Qualla: Sangay National Park

Sangay National Park: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. El Altar used to be the tallest mountain in Ecuador. Then, some centuries ago, its center exploded. The blast tore out the mountain's middle and left nine snowcapped peaks standing in a horseshoe, looking at each other across a bowl that eventually filled with meltwater and sulfur to become Lago Amarillo, the yellow lake. The peaks still carry the names the old climbers gave them: Bishop, Tabernacle, Monk, and six more arranged like a liturgy in stone. El Altar is just one of Sangay National Park's volcanoes. The others, Tungurahua and Sangay itself, are both very much alive.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Sangay National Park: Three Volcanoes

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit amalavida.tv from Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sangay National Park sits on the eastern flank of the Ecuadorian Andes, where the highlands tip over into the Amazon basin. Tungurahua anchors the northern edge, a 5,023-meter stratovolcano looming over the spa town of Banos. Tungurahua erupted almost continuously between 1999 an...

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Image: amalavida.tv from Ecuador | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sangay National Park: From Cloud Forest to Paramo

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit amalavida.tv from Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0. The park straddles a vertical gradient of more than 5,000 meters. In the lowest valleys, small farms nestle into lush cloud forest, with orchids, bromeliads, and giant ferns draped over anything that stops moving long enough. Farther up, the forest thins into stunted woods and th...

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Image: amalavida.tv from Ecuador | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sangay National Park: The Climb to Lago Amarillo

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kilobug, CC BY-SA 3.0. The most famous hike in the park starts from the village of Candelaria, reachable by an 80-cent bus from Riobamba's Terminal Oriental. The trail climbs from Hacienda Releche up a valley that floods and muds and climbs relentlessly for five to seven hours on foot, three on horseba...

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Image: Kilobug | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sangay National Park: Into the Paramo

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eduardo Morillo, CC BY 3.0. Beyond El Altar, the park stretches east into territory most visitors never see. Rangers run patrols but no road crosses the park, and large stretches are accessible only on foot or by pack animal. The paramo holds spectacled bears, Andean condors riding the thermals, mountain ta...

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Image: Eduardo Morillo | CC BY 3.0