Ecuador Enduro

Wel­come to Ecuador! Upon arrival to the coun­try, you guides will pick you at the air­port and trav­el to the city of Quito by car for about 45 min­utes, there are no plans for today, how­ev­er your guides will help you build your bikes.

At 6:00pm there will be a brief­ing at the hotel’s lob­by to meet the rest of the group and to give you impor­tant infor­ma­tion and tips about trav­el­ing in Ecuador.

Get ready for an excit­ing adven­ture that will leave you breath­less as we explore the impos­ing Pich­in­cha vol­cano. We’ll start the day with a nice break­fast and then hop in a car for a scenic dri­ve to this nat­ur­al won­der, which will only take about an hour and a half. Along the way, you’ll see some farms and the Lloa vil­lage, which is quite pret­ty. Once we arrive at the base­camp of the Pich­in­cha vol­cano reserve, we’ll have a short 15-minute walk to reach the sum­mit of the active vol­cano at almost 15.000 feet, where, if the weath­er is clear, you’ll get a nice view of the crater.

Take a moment to appre­ci­ate the pow­er this vol­cano, that in 1999 had a big explo­sion that formed a huge cloud of ash that in few hours cov­ered the whole city and sur­round­ings.
Before we start our thrilling descent, we’ll have a safe­ty talk to make sure you’re pre­pared for what’s to come. Get ready for an epic ride through diverse terrain.

The first part of the trail will chal­lenge your skills as we ride on sandy paths through the grass­lands of the Andean paramo. You’ll feel the rush of adren­a­line as you tack­le each twist and turn, sur­round­ed by the wild nature. Our jour­ney con­tin­ues as we con­nect with the DH trails of the Slopes of Tele­feri­co, lead­ing us deep­er into the forest.

Final­ly, our exhil­a­rat­ing ride ends in the live­ly city of Quito, which is about 9000 feet above sea level.

As the day comes to an end, we’ll head back to the hotel.

After break­fast we will go by car for 2 hour and 30 min­utes, to Imbabu­ra province to Ibar­ra and then to El Cho­ta val­ley, home of the Afro-Ecuado­ri­an peo­ple with a rich cul­ture, and where the best soc­cer play­ers of the coun­try come from.

First we ped­al through the high paramo in the area or Añas­pam­ba at an alti­tude of 12000 feet, where crisp moun­tain air fills your lungs and panoram­ic views stretch as far as the eye can see. We will have a nice view of Yaguar­cocha, a sparkling lake that mir­rors the sur­round­ing moun­tains in its pris­tine waters, as you guide shares the leg­ends of the elders.

Descend­ing from the paramo, the land­scape trans­forms into the mes­mer­iz­ing trails of El Cho­ta dry val­ley, a habi­tat of cac­tus and plants that have adapt­ed to live with very lit­tle water.
This area is the local play­ground for moun­tain bik­ers, with its rugged ter­rain and chal­leng­ing sin­gle steep tracks that will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of con­quer­ing each twist and turn as you nav­i­gate through the untamed wilder­ness, sur­round­ed by the raw beau­ty of the Andean foothills.

As the sun begins to set and the day draws to a close, our bike adven­ture cul­mi­nates in the charm­ing town of Ambuqui. We will con­tin­ue by car back to the Lodge.

If peo­ple would like to explore the near by Otava­lo Indige­nous mar­ket, your dri­ver will be more than ready to take you there.

Today we get ready for an exhil­a­rat­ing day of moun­tain bik­ing as we ven­ture into the cap­ti­vat­ing land­scapes of Pimam­piro, a hid­den gem in north­ern Ecuador. This des­ti­na­tion has become renowned for its awe-inspir­ing MTB races that leave rid­ers breath­less year after year.

Our jour­ney begins at Upper Chal­guayaku, a trail­head nes­tled at a lofty ele­va­tion, enveloped by the pic­turesque grass­lands of paramo. As you ped­al through this pris­tine wilder­ness, the sheer beau­ty of your sur­round­ings will take your breath away.

The trails seam­less­ly tran­si­tion from the open grass­lands into enchant­i­ng dry forests, offer­ing a diverse and cap­ti­vat­ing rid­ing experience.

Pre­pare to be amazed as you nav­i­gate the trails, which boast thrilling sin­gle tracks, com­ple­ment­ed by the occa­sion­al wood­en bridge that adds an ele­ment of excite­ment to your ride. Tech­ni­cal sec­tions will put your skills to the test, ensur­ing an adren­a­line-fueled adven­ture like no oth­er. Depend­ing on our tim­ing and your appetite for adven­ture, we have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­quer three or four trails, each span­ning approx­i­mate­ly four miles. Each trail presents its own unique chal­lenges and rewards, promis­ing an unfor­get­table day of explo­ration and adrenaline.

