ecuador. It was fantastic experience.

Cotopaxi is 5897 meters (19347 feet). High. The highest point I had ever been before was Mount Whitney in California, USA, which is 4421 meters/14505 feet. That means almost 1500 meters/4500 feet higher than Mt.Whitney.

To climb high, the most important thing is acclimatization. We planned carefully and took time to acclimatize. Living in Boston, sea level, 5897 meters is quite a big difference. To do so, we stayed in Quito (~3000 meters) for a day, then we did Quilotoa loop (3000-4000 meters) for 3 days, then day hike to Ruca Pichincha (4776 meters). After that we went to a hostel in Cotopaxi area at ~3500 meters and did an easy waterfall hike.  The next day was day hike to Ruminahui Central (4631 meters), then day hike to Sincholagua (4899 meters). One day before the Cotopaxi basecamp hike day, we took an easy day of horseback riding. I will have separate blog entries for each climb. These mountain climbings were not just set as acclimatizing hike, but each individual was wonderful trek.

On the day of Christmas Eve 2025/12/24 around noon, we met a guide (legally guide is required to climb Cotopaxi (and many other mountains) in Ecuador). I brought my personal base layer, middle layer, outer shell, helmet, headlamp, sunglasses, and gloves. I rented harness, climbing boots, and crampons. Then we drove to a parking lot at trailhead inside Cotopaxi National park from hostel, which took about 1.5 hours. To enter Cotopaxi National Park, everyone needs to provide passport number. From the parking lot to the hut is 45 minutes hike with ~250 meter elevation gain. On the way a guy who went to only a hut was coming down and asked us with surprise, "Are you going to the summit?!?!" in OMG tone. Mr.N answered, "That's the plan." Yes, it is not the hike for most people. 

We arrived at hut around 4 p.m., got a bunk bed and set a sleeping bag, then had dinner at 5 p.m. It is amazing to have nice dinner at 4864 meters (15953 feet). It was chicken soup with daikon radish and carrots, then main dish was calf. The daikon radish in the soup was very very good! Also I had hot chocolate. Apparently many people hike just to the hut and have hot chocolate. If you search on Youtube, most Cotopaxi videos are going to the hut for hot chocolate. At 6 p.m. we went to bed. I got up at 9 p.m. to pee. Then 11p.m. we got up, had a piece of bread and hot chocolate, then midnight we started hiking. The first 1 hour is on the dirt. Then we had crampons and tied with rope. Our guide, Marco's pace was great. Slow and steady. That is the key in the high altitude. We went on a steady pace, and we passed several groups on the way. For the last 30 minutes, I noticed Marco sped up and we passed more groups. Then, whoa, we were the first group to reach the summit!! Cotopaxi is an active volcano. Near the summit sulfur smell was very strong. It reminded me of my country, Japan, that has many places with sulfur smells with Onsen (hot springs). Indeed Cotopaxi is known to be similar shape to Mt.Fuji, which is the highest mountain in Japan, also an active volcano. Both are cone shapes with half snow capped, although Cotopaxi is significantly higher than Mt.Fuji. Personally this fact added additional memorial aspect to me. Even though Mt.Fuji and Cotopaxi are so far away on the globe, big common thing is beauty of mountain. 

We reached the summit a little before sunrise and we saw an amazing Christmas sunrise. We said each other Merry Christmas! Sun came to light the crater. That was very unique scenery. Smoke was coming for 5 minutes, then not for 5 minutes then again smoke came from crater. We saw every single high mountains from the summit including Chimborazo. The below picture is just after sunrise and right behind the crater you see the Chimborazo. What a view! This memory will stay in my heart whole life. 

About 30 minutes we were on the top, then it was time to go down. It took 6 hours to climb but it was only 2 hours to go down to the hut. Light breakfast was served at the hut, but I didn't eat much, because I was so exhausted and got a headache once I came back there. We collected the sleeping bag etc then we hiked down to the parking lot. Then we drove back to the hostel. It was so nice to lay down on a bed at the hostel. We came back to the hostel around 10 a.m. and usually room can't be checked in until 1 p.m. but the manager made it ready for us to be able to rest (thanks Secret Garden Cotopaxi!) The next day at the hostel, we met again Marco there. He was going to Cotopaxi again with different clients. OMG he is a machine! Actually a day before he did Cotopaxi with us, he climbed Chimborazo with other clients. He said 3 times/week in high season he guides to the big mountains. For him, this is just a sea level-like easy hike (the guides must be completely acclimatized for sure). 

