Category: volcanoes

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Scrambling Rumiñahui Volcano, Ecuador

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

We signed on for a climb of Rumiñahui Central with Secret Garden Cotopaxi.

Spoiler. Lexi, Tahel, and myself all made it to 4,643m. Super happy here. Our guide was terrific.

Rumiñahui is considered a lead-up to Cotopaxi (5,897m) and then Chimborazo (6,263–6,310m).

Rumiñahui is a dormant, heavily eroded stratovolcano 4,721 metres (15,489 ft) above sea level.

Situated in the Andes mountains 40 km south of Quito, Ecuador, it is overshadowed by its famous neighbour Cotopaxi.

This mountain is in Cotopaxi National Park, so we drove directly towards the big peak. Excellent weather early morning.

We parked at Lake Limpiopungo at approximately 3,850m. Many different species of birds alight here.

Headed to that central peak.

We saw rabbits at the beginning while climbing up through paramo.

And condors floating in the updraft.

On the way down, our guide spotted wild horses below.

We had amazing views of Cotopaxi.

I call it a scramble because this mountain is quite jagged. We used our hands quite a bit at the top. Tahel put spare socks on her hands. I used a buff for protection. None of us had opted to carry gloves.

Check this rugged mountaineer.

Ready for Kilimanjaro, coming up next.

The most surprising moment of the trip was having a caracara land on the summit just as we were celebrating.

A bit slow getting to the top, we actually ran down much of the mountain as Tahel had to catch a bus back to Quito at 3pm.

We stopped to chat with this group at 1pm. Just starting up.

Well … they had horrific hard rainfall in the afternoon. You really want to finish your hiking by 2pm in the Andes.

Click PLAY or watch our adventure on YouTube.

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Hiking Near Cotopaxi Volcano, Ecuador

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

I flew to Ecuador for 3 weeks hiking & climbing in preparation for Kilimanjaro.

A good decision.

Logistics getting to and from trailheads is complicated in this nation.

BEST for me was adventuring out of Secret Garden Cotopaxi Hostel ➙ perhaps my favourite hostel in the world. At around 3,800 metres (12,500 feet), you’ll feel some altitude symptoms for sure if coming from sea level. I’d been in Ecuador for about 9 days and still had minor headaches.

Most popular is a 3-day, 2-night package starting at $120 with transportation from Quito, the capital.

That includes two free guided hikes:

In some ways, the short Waterfall hike is challenging.

You must wear provided rubber boots that don’t have much traction. It’s not uncommon for new visitors at altitude to fall into the muddy creek.

Each day some fool(s) decide to swim the waterfall. But not this fool. Not this day.

The Pasochoa summit hike to 4200m (13,776 ft) is legit high altitude training. Even though you start directly from the hotel.

Best pay attention to the warnings of your very experienced guide.

The start can be muddy and slippery. Some wear rubber boots for the first 45 minutes, or so.

From there, you switch to hiking shoes and climb up through paramo grasslands and primary cloud forest.

Very popular, the route is blazed.

Of course there are terrific views back to the higher volcanoes.

Everyone agreed, the highlight was walking with hostel dogs.

Pasochoa summit.

An easy day hike ➙ IF you are acclimatized to altitude. Most days, some who start don’t make it to the top.

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Climbing Kilimanjaro February 2026

It’s official.

  • Feb 14–22, 2026
  • 9 days, 8 nights Machame Route
  • Zara Tours
  • 5,895 meters (19,341 feet)
  • $3495 USD

Expensive — but I finally signed on to the single best trekking peak in the world.

I’d long been a fan of hiking vlogger Eric Hanson. When he announced a personally guided adventure — I signed on instantly.

Machame Route (Whiskey Route) for me should be relatively easy. BUT many have to turn back due to altitude sickness symptoms.

