[Gimpilator]

Sean Casserly invited me to join his family trip to El Salvador. He had already done the big peaks on his previous trip there, but said it would be easy to create a repeat of that trip with a few added smaller peaks which would be new to him. We would be staying in El Zonte aka "Bitcoin Beach", a place I have wanted to visit for several years. After asking around, we found some more of our friends to join us. Petter Bjorstad, Lisa Barboza, Darren Dodge, and Kathy Rich. As with all international travel, there were some unforeseen difficulties. I would like to thank Sean and his family for the tremendous effort they put forth to make this trip a success for everyone. Sean did a lot of planning and logistics for the group. Thank you Casserly’s for your hospitality!

3-19-2022 Volcán de Izalco - 6266' A relatively new peak in geologic terms, the "lighthouse of the Pacific" pushed it's molten head above ground in 1770. This volcano is active and you can feel heat and see fumaroles in and round the caldera. Sometimes it misbehaves and kills people.

The gate to the trail was closed when we started and beginning at this time of day is prohibited. Beyond the Verde/Izalco saddle, where you stop going downhill and begin to go up, we encountered two police who asked us to stop and told us it was illegal in the afternoon. I patted Petter on the back and told them he has done thousands of peaks and we would be ok. They photographed my drivers license and made it clear that they were no longer responsible for our safety. As it turned out, we got back to the trailhead well before some hikers who had started in the morning (less than 2hrs round-trip for us). Cerro Verde - 6660' Forested summit with towers near the tourist hub.

3-20 Volcán Chingo - 5830' This volcano is on the border of Guatemala and the actual summit is entirely in Guatemala. While we were there, a large group of Guatemalans came up from the other side. Before descending, we made a full traverse of the crater rim.

3-21 Volcán de Santa Ana - 7808' There are two main routes, north and south. The popular and crowded south route will not enable you to reach the true summit currently because of an endangered hawk closure. Therefor we did the north route. Guides were necessary on all the hikes on this trip, more for safety than any sort of assistance with routes or terrain. I wanted a break from the guide dynamic so I rushed ahead on this peak and got to the summit solo in a white-out with no view of the caldera lake. Roughly 2k gain, 1hr27m round-trip. Back at the trailhead, the original founder of the park served me coffee from his campfire and kicked my butt at bottlecap checkers twice in a row.

3-22 Volcán Guazapa - 4659' Hot! Stifling south route with little shade. Bad brush at the top and biting ants.

3-23 Cerro El Pital - 8957' The highest peak in El Salvador. The border of Honduras goes over the summit. Very short hike, mostly a drive up.

Cerro El Picacho - 6364' We sort of had a bad time with this peak. I got off-route and had to bushwhack on steep jungle mud. Then there was trash-schwacking, barking dogs, barbed wire, numerous guards with guns. I offered the guards $45 to let me inside the fence to tag the true summit, but they explained that there are cameras which hold them responsible. This was a big failure on the part of the guides as they had assured us prior to the hike that we could get to the summit. Traversing the entirety of the fence, it became clear that they had never even been on the higher north side of the tower complex. I told them to be sure to tell future clients that it is not possible to visit the summit, which is only 2+ meters higher and 3 horizontal meters away from the highest point we reached.

summit next to yellow structure

3-24 Volcán San Miguel - 6988' Best peak of the trip, undoubtedly and perhaps the best in the country. Another very active volcano, which I once flew over with a great view of the smoking caldera. There are frequent earthquakes and plume releases. Despite some loose scree and airborne ashes, it is a real pleasure to climb this peak. All our guides stopped at the crater rim or below, claiming that they were tired from hiking every day, so we proceeded to the summit on our own.

3-25 Volcán de San Vicente - 7159' Another gated summit tower complex, but this one can be accessed with proper notice and permits. It purportedly has good views, but we were in another white-out.

coffee bush