Conclusion: incredible experience. 

Cloud Peak, 13180 feet/4017.3 meters, Cloud Peak Wilderness, Wyoming

This is one of top3 toughest dayhikes in my experience. 

15.5 hours hike total (7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.) for 23 miles with 5337 feet/1627 meters elevation gain. Last 5 miles of rock hopping is no joke. 

But... come on, the rewarding way surpasses the hardship. The view is incredible. 

Actually when we started we were not intending to summit cloud peak. We planned a  rather moderate day hike to the Florence pass. When we reached the bottom of the Florence pass at Mystic lake, it was only 10 a.m. and the Cloud peak became visible. That's the time when we decided to go to Cloud Peak.

Lake Helen

Actually there were already so many great scenery and moments before reaching the Mystic lake. Lake Helen was gorgeous reflecting mountains. Really nice morning peace was there. 

pika

Another thing I need to mention is wonderful wildlife sightings. Along the Lake Helen shore, there was a cute pika. Now late August, they were busy stocking up hay for winter. Many pika were hidden in the talus: we knew because they say "peeee!" a lot even though we didn't see them. 

bull moose

There were two bull moose before reaching Mystic lake. They like to eat willows in the cloud peak wilderness. It seemed that the valley had a lot of willows and moose eat them. 

 

Mystic Lake

Mystic lake is another beautiful lake. Many people camp here and climb to Cloud peak on the next day. After Mystic lake, there is no official trail but well established social trail continues until the boulder section begins. It was piece a cake until there. Route finding is not difficult even in the talus. Just tedious to do rock hopping for 2.5 miles to the top and 2.5 miles down. Especially the last 500 feet climb was tough for me due to altitude. I was not completely acclimatized. 

Half way of the boulder section, the view gets more and more dramatic. High mountains lakes were coming into the vision as you see in the left picture. Lakes are so dramatic. Color is amazing. 

view from summit

Around 3 p.m. we reached the summit! Oh my. I was at the top of vertical glacier! The bottom of it are two different colors of lakes. INCREDIBLE. Bonus points for just us at the summit!

bull

On the way back, we saw another bull whose velvet was just off (left picture). It was my first time seeing bull of freshly velvet-off antlers. 

female moose

Then another female moose we spotted. She was in the lake (right picture). After an hour or so, we started using headlamp to hike. That part I have to confess I didn't enjoy. We were very tired and no more view :(  Glad we made it to the trailhead at 10:30 p.m.

Colonnade Arch, Utah

 Colonnade Arch. Really cool arch!

I had never heard of Colonnade Arch or Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness. During some search for hikes in our 2024 Winter trip in Utah, this came up and we gave it a try after a big hike, which was Holy Ghost Panel hike in Horseshoe (Barrier) Canyon in Canyonlands National Park. 

Colonnade Arch hike is only 2.3 miles with less than 200 feet elevation change, so it was nice to add to a big hike to conclude a day. Holy Ghost Panel Hike was no any other person, and after that, no single car or a person to the trailhead of Colonnade Arch, and during hike absolutely nobody else. Perfect solitude day!

The hike is pretty straightforward. Relatively flat trail until a little before arch. The view is gorgeous and massive. You see the vast Utah's world with magnificent mountain range in the distance as below picture. 

It is already rewarding of this view, but this is just one of many great scenery. Of course another big highlight is the Colonnade Arch. Every arch is unique. This one has continuous arch together as you see in the below picture. So cool, isn't it? The arch even exists behind in the back of first layers of arch. People don't know much about the fact there are so many cool arches in addition to Arches National Park, for example in American Southwest. 

It is fun exploring under the arch as well. The bottom picture is now looking the canyon view from the arch. Priceless view. Because it was evening, the sun was going down and every minute the lightning was changing. It was warm orange sunshine hitting the rock. That makes the rock color really beautiful. 

When we came back to the trailhead, the sunlight got really orange and the scenery was different than the time we started (you can compare with the first picture). What a bonus. 

Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art, Sego Canyon

So Fascinating to see Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art. 

One of the focus in 2024 Winter Trip to Utah was seeing Barrier Canyon Style Rock art. I previously wrote about Horseshoe Canyon hike to see Barrier Canyon Style (actually same as Horseshoe canyon) rock art. In Horseshoe Canyon we saw Holy Ghost Panel. Holy Ghost Panel is the most famous Barrier Canyon Style rock art. Besides that, Sego canyon is also a great place to see Barrier Canyon Style Rock art. For Holy Ghost Panel, you need to hike 10 miles, but for Sego Canyon, only 0.1 mile, which is good for people physically difficult to hike 10 miles. 

Barrier Canyon Style Rock art is found in Southeast Utah mainly. It is made a long time ago, as far as 7800 BCE.  Some are new as 500 BCE. Rock art is more known as Native Americans like Anasazi or Fremont style, which is more recent like 1000 years ago. Barrier Canyon style is really distinct from those. I really think Barrie Canyon style is fascinating. When I see them, I feel somewhat scary, sacred, and my soul is something connected with those images. Hard to explain. You need to really see them in person. 

The below picture is the most striking panel in Sego Canyon. This panel is really high. You see the top of tree is the bottom of the panel. Also you can tell how big the panel is based on the trees on the ground and on the top of cliff. The ground level might be higher when the panel was made, but still upper section of the panel cannot be reached easily. How could they paint these? 

The second picture above is the section of panel zoomed in. Looks like alien, especially the most left person with big "hole" eyes. The left picture is the focus of that one. Everyone has some decoration on their heads like horns. Those are made from lines. Some have earrings. 

This one in the left has chains of circles (another solid circle in the each circle). Each circle is connected with multiple lines. What does this mean? Interesting. 

Head's decoration has two layers. First with two thicker lines, then thinner three lines on them. So much detailed design. 

Due to the long time exposure and erosion, it looks like some rocks were fell off over the time.

This is another set of panel. This time it is petroglyph. Another detailed design. Decoration with circles for neckless. Each one's head has many decorations. The right person is crying?! The style of the humans are triangles. Huge shoulder width reminds me of the shape of Olympic swimmer body shape. 

Some panels are unfortunately vandalized heavily, although BLM erased some of them. It is still worth visiting here and you WILL feel the Barrier Canyon soul floating around. 

Fiery Furnace, Arches National Park, Utah

 Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. Relatively unknown in Arches.

When it comes to Arches, Delicate Arch is the first one people go. Actually Arches has much, MUCH more. 

Fiery Furnace hike needs to get a permit and you need to watch a video and listen to a short talk from a ranger at the Visitor center before the hike in the early morning. There is no official trail, and the whole purpose is "get lost" in the Fiery Furnace. Despite that, most people go to the same attraction spots of arches and interesting viewpoints. Due to internet, all are listed on whole kinds of hiking Apps. Another level people go to Fiery Furnace for canyoneering with ropes. I am not into that, so we sticked to the normal route. 

Overview

First of all, why is it called Fiery Furnace? The left picture is the overview of Fiery Furnace area and it explains everything....well for native English speakers.  For non-native English speakers need dictionary to understand. 

On the second thought, it doesn't need to know how it is named. Just accept the interesting geological shapes and enjoy is more natural thing. That removes the prejudice of the perception of places. 

Surprise Arch

From outside of Fiery Furnace area, arches cannot be visible, but once inside you can enjoy multiple arches and interesting shapes of rocks. The right picture is the first arch we saw. Surprise Arch.  

Kissing Turtle Arch

Kissing Turtle Arch. Cute huh?

Skull Arch

Skull Arch. This is my favorite spot in Fiery Furnace hike. It is very interesting two holes right each other, like glasses. In the future it is probably going to be just one hole in my guess. We had a snack here by looking up this. Very good time. 

I don't know what it is, but interesting shape (left picture). When it is not an arch, literally nobody explores. Nice to get solitude. 

Bottom is another structure, similar to kissing turtle arch, but with stripes. 

Overall it is a short hike around 3 miles. It is great to see some hidden arches in Arches National Park. A little hectic to do permit/pickup thing. To be honest, I wouldn't come back too soon due to low level of solitude, but doing once is a good experience. 

