Hiking A STEEP ACTIVE Volcano - Quilotoa Lake, Ecuador

We're leaving the big city of Quito for a day trip to Kealatoa Lake. We are about halfway to Kealatoa Lake and the drive has been wild. It's been so fun looking at all the different scenery that's out there but we've been climbing a lot in elevation. We're now at about like 4,000 meters which I think is around 12,000 feet. And at one point we were literally just like driving through a straight up cloud. It also looks like there's like little mini avalanches because all over the road like some parts are not drivable so you have to like go around it. Yeah, there were like rock slides. We even saw one time where we couldn't drive because there was like an emergency vehicle coming and we had to get out of the way of that because only one side of the road was drivable. It's been really fun though to see all the animals. There's like llamas and sheeps and just all the different things. Let's go. We're walking up the viewpoints of the lake. It's a little bit cloudy though and we can't see anything. Oh my goodness, we are in a cloud. The lake is down there but we can't see anything. I guess we'll have to hike down there. Quilotoa Lake is a crater. This is part of a volcano and we're gonna have to hike down about 45 minutes to get to the center of the crater to be able to see the lake. Also the inside of our waterproof ponchos were completely soaked still from the ATV that we took in Peru and so we're just rolling with it. Our jackets are a bit waterproof but they're not gonna be good enough for this kind of rain. We got some coca tea. This is popular among the people that live at a high altitude here in Ecuador. Hey doggy. We're starting our trek down. Maybe not the best shoes for this slippery path. We just started but we've already descended so much. This trail is crazy steep. Like I seriously don't even know how we're gonna climb back up this or even get down it. It's like this. This is what the trail looks like. This lake better be super cool. Look I know that we can hardly see anything but I'm sure once we actually get down to the lake it's going to look amazing. So that's what we're really hoping for after we make this long journey down. We plateaued a little bit and we were like oh this isn't so bad but now we're going back going straight down again. Just raining a little bit. It's so weird because we can't really see anything like we are in a cloud right now. Here look I'll take a few steps back and I'm so much shorter now. There's a little clearing down there you can just see some of the rocks and plants but the lake is a lot further down than that. It's a little difficult on our knees going down. Oh my gosh so slippery. What if I hiked it? Nope that's a terrible idea. Where do I step? The further we go down it looks like the cloud is clearing just a little bit. I think it looks amazing to see that side of the mountain and then over there you can just see a little tiny bit of the mountains around us. We're starting to be able to see the lake just a teeny teeny tiny bit and it's kind of crazy that we're going to be all the way over there. That seems really far away. Anyways onward. The way things are looking we are going to get a clear view as soon as we're all the way down there. Hi were you following me the whole way? Ah don't shake your wetness on me. I think this dog is following us from the tea place. You're just gonna keep following us huh? Lead us. Let's go. The farther we get down the more we can see of the lake and you can already tell that it's a really pretty color so I am super excited to get down there. This is getting so pretty. I feel like when we turn this corner it's gonna be a really really good view. Gosh this is insane. Oh it's like breathtaking. The fact that we are currently hiking into a active volcano is crazy. You can really tell that we are inside a crater right now. It is like perfectly round. I was feeling a little bummed when we got here since we couldn't see anything at all but this is incredible. If you get here and you're doing this and the clouds are covering I highly highly highly recommend walking down and seeing it from here because the clouds kind of clear and you can see the mountains and the lake and it's just so amazing. My legs are shaking so much. I'm just trying to like brace myself going down these steep parts and I'm not really out of breath it's just like my legs are like what's happening. This is maybe my favorite place in the entire world with these purple flowers the huge mountains and the lake in the back. I don't know how you can go wrong with this place. Our guide that drove us here said that when the volcano is active the water just starts bubbling up. So weird. We have climbed so far down I am so scared for the way up. The dog found us again. I think we can see the bottom now. There it is. We made it to the bottom. You can barely see the tops of all the mountains that are all around us. I'm thinking we started right at that ridge up there. It may not look that far from down here but walking up it's gonna feel like a long way. They said you could swim in this lake but usually it's pretty cold. I'm thinking it's not too cold. I mean we're in a volcano after all. Let's try it out. Oh that's so cold. Well actually you could swim. You could swim in that but we don't have the proper clothes for that. All right Jacob you're next. At the bottom of the crater there is much to do. You can go kayaking. You might even be able to camp down here or just go swimming. It looks really nice. I wish we had time to do that but like always we're running behind schedule and we have to go hike all the way back up. The first steps are always the hardest. Just kidding. We're gonna be so out of breath in just a little bit. This looks terrifying. I want a mule but there's none down here. Oh my gosh this is gonna be a really long, really long hour, hour and a half. Probably gonna take us two hours. This is where the mules are supposed to be but they're not. Oh so sad. At least the lake is pretty. The mules are only ten dollars per person which really isn't a bad deal. Too bad there's none left. Usually when you're hiking you get started with the uphill part, get the exhaustion out of the way and then go downhill. We had the fun part and now to make it all the way back we have to spend all of our energy. This is easily the steepest hike we have ever done. We did an advanced hike in the Green Canyon and it doesn't even compare anything to this. I wish so badly we were on one of those right now. Come back. That shows how steep it is. When I look at the top of the mountain like my brain can't even fathom that we are going that high. This has been so difficult. We're definitely more than halfway at this point. I'm gonna be so happy when we finally reach the top. We've made it so far. There is a huge rainbow over the lake. Oh my gosh. So beautiful. Oh yeah. I see the top. We're getting so close. I feel like the top looks close but yet so far. Why would they put the absolute steepest part at the end? I literally can't even stand up straight. It's not such an incline. I might as well just freaking rock climb. I see the end. Flat ground has never felt so dang good. We just have to walk maybe about 100, 200 more steps and we're there. Including some stairs. The final steps. We made it. We did it. We did it. Oh my gosh. That was one of the most difficult physical activities I've ever done. It is so cloudy. We cannot even see right now. Yeah our dog friend is here. Got a quick meal before we head back to the hotel. You cannot tell but this is a whole feast. As a reward for hiking up the entire volcano, we get to try a local Ecuadorian dish, fried pork.