My plan is to spend some weeks in Ecuador above 3000m and — hopefully — have some acclimatization ➙ then fly directly to Kilimanjaro airport. Altitude sickness is near impossible to predict. (I’ve never had any despite hiking higher than 6000m many times.)

I’ll stay on in East Africa following Kili. My first visit.

This is the 2nd time I’d signed up for Kilimanjaro. The first was in 2020 — cancelled by Covid.

Eric Hanson

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Mt. Qixing Mountain, Taiwan

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

Qixing Mountain (also Cising) stands as the highest and most central peak in Yangmingshan National Park.

All trails are well-maintained with stone steps and converge at the windswept main peak.

The summit is the ultimate reward, offering a magnificent 360-degree panorama of the entire national park, the Taipei cityscape, and the northern coast on clear days.

The national park is known for its cherry blossoms, hot springs, sulfur deposits, fumaroles, venomous snakes, and hiking trails, including Taiwan’s tallest dormant volcano, Qixing (Seven Star) Mountain rising to 1,120 m (3,675 ft). 

There are several Visitors Centres, each very helpful in helping you decide on hikes ➙ starting and finishing. Public transportation is super crowded here.

As you can see, clouds covered the peak when I was there. Not unusual.

Stone steps keep you out of the mud in most cases. But they are irregular shapes and sizes.

The summit is often crowded. I didn’t linger long.

Actually, I enjoyed the clouds blowing in and out, sometimes revealing the vista below.

It can get windy up here, of course

Volcanic sediments in this pond give it a milky appearance.

I finished near Lengshuikeng Hot Springs and would love to have finished with a soak. But these Springs have unusual opening hours. Locked when I was there. AND I was worried about getting back to Taipei on the busy tourist buses.

So I simply soaked my feet in the outdoor pothole.

All-in-all, it’s well worth getting out to Yangmingshan National Park if you are ever in Taipei.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.


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Top 10 Hiking Destinations ➙ Southwest USA

South West USA

Capitol Reef, Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Glen Canyon, White Sands National Monument, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. This part of the world is awesome.

We hike the SW USA every year and have yet to be disappointed.

Fascinating, diverse and mind-boggling. The best WOW geological zone we’ve seen anywhere.

The high desert plateau intersection of the four U.S. states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado Plateau is not the deepest nor largest, but it’s by far the most stunningly beautiful on Earth.

Most of the best slot canyons and natural stone arches in the world are here. A desert, your views are unobstructed. The light is perfect for photography.

The best weather is Oct-Nov, Mar-May. Summers are too hot for most hikers.

Most of the hikes in the Four Corners are short due to lack of water and the real risk of getting lost. People die in this wilderness every year.

Our favourite hike in the Four Corners region is Paria Canyon on the border of Arizona and Utah. You enjoy many days beneath huge walls in a slot canyon.

more from our Paria photo set

If you hike Paria you’ll certainly try to add on a nearby day hike called The Wave.

more Wave photos

More information on on dozens more great adventures on our new SW USA information page.

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3 Days Hiking Mt. RInjani, Indonesia

Flora Gonning:

At 3,726 meters, Mount Rinjani is Indonesia’s second-highest volcano and one of the most popular treks in Southeast Asia.

The classic 3-day / 2-night Rinjani trek is famous for its epic summit views, turquoise crater lake (Segara Anak), and hidden hot springs.

But this hike is also notorious for steep cliffs, loose volcanic ash, unpredictable weather, and long, exhausting days – factors that have led to many accidents and even fatalities.

In this video, I take you along on the full Mount Rinjani trek in Lombok, Indonesia – from the crowded trailhead at Sembalun, to the 2am summit push, to descending into the massive caldera.

Hiking Rinjani was both beautiful and brutal, with ash slopes that made every step slide back, camp life above the clouds, and endless hours of climbing and descending.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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Climbing Rinjani, Indonesia – day 0

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

Three days, two nights in the tent.

Cost is USD $220 to $330/ person.

I’ve long wanted to climb astonishing Mount Rinjani not far from Bali, Indonesia.

