Volcan de Pacaya

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Sunday, after church and lunch, my family and I headed out to climb the volcano Pacaya. It is one of the most climbed volcanoes in Guatemala (in total there are over 30 volcanoes here). Currently Pacaya has been active since the 1960s. The last major eruption was in the 1980s. Most of the time the volcanic activity is a number of slow lava flows from various places on the side of volcano.

Our group included Jose Luis, Olga, Claudia, Jorge, Juan Carlos, a friend of Juan, and me. We arrived at the park around 3:30pm and started up the path. Jose Luis and Olga did not climb the volcano, they stayed at the bottom near the park entrance area while we "younger ones" did the climbing. I was the oldest, Claudia is 34, and the others are in their late 20s. The younger guys often ran ahead, Claudia moved along at a constant pace, and I brought up the rear stopping many times to rest. The climb was one of the most physically taxing things I have done in a long time. However, I do admit that what I consider physically taxing at this time in my life would have been less taxing 20 years ago! It did not help that I had also climbed the mountain behind our house the day before we tackled the volcano, and my legs were already tired.

The first part of the climb was through a forested area around the base of the volcano. The path is not difficult, but is steep in a number of places. The most difficult aspect for me was the lower concentration of oxygen at the 7,500 ft elevation. Most of the time, while walking in the woods, we were in the clouds, and the the landscape had a deep mystical character.

After about one hour we arrived at the part of the volcano that is volcanic rock and totally devoid of vegetation. Some of the rocks are small pebbles; other rocks are large with extremely sharp edges. Climbing was similar to, though much more difficult than, climbing a steep sand dune. Each step forward often resulted in a backward slide of 1/2 to 1 1/2 steps! Along the way we encountered (or started!) several small rock slides - one rather large rock came within inches of Jorge. We passed large areas of cold solid rock that still displayed the folds of molten lava. We also passed by several areas where we could feel the heat from molten lava under the rocks. At this point we joined with a small group of people who had hired two guides. These guides took us off in a direction different from where the large tour groups headed. In the end this turned out to be a good decision.


We climbed up the lava rock bed for another hour and arrived at a spectacular site of molten lava oozing out of the mountain. Words cannot fully describe the experience. I was 8-10 feet from flowing molten rock that was likely around 1,500 degrees F (I checked scientific reports on lava temps for Pacaya). We spent about 1/2 hour at the site - taking pictures, watching the lava flow, poking at the lava, and toasting marshmallows! The lava flows slowly and keeps changing as you watch. After several minutes of flowing from one spot, the lava started flowing from another place. Juan Carlos has climbed the volcano numerous times and said this was the largest and best lava flow he has seen.

Around 6:00pm we started down the mountain - by this time darkness was setting in. The descent over the lava rocks was more difficult than the ascent. Each of us fell a couple times. On one of my falls I received several cuts on the palm of my hand from the sharp edges of the lava. At one point Jorge just sat down and slid down the rocks. By the time we reached the main path leading into the woods it was totally dark. As we looked back up at the mountain we could see a long red river of lava flowing down the side.

There were many groups in the area led by several guides, so we felt quite safe. I had a small LED flashlight with me. Claudia, Juan Carlos and I were at the end of the returning groups. I stopped to look at the stars and that caused us to become separated from the group. We continued along the path but saw no one. After a while we saw two men up the hill from us and they told us (in French) that we were on the wrong path. We thought we recognized them from one of the groups. So, we crawled through a barbed wire fence and went up the hill. However when we got to the top the men were gone. Using my small flashlight, we looked around and found another path. We went through two closed barbed wire fences and eventually joined another path that I believe was the first path we were on. After about 10 minutes we caught up to the main group and felt quite relieved! For a while I wondered if we had been duped into leaving our first path and lured into an ambush. The volcano park is quite secure now, but 5 years ago there were problems with robbers attacking hikers.

The total time for our excursion on the volcano was 4 hours: 2 hours up; 1/2 hour at the lava flow; 1.5 hours back down.

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