Ecuador – Day 8 – Rest Day at La Rinconada Campsite, in Cotopaxi National Park

La Rinconada Campsite
La Rinconada Campsite in Cotopaxi National Park

Tilden and Cotopaxi
Tilden Admiring Cotopaxi

From the Swiss Lodge, we drove 45 minutes to the La Rinconada Campsite in Cotopaxi National Park. We have left everything at the hotel except a sleeping bag, change of clothes, and our mountaineering gear which we need for climbing Cotopaxi. Dressed in our mountaineering garb, Rafael drives us to the campsite. It rained the entire drive.

La Rinconada has a huge open space where people can pitch tents, a covered picnic table area, and a bunkhouse with a mess hall. The bunkhouse has ~6 bunks, which are 3 beds high, and also some mattresses for the floor. So, at full capacity, there is probably room for up to 25 people. There were two bathrooms, but one did not have a sink and no shower facilities (that I could see).

When we arrived, there were 3 guys completely crashed out on the bunks (and snoring!). So, we picked some unoccupied bunks and got our sleeping bags ready. Rafael wanted to see our gear, so we dressed up as if we were going to climb the mountain and then he made sure it was all good.

Later that afternoon, more guys showed up, so there were now 9 dudes sharing the bunk house. I was not counting on getting any sleep…which makes climbing mountains extra difficult…but I tried to stay positive. We were told to bring 0 dF sleeping bags, so I was also not looking forward to roasting in my bag. The bunk house was kept at probably around 50 dF!

Dinner was served at 5pm and it was a delicious spaghetti dinner. At dinner, I met a nice guy from Switzerland named Max. He’s a cherry and horse farmer with a funny sense of humor.

We get in bed around 6:30pm and I commence to tossing and turning for the next 3.5 hours. It’s awful with people snoring and shuffling around. At 9pm one guy dropped his nalgene from 12 feet off the ground and it bounced several times before it stopped. Since it’s technically Thanksgiving, I try to be thankful to be sleeping indoors in relative comfort; even though the noise is unpleasant.

At 10pm, we “wake up” to get ready for Cotopaxi!!! Tilden was ready first; all geared up to go. I was ready about 15 minutes later. We all funneled into the mess hall for tea, bread, and jam. There were no leftovers from dinner; too bad, or I would have had a second portion of spaghetti!

Around 11pm, we jumped in Rafael’s truck and were off to the trailhead. It took ~40 minutes to get there, from the campsite. I tried to nap in the truck, but it was bouncing all over the really steep and potholed strewn road!

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