One Hell of a Hike up The Turrialba Volcano.....Yes, It Is Active!

 We really did not know what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up for the 11am guided hiking tour to the summit of the Turrialba Volcano. As it turns out there is only one certified guide for the hike and he only does one hike per day as they take a bit over 4 hours to complete.  One other couple, our age, also signed up.  They were from Switzerland and spoke primarily German but they were also fairly fluent in Spanish and English.  This was good as our guide spoke no English.  Christian and his wife Andrea were very gracious in taking in all the cool information the guide had and summarizing it in English for us.

The crater to the left is still the active one as the other two have simply become lakes.

This is a picture of 'Base Camp' where our hike began. Our day started out by driving 5 miles straight uphill, you guessed it, on an incredibly bumpy and potholed road.  Our guide actually passed us on his commute vehicle under the roof.  We did not know at the time he was our guide and we thought it odd that he paid any attention to us.  He pulled up on his ATV next to our car and said 'caminar?'  He was asking us if we were going on a walk.  When we said yes he smiled and honked his horn in approval before speeding off ahead of us.

Such a peaceful place to find an active volcano!

As the elevation gain on the hike was severe, we stopped many times to catch our breath and have the guide explain little details of what we were seeing.  Above is a picture of 'mini hoodoos'.  Regular sized hoodoos are common in Arizona and Utah, especially Bryce Canyon National Park.  They are formed when a stone sits on the dirt preventing erosion of the soil directly below it causing all the dirt around the stone to erode away leaving a column of dirt right below the stone....a hoodoo.

After about a mile of uphill climbing we passed through a gate and saw this sign.  Finca, in Spanish basically means a 'farm estate'.  We were actually heading onto park land, some of which is privately owned.  2750 meters is close to 9000 feet so the air was getting a bit thin and started hampering our efforts to breathe.

This is the house of one of the residents who have some sort of agreement with the government to continue living here even though it is a national park and an active volcano.

Did not think I would be wearing long pants and carrying a jacket near the equator at any time of the year but the temps at 11,000 feet get down close to freezing at times.

We finally got to get a glimpse of the summit of the volcano.  The wispy clouds above the summit are actually gasses being released by the volcano.

Here is where we passed through another gate to enter the 'danger zone' of the volcano.

Once inside the gate we were instructed to put on these glamorous hard hats.  We figured that if we were hit by volcano debris they would not do too much to save us but, when in Rome they say.

This was the equivalent of what we would call a Ranger Station back in the States. Our guide had a key that allowed us in to use the rest room if we needed.

In the rest rooms was this picture of the damage caused by a volcanic projectile coming through the roof into the bathroom.  Did not figure that would be a good way 'to go' if you know what we mean.

Above is a picture of the actual projectile.  It lives in infamy here.

This placard was found inside a metal topped shelter next to the ranger station.  Very informative indeed but we loved the probability description in the middle paragraph!

Not sure if we felt 'special' for being in a restricted access zone or not?

We made it to the crater viewing area and were greeted by thick blankets of fog and clouds. The sulfur smell was abundant but the views were lacking.

Our guide was happy to allow us to wait a while to see if the clouds would clear as we had walked for over two hours already.  He suggested we climb even higher to a different viewing platform while we waited out the weather.  Boy was this a steep hike.  We did not care for the cinder block trail construction used here but, who are we to complain?

Next to one of those projectile bunkers we found an information sign regarding the layers upon layers of different eruption debris.  Very interesting.

We walked back down for one more chance to allow the clouds to part.  Look at the smile on Laurie's face as she noticed a clearing appearing!

First we were able to see the two dormant craters that have become acid lakes.

Then the active crater appeared.  It amazed us that we were standing so close to it without being able to see the beauty until now.

A video of the steam rising seemed appropriate for such a glorious occasion.

Looking closely at this picture you can actually see the steam coming out of the sides of the wall of the crater.  Cool.

A view of the valley that contains the small town of Turrialba was also afforded to us for a short time.  We felt truly special being one of only 5 people this day to summit the volcano as well as having the good fortune to have the weather clear for a bit.