Today is to relax and recov­er, after a scenic dri­ve over the east­ern range of the Andes we will arrive to Papal­lac­ta, at the hot springs you can take a refresh­ing dip into vary­ing pools of hot a cold vol­canic water, and rein­vig­o­rate your body, mind, and soul. If you so, choose there are also option­al ser­vices offered at the facil­i­ty such as mas­sages and facials.

With­in the Cayambe Coca Eco­log­i­cal Reserve, where the springs reside, there are also many wind­ing trails to explore for those of you who pre­fer to be more active. Along the trails it is pos­si­ble to see orchids, hum­ming­birds and oth­er vary­ing types of flo­ra and fau­na. In the after­noon we will head towards Cotopaxi province to spend the night.

In the morn­ing, we will have a short dri­ve to the Cotopaxi Nation­al Park, this vol­cano is 19700 feet of ele­va­tion and is one of the high­est active vol­ca­noes on Earth, the reserve is home of sev­er­al pro­tect­ed species of fau­na such us: hors­es, bulls, fox­es, con­dors, alpacas, lla­mas, etc.

Once we check in at the entrance of the reserve we con­tin­ue by car for 45 min­utes to the Par­queadero at 14.760 feet, there we get ready for our fist ride down the Owls canyon trail, a mix of sandy and rocky sin­gle tracks with a great view of the north­ern side of the Cotopaxi Vol­cano, at the end of these trail our dri­ver will pick us up to take us back to the Par­queadero, our sec­ond trail will be the Holy Ridge with an steep start on a sandy trail, we con­tin­ue with a grassy sec­tion with some small fun jumps and end into a nar­row ravine.

Our dri­ver will take us one more time to the top and we will ride The Flight of the Con­dor trail, a very fast trail next to an impres­sive canyon, this trail ends with a sin­gle track next to the rocky vol­canic mate­r­i­al from Cotopaxi last erup­tion. After a yum­my lunch and some drinks, we will dri­ve south to Chimb­o­ra­zo province.

On this day after break­fast, we will trav­el by car for 1 hour to Chimb­o­ra­zo Wildlife Reserve, we will reach 15.750 feet at the first basecamp.

The Chimb­o­ra­zo Vol­cano is the high­est is Ecuador, and known as the high­est in the world mea­sure from the cen­ter of the plan­et. As it is clos­er to the Equa­tor than Everest.

At the reserve we will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to view Vicuñas (relat­ed to alpacas and lla­mas), they are the camels of the Andes, and they are pro­tect­ed from hunt­ing by law.

Out first trail today will be La Case­ria Avalanch, known like this because of a MTB Ecuado­ri­an race that takes place here every year, some amaz­ing descent on sandy area and then con­nect­ing with sin­gle tracks through local farms, after meet­ing with the dri­ver at the end of the trail, we will con­tin­ue dri­ving for about 45 min­utes to the head trail of “Hieleros” (Ice­man trail), named after the tra­di­tion of col­lect­ing ice from the glac­i­ers of Chimb­o­ra­zo vol­cano, this tra­di­tion is about to dis­ap­pear and at the moment only one per­son does it.

At the begin­ning of the ride the ter­rain will be sand, to con­tin­ue with a tech­ni­cal rocky sec­tion. As we will be very high the views are incred­i­ble, lat­er we ride through the grassy paramo ecosys­tem, along the way we will see the local farms and their plan­ta­tions of pota­toes, quinoa, lima beans, etc.

We will end in La Guile­na Lodge for enjoy­ing din­ner and some drinks with local friends.

Today in the morn­ing we will trav­el by car for about 45 min­utes to the head trail of Mama Rumi, this trail is con­sid­ered one of the top trails for moun­tain bik­ing in South Amer­i­ca, we will have a wild ride filled with switch­backs from the high and breezy Andes moun­tains down to the humid banana plan­ta­tions of the coast.

This trail fol­lows a cen­turies old Incan foot­path used to trans­port goods and even the local hooch to avoid tax­a­tion. Spend the day rid­ing the expanse of the trail end­ing in between the banana trees on our final day of this adven­ture. We will fin­ish at Telim­bela town with lunch and then we trav­el to Quito for 5 hours by car.

Wake up and enjoy one last morn­ing and deli­cious Ecuado­ri­an break­fast in the city of Quito. 

Your trans­porta­tion to the air­port will be 3 hours before your flight depart. Come back soon!