January 26th, Volcan Chico and Sierra Negra

Volcan Chico, Isla Isabela, Galapagos

We woke up this morning to a slight drizzle, an ominous start to a planned ten-mile hike to a volcano at the top of the island. But we boarded the bus anyway, and our new guide Wilmer assured us that rain doesn't last long on the islands. Our other guide Julio had twisted his ankle on an earlier trip and opted not to push his luck with the hike. We had a few injuries in the group, Max had sprained a recently broken foot about a week ago, and Brenda banged her knee on a coral head during our snorkel yesterday. Beyond that, we were a little concerned at the flimsy footwear of many of the students in the group, as we had been told we would be walking a few miles of the trip across a razor sharp new lava flow.

As we started up the road to the volcano, the mountains looked socked in. We passed from the arid lowlands, through a transitional zone of mixed cactus and deciduous trees, and into a full-fledged humid forest at higher elevation. Much of the area on the sides of the roads was being farmed, but the rules for the islands limit the extent of the farms to within a narrow band along the roads. When we reached the end of the road, we had passed above the forest line, into the pampa ecological zone, an area dominated by ferns and now invasive guava trees, which had completely taken over the landscape.

Invasive canid

Warm ups, led by Rachel

Luckily, the rain let up, and although the ground was wet and things were a little misty, we were incredibly fortunate to have a dry hike. We trekked along a muddy trail until we reached the top of a huge caldera, 12 km by 10 km in length. Our guide Wilmer talked about the formation of the Volcan Sierra Negra caldera and how during the last large eruption in 1979 the people of Isabela Island had been evacuated to nearby Isla Santa Cruz. The volcano also erupted as recently as 2005, but it wasn’t a major threat to populations on the island.

Volcan Sierra Negra

Jay and Keith, geology buffs

Mickey examines parasitic scale

As we continued our hike along the rim of the caldera, we were greeted by more friendly finches, including a Woodpecker Finch, who uses cactus spines to extract insects from rotting wood, a Warbler Finch, whose beak and feeding strategy of gleaning insects off of leaves is very much like a warbler, Small Tree Finches, and the friendliest yellow warblers yet, who were within inches of Rebecca, Teddy, and Shadee while they ate lunch.

Galapagos Flycatcher

Small Tree Finch

After a quick bite, we left our comfortable trail and descended into the last leg of the hike, which was about 2 km each way across newly formed a'a and pahoehoe flows. The landscape was very reminiscent of Hawaii, except for the 10 foot candelabra cacti dotting the older flow areas.

Old (red) and new (black) lava flows

Sulfur deposits

At the end of the hike, we came to a viewpoint above some sulfur vents where we could see both sides of the island of Isabela, as well as many of the neighboring islands, including Floreana to the West.

Energy to burn

Dr. B

Mustering our remaining energy, we started the long hike back, which was a real test of stamina for many, including myself. Although I consider myself an avid hiker and in fairly good shape, the soles of my feet were killing me by the time we finally made it back to the starting point. One saving grace was a brief rest while we enjoyed an intimate view of an amazingly tame Galapagos Hawk.

Galapagos Hawk

The entire journey took us most of the day, and we spent the remaining couple of hours before dinner body surfing out front of the hotel and looking for souvenirs in the local gift shops. Everyone got too much sun over the last few days, including myself. Those little areas, like on the backs of my ankles and the sides of my neck are hurting, and I may have to "borrow" a piece of Aloe Vera that I saw in a neighbor’s front yard.