Pasochoa Wildlife Refuge
The Pasochoa volcano has an elevation of 4199 m. Its caldera collapsed in the last eruption and now it has about 2 km of diameter forming a large amphitheater. Its base is about 15 kilometers and is born between 2800 and 3000 meters above sea level. The Pasochoa consists of layers of volcanic ash and cooled and solidified lava flows composed of andesite (volcanic igneous rock of intermediate composition). Its glaciers are covered with volcanic ash where the forest and the pajonal are found.
Warm clothes, hiking shoes or boots, personal water bottle, sun cream, personal items, camera, sunglasses, snacks, rain jacket.
Day 1 Our Private Pasochoa Hike Full Day Tour will start from Quito at 06:30 am. Our private transportation will pick you up from your location and then We are going to stop in the south part of Quito to take a really amazing panoramic view from a hill. We will continue to the Pasochoa wild life refuge and stop again in the main entrance.
Option 1 Get the summit. We will drive extra time to arrive to an Hacienda Suiza where we will start our hike. 7 - 8 hours hike back and forth with an elevation gained 1000m (3000ft)
Option 2 hike into the trails of the reserve. We are going to register our visit in. An interpretation center will show us how important is preserve this area. We will start our Pasochoa hike tour hiking into an amazing pre-mountain forest from 2800mts above sea level. We could see some Species of birds, bromelias, native wood, etc. There are some trails we can take as difficulty low, medium and very high (Colibri, bosque para todos, Manguayacu. Palma de Cera, Los Pantzas Trails). The main proposed is to get the Pasochoa summit at 4200msnm, but it will depend how our physical conditions are. Very delicious box lunch is coming with us. After to have a long hike into Pasochoa, we can try a local restaurant where we will find traditional dishes of the Andean region. Afterwards, we are going back to the hotel at 17pm. End of our Private Pasochoa Hike Full Day Tour.