Upper Muley Twist Canyon + Strike Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

 Very remote and solitude hike in National Park. 

With recent increased crowds in National Park, it is almost impossible to have a hike without anybody in National Park these days. This hike is an exception and exceptional. We did not see a single person for the entire hike of 10.3 miles + dirt road drive of 6 miles. The hike is scenic every single step. 

Upper Muley Twist Canyon is a hike within Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. It is 9.5 mile day hike of loli pop. The same trailhead has a short hike, 0.8 mile total, to the Strike Valley overview as well. We did both. It includes walking in wash and rim with some navigation, thus mileage is just an approximate. 

This hike has so many arches to see on the first half of hike, and the other half has massive vast valley view. From beginning to the end, it was quite a view packing day. The left picture is the very first arch to see. Very nice weather and the sunlight perfectly illuminate the arch and makes it look even more glorious. 

It is not only arches to see. Many magnificent rocks to see. The moon was in the blue sky and it added the uniqueness of the scene. 

More arch! Smooth 

More. Every arch is different. This one is fat. Reminded me of Phipps arch, another very fat arch in the Escalante area. 

More.

After looking at various arches from wash walk, climbing up to the ridge and coming back towards the trailhead. This way has a vast view like left picture. In some portions on the ridge, the left side is the vast view, and the right side is looking down the wash and the arches below. Looking down at the arches already looked up before was great. 

Even after the hike of 10 miles, still joy continues. The 6 mile of dirt road drive is super scenic as well. Next three pictures are the arches along the dirt road. What a day!

Double arch. 

Another double arch up high. 

Cold Spring Cave, Buttler Wash, Utah

Cold Spring Cave is a great spot to look at the ruin in Butler Wash, Utah. It is only 2 mile out and back. Many things to look at the dwelling. 

Adults' handprints

First is there are many handprints. Obviously some are adult size handprints, and interestingly there are many small handprints, possibly children's handprints. It is common to see handprints in Anasazi ruin spots, but I don't recall to see small handprints. 

The left picture shows upper row with bigger handprints and lower row with small handprints. Considering their relatively small body sizes compared to modern human, it could be all adults. Interestingly there are two colors of handprints, orange color is easier to see in the picture but you might notice there are several white color handprints as well. 

The left picture shows more clear white handprints. Big hands. 

Another pattern and color of handprints. Spiral handprints? Interesting. 

Okay, I talked a lot about handprints, but there is so much to see at this site. The left picture is kiva. Nicely preserved the structure of round shaped kiva. 

A part of kiva structure. Fire is involved in the kiva (black stain) and the hole is likely to be air flow to keep the fire going. It is great to see this structure long after there kiva ceremony. 

Another fascinating thing about this site is that you can see numerous grinder places like you see in the left picture. Corn, flour, whatever was ground here. Even corn is left in the hole. One corn is about the size of middle index finger. Their corns are much much smaller than modern corns. At the cove, we saw easily more than 30 grinder places. I guess many people lived there! Interestingly animal (bighorn sheep) petroglyph is observed right under the grinding place. I had never seen petroglyph and grinder just next each other. 

Finally, the left picture is cold spring in the cave. The reason why this hike is called cold spring cave. Clearly people chose this place for living due to reliable water (and good water) source in the dry desert. This is the most back of all the buildings, kiva, granaries. 

Before the spring, there is tall wall with peep holes (left picture). Likely to protect spring. We saw 3 people from nearby town Bluff in the cave and she told us that people (especially women/children) here hid back of the tall wall when enemy came and check them through the peep holes. As I mentioned in the other entry about Moon House, each peep hole is designed to check a specific direction. Interestingly, the big rock used here at the bottom of wall has holes used for grinding. It is vertical, so my hypothesis is that, they used the big rock used to be grinding area to make the defending wall to be tall. Because cave is relatively dark due to limited sunlight coming, the light from peep holes are shining in the picture. 

The lady from Bluff was quite surprised about the fact we came to the Cold Spring Cave all the way from Mass. She said that she had never even seen people from New England before. She said, "Are you lost?" 

She said that several hundreds of curving rock can be found in the cold spring cave as you can see in the left picture. It might be used to make motor (between rocks to make wall, ruin etc). 

Very fascinating place.