Day 9 - Cotopaxi

 Another early start this morning as we had planned to catch the sunrise on the mountain, which we can see from the lodge. The forecast had been iffy, rain forecast, so the plan was to meet at 5.30am and travel to the lagoon IF the weather was favorable.  At 10 past 5 the mountain was covered with cloud, so plan B was enacted which meant meeting at 6.30am, which meant I'd dragged myself up to shower at get ready by 5.30 for no good reason.  Then at 10 to 6 Jeremy messaged to say the mountain was clear.  So we all piled out to the car park to photograph the sunrise over Cotopaxi.  It was very colorful and worth the effort.

Cotopaxi sunrise

There was a couple at the lodge the night before who were planning to climb it. We caught up with them again today.  They were driven up the mountain late at night to the refuge to prepare for the climb and set off about 1am.  They summitted at around 7am so had a nice clear view from the top.  It toom them 6 hours to go up and 3 to come down.  So they would have been somewhere near the top when this picture was taken.

That blob of cloud on the bottom right seems to stay there most of the time.  It blows around the mountain and then away to the right. 

After breakfast we went to the lagoon but it was completely cloudy, so back to the lodge to photograph condors and/or landscapes.  I tried some long exposure shots but the way the cloud was moving, it just became a blob rather than nice streaks. 

We had lunch and then headed around the other side of the mountain. We have a National Park Guide with us, I think it's required for groups to make sure they don't go off-road etc.  Not that you can really call them roads, they are narrow unsealed and alternately potholed or with rocks sticking up.  Our poor driver is down to crawling pace most of the time and even then we are tossed around a bit. Anyway, she told us that the last big eruption was in 1877 and that's when all the rocks around the place were ejected during the eruption.

Cotopaxi is in the background, disappearing into the cloud

The mounds are also volcanic matter that was spat out during the eruption.

We spent some time here photographing a teal, some wildflowers, and some landscapes.

Once we were done here we headed back to the lodge for a quick wee stop, there are no facilities out in the park, collected Ali and Carole who had been watching England lose to Spain, and headed back to the lagoon.  The cloud had lifted above the lagoon, but we only got tiny glimpses of the mountain and the cloud came and went and mostly stayed.  We did however see a fox, an uncommon site. It had gone to dig up something previously buried, and eat it.  It was quite hidden by the grasses around it, but I did manage to snap a photo on my camera.

We eventually decided the cloud was not going to disappear from in front of the mountain, so headed back to the lodge.  On the way, we could see that the "front" of the mountain facing the lodge was clear of cloud and generating quite a nice sunset. So we stopped for some sunset photos to bookend the day.

Cotopaxi sunset

You can see that pesky cloud on the right that just would not shift when we were at the lagoon.

Tonight we have asked the lodge owners to turn off the floodlights in the car park, so that we can attempt some astro photos, if the mountain stays clear.  So that starts at 11.30pm to end the day.  We will also attempt another sunrise, weather permitting, another 5.30 start for tomorrow.

I haven't had a noticeable effects from the altitude, except I am puffing a lot more with the walk up to the main lodge building.  But that's largely because I'm unfit on a good day!