Climbing Mombacho Volcano

We returned to Granada a day early because San Juan del Sur was so packed. Instead of spending the last Saturday of our vacation trying to find a spot on “our” previous secluded beach we decided to come back to climb Mombacho, the volcano closes to Granada. Since our summer school program at San Ignacio starts again this Monday we figured this might be the last weekend we have enough energy to climb the mountain. Mombacho is 1,345 meters at its peak elevation and 700 acres of protected natural reserve and a privately owned coffee plantation.

We heard it takes about an hour and half to two hours to climb the volcano. We started our walk at a fairly quick pace but soon found out why it takes so long to climb it. Though the road is paved with a nice block stone path all the way up to the top the road quickly becomes an intense switch back incline. For some nonsensical reason we kept hoping the road would level out just around the next corner. But is it didn’t. It just kept getting steeper and steeper. Fortunately ¾ of the way up to the top is the coffee plantation processing mill. We stopped to take a rest and take pictures of the massive rows of coffee lined out to dry. It must be harvesting season for the coffee cause as we were walking up the mountain we could see lots of locals picking the beans in the field and at the top there were even more with their empty woven baskets.

After our little break we continued up the steepest part of the volcano with some added bonuses. Mombacho is also considered a cloud forest reserve hence why this last part of the hike was in the clouds. It started drizzling here and there, the wind became more fierce and fertile moss covered some of the already slippery block stones. To make matters worse the tourist transportation trucks kept passing us up and down the mountain. BUT we were almost to the top and it was more of a fun, challenging accomplishment to know we walked all the way to the top. The signs started at 800 meters, 850 meters, 900 m, 1000 m, 1100 m, and lastly at 1150 m elevation there was another tourist hut and the start of the hiking trails around the top of the volcano carters. We took a hike around one of them but could see barely anything because of all the clouds.

Surprisingly it was actually pretty cold at the top of the Mombacho with the dense clouds and strong winds. And even though we had our windbreakers on we didn’t stay long. Ryan thought coming down the mountain was worse than climbing up it. He complained most of the way down and I my legs were definitely sore the next day. All in all climbing Mombacho is one of the must do’s while staying in Granada.

written by

ryan & debbrial on January 2, 2010 from Granada, Nicaragua

from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas

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