I took the local boat from Gili Trawangan to Lombok island for the start of our guided climb of Rinjani. I could see it in the distance.

Our group met up at a local restaurant close to Bangsal Port ➙ then we were efficiently (if dangerously) driven up to Senaru village at 400m. 

Screenshot

We had a typical Indonesian lunch based on rice or noodles. 

We dropped bags in our surprisingly interesting rooms. 

Then set off to see two local waterfalls. 

Plenty of macaques await ready to grab at your purse, backpack, or any kind of plastic bag.

Here’s the 1st waterfall. 

MOST interesting here is a fun tire tube ride underground through the irrigation channel.  I’d be too chicken, myself.  😀 

Here’s the 2nd even more impressive falls. 

Back at the guesthouse we did our introductory briefing on the volcano climb.  We had hoped two more would join us.  One was in hospital for some reason.  The other cancelled last minute.  

Rinjani is 3,726 metres (12,224 ft), making it the second-highest volcano in Indonesia. 

We had signed up for the longer 3 days, 2 nights in the tent option. 

That turned out to be the right decision. Our itinerary the BEST HIKE.

Click PLAY or watch a preview on YouTube.

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Climbing Rinjani, Indonesia – day 1

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

MOST groups on our itinerary camp on the 1st volcano ridge day 1. Our guide offered us the chance to descend 3 hours to camp at the lake, instead. Super tough 1st day — but we were all glad we did it.

Mount Rinjani Crater Rim 1st night on the 3 day trek.

We were up for the dawn.  I added milk powder to my brutal black instant coffee. 

Banana pancakes excellent, as always. 

Driving up to the start at 600m we stopped for a blessing.  An important tradition with the local Sasak people as well as Hindus. 

Still clean and keen at the start.  

They’ve had a lot of deaths on this mountain, the most recent June 2025. 

Another died May 2025. Both from falls.

We each had to register with photo ID.   The Gunung Rinjani National Park, established 1997, is trying to make this adventure safer — but they have a long way to go.  It’s dangerous. 

Our goal was the 1st crater rim — only 6.9km.  Sounds easy until you calculate you need gain 2km in elevation over that short distance!

We started on the far right of this map.

The start through jungle was relatively easy.  THEN it got steep and challenging. 

Wherever hikers might stop to eat, long-tailed macaques will be waiting.  

These wild cousins are more worrisome than the ‘tame’, well-fed ones in the Monkey Forest, Ubud. 

Breakfast !

We hiked into and out of clouds. 

Crater rim beckons. 

This — really — is the best vista on the hike.   Crater lake Sagara Anak is huge, the colour unforgettable.  The volcano’s eruption in 1257 is considered one of the most powerful global volcanic events of the last 2,000 years.

We were scheduled to set up our camp on the ridge here at 2,600m. 

But we opted, instead, to hike down to the lake at 2000m, saving us 3-4 hours on day 2. 

We all agreed to go for it. 

OUCH …

That decent is awful and dangerous.  I took no photos.  We had to concentrate on every technical step. 

It was a relief to finally get to the lake.  This one of my toughest hiking days of all time.

We arrived just before dusk. 

Alpenglow time. 

Each group has their own toilet tent.  

The alternative at major camps are these good looking public toilets.  This one was filthy!  But some are quite new.  Fairly clean. 

Major camps have emergency shelters.  I don’t doubt they are used frequently.  The trek is risky. 

Our guide sent us to the hotsprings with one of the porters.  Fantastic.  A highlight of the entire trip. 

Tim (tim_de_bruijn on Instagram) was a full-time social media manager for a major Dutch soccer team. He showed us fantastic photography tips on his iPhone, including these two. It was pitch dark at the hotsprings!

Pitch dark at camp, as well.

tim_de_bruijn

Most amazing of all was his capture of the night stars. Very few of these were visible to the human eye. This from an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

tim_de_bruijn