Cajas National Park

We went hiking today in the Parque Nacional Cajas (Cajas National Park).
It is a national park in the highlands, located about 30 km west from our hostel in Cuenca.  The area is 70533 acres between 3100m and 4450m above sea level.   It was declared a National Park on November 5, 1996.

The route we did was 5 hours (about 4.5 km), over mountainous terrain at 13,000 feet.

It was quite a hike!

I am officially out of adjectives to describe places.  "Awesome", "spectacular", "unbelievable", "incredible", "mind blowing", i've used them all again and again, but this place is something special.

I hope the pictures capture even a tenth of the beauty the amazing scenery.

Here is a panorama of some of the terrain we hiked through today (all photos click to embiggen)

Update:  We got back to our Hostel about 6:30, it was a cold ride from altitude late in the day, so we were really excited for a quick supper and then a 15 minute cab ride to the local Thermal Hot springs.  The only problem is they close at 7:00 pm on Sundays, so no hot springs for us!   I'm sitting in the restaurant in our Hostel writing this, and I just got up to go get a tea, and my butt and legs are sore!   I think there will be no problem sleeping tonight.