Wikipedia tells us
With a height of 1,394 m, Maderas is the smaller of the two volcanoes which make up the island of Ometepe, situated in Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua, Central America. Unlike the other volcano on the island, Concepción, Maderas has not been active in historical times. Its crater contains a crater lake.
The Maderas Volcano is one of the few places at the Pacific side of Nicaragua where cloud forest grows. The only other place where this is found is at the Mombacho Volcano. Cloud forests are characterized by high levels of humidity and a rich plant and animal life. Petroglyphs are also found at the Maderas Volcano.
Morris (whom I met in Xela), ¨Yelta¨ (from Denmark, whose name starts with the letters ¨Hj¨ and whom I saw in Guatemala and 2 times in Nicaragua), our local guide and I set off early last week to scale the hights of Maderas. The day and the hike began with sunshine and plenty of sunscreen - one can never be too careful with this central american sun.
Although the mountain had been covered in clouds the previous two days, we set off with high spirits and high hopes. When we boated to Ometepe, both Maderas and the island´s northern volcano, Concepcion, were bathed in sunshine. We expeceted no less.
The 10+km hike began well, when within 15 minutes of starting, we came upon a tree filled with howler monkeys. You may not be able to see them clearly in the pic but trust me, they are there.
We had heard them all that morning. If you have never heard a howler monkey, think subway tunnel as a train approaches. they are loud beasts.
In this case, however, they were just lounging in the trees after their early morning growls.
Prior to hitting the 2 km mark, we were in fairly dense woods and moist, cloud-filled air. It was quite nice. As you can see from the smile on my face, I was enjoying myself.
Due to the moisture in the air, the ground became a little slick and one had to be careful with their footing. As we were ascending, a few of us took care to avoid puddles so as to keep our shoes and pants fairly clean.
While looking at the ground and avoiding puddles, I was not able to avoid low-hanging trees. As the tallest member of our group, I came into contact with 5 or 6 of them. It was the 4th one that hurt the most. You would think I´d learn after 1 or 2 knocks on the head. Not me, it takes more than that to get the point across to me. Worst of all, I hit one or two more after i drew blood. It must be that public school education.
What is a hike without a few battle scars?
When we reached the summit, after 5 Km of hiking, we were a bit disappointed. Although we were quite high, we had no view. Not only were we surrounded by clouds, but the summit is a forest and offers no view beyond the trees. In this case, I could see the forest for the trees.
After the summit, we descended to the crater lake, which was also covered in clouds. I enjoyed that part of the hike. You could not see the other side of the lake, and you could not tell if it was 50 yards across or 300 yards.
After some peanut butter and bread (thanks Morris), we headed back to the summit to start our way home.
As we made our way down, things were a bit tougher - although I only smacked my head 1 or 2 times on way down. The moist air had turned our trail into mud. We had long given up trying to stay dry or clean. the main goal was to make it down without injury.We all took a few spills but Hjelta had the best one of the day. He remained in good spirits afterwards.
On the way down, we broke through the clouds and enjoyed a bit of sunshine filtering through the trees and views of the lake and Concepcion.
By the end of the hike, were ready for it to be over. the last 3km were much longer than they seemed on the way up. We had a great day (actually a great few hours as we were back in time for lunch) and we were ready for an afternoon in the hammocks.Our shoes? Well, they were no longer made for walking.
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