Recent hikes around Quito! (March 7-8 and March 13)

After coming back from Pedro Moncayo on our last CIMAS field trip I came down with a stomach bug that refused to let me get out of bed for about 3 days! My carnaval backpacking plans were interupted, but fortunately my friend Joe from Pennsylvania/Grinnell College and I got to get out to the cloud forest on Monday and Tuesday. We took a bus and taxi up to a neat little community called Yunguillas and as usual we had plenty of trouble finding the trail that was described in our Treking in Ecuador book. We eventually found a campspot in the middle of farms and the cloud forest. It was so peaceful and gorgeous! As if our luck could get any worse after getting sick and struggling with finding the trail, Joe´s new MSR stove also broke that night. Thankfully we had plenty of food with us and we hiked down and made it back to Quito the next day with no problems!

Cloud forest near Yunguillas!

Joe with a bromeliad hat!

 Our campsite, possibly located on someones farm

 Fancy Camping Guy brought a super sweet hamock and made me feel lame!

 More cloud forest views down the ridge of the disappearing trail

 Community store (with locally made jams and cheese) in Yunguillas

During my last weekend in Quito I took a day hike to the Pululahua Crater, just north of the Mitad del Mundo monument. The crater is a biological reserve and has farms in the bottom as well. I hiked all the way down, checked out a neat hostel that has their own organic farm and bike rentals and picnicked as well! After I hiking back up the huge hill, I got caught in the middle of a heavy rain storm, but then the sun came out again...the weather changes so quickly here!

 Looking down inside of Pululahua Crater

The view from inside the crater, near a really neat hostel and organic farm