Departure from Quito at 8 a.m. in private transportation. Then, we travel around 2 hours to arrive at the crater lake Cuicocha. We have a four-hour hike around all the crater at an elevation of 3100 m – 3300 m / 10171 ft – 10827 ft.

Afterwards, we go to Tumbabiro, a town that is one-hour far from Cuicocha. We rest in Hostería Pantaví.

30-minute transfer from to Tumbabiro to Pablo Arenas in private transportation. Then, we have a 5–6-hour hike to the first camp in San Francisco.

After having breakfast, we start the trekking to the Yanacocha lake surrounded by mountains. We follow a Pre-Colombian trail that was used by the Caranqui natives around 1000 years ago.

Following the trail we arrive at Las Ollas 3960 m / 12992 ft to set up our camp.

After having breakfast, we fo to the Yanahurco summit. This trail is covered by typical Andean vegetation. The flora and fauna are unique. We can observe various species of plants such as alopecuroides lupinus and senecius. The rocky ridge before the summit is an easy hike.

Once in the summit, we can admire the highest ruins of the Pre-Colombian culture Caranqui and a sacred astronomical observatory that are probably 900-1000 years old. In the afternoon we descend to the Burrococha lake in around 6 hours. The camp is at 4080 m / 13386 ft.

We continue our long descent to Chachimbiro at 2500 m / 8202 ft. We pass through Churoloma, previously known as Ayanburu which in the Caranqui tongue means Sacred Mountain.

At the end of a 7-hour hike we can enjoy at the medicinal hot springs in Chachimbiro. We return to Quito.