Climbing a Volcano

(To view our trip's album click on the picture above.)

Last Saturday my friend Yuri, his girlfriend Jatziri, Tony and I climbed a volcano! We went to the Nevado de Toluca, a large stratovolcano located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. The volcano's tallest peak is the fifth tallest in Mexico, at 4,680 m = 15,354 ft.

This national park is truly beautiful. After climbing the east side of the crater the view is breathtaking with the tallest peaks to the West and two crater lakes at the bottom of the basin (at about 4,200 m = 13,800 ft): the Sun Lake to the North and the Moon Lake to the South .

Hiking was definitely wonderful, though challenging. Right off the bat I could feel the altitude, got a headache and felt my lungs asking for more oxygen. As we climbed higher I had to stop every few steps to catch my breath and slow down my heart beat, and by the time we were climbing a steep trail towards the peak I was feeling quite dizzy. The view up above was so rewarding though. We could clearly see the 2nd and 3rd highest mountains in Mexico (the Popocatépetl at 5,426 m = 17802 ft and the Iztaccihuatl at 5,230 m = 17,159 ft) in the distance.

Sadly, we didn't get to the very top. After reaching a secondary summit at 4455 m = 14,616ft we were quite tired and after hearing a few rumbles of thunder in the distance we thought it safer to hike around the lakes in the crater instead. Even so, Tony and I were really excited to have made it to the highest point either of us had hiked to and decided we'll come back soon to try for the summit... I also cannot wait to hike more of the mountains of Central Mexico!