Why Hiking Acatenango Volcano Might Not Be Worth It

So the title of this post might be a little click-baity. But it was exactly what I was thinking coming down from Volcano Fuego at about 8 pm in the pitch-black and seeing nothing after a full day of climbing uphill: was hiking Acetenango actually worth it?

I’ll tell you all about why that question was thrumming through my mind. Most importantly, I can say, despite some setbacks, climbing Acatenango and Fuego turned out to be worth it–if you’re properly prepared and the weather cooperates.

Acatenango itself is a 3,9776 m / 13,044 ft tall volcano. Fuego, the volcano responsible for all the fireworks, is 3,763 m / 12,342 ft tall. Fuego last had a major, devastating eruption in 2018 (link to news story),while Acatenango hasn’t erupted since 1972.

Even when you’re down in Antigua, you’ll see Fuego erupt sporadically throughout the day. Black smoke will pour out of it at all hours, but it’s especially active at night. The guides of our expedition said its major eruptions happen sometime around 2-3 AM each night.

Both from our experience watching Fuego on our Airbnb and from our time camping out on the side of Acatenango, I can say he isn’t full of crap. The most impressive, jawdropping eruptions explode out of Fuego when most people are asleep.

Weather

You’re going to climb through four different microclimates on this unforgettable journey hiking Acatenango. Which means you’ve got to be prepared for all kinds of weather. At the bottom of the mountain, when you start off climbing through the steep farmland (and holy crap, this might be the hardest part), it gets hot. The sun might be beating down your back. No shade for respite. And you’re climbing steep, loose dirt with the occasional set of stairs.

Then once you’ve finally made it to the summit, you’re generally faced with temperatures just above freezing and winds that’ll chill you to your bone. Even at basecamp, which is generally more sheltered and warmer than the summit, you’re going to be cold and the winds will be blowing. Rain is also not uncommon. So a good rain jacket (preferably a windproof one) is absolutely necessary to keep your toes from freezing off and to keep from hating yourself for ever deciding to take this trip.

Difficulty

This was not an easy hike. Our guides emphasized that over and over. They also went around the room during our briefing session (the night before the hike) asking what everyone’s hiking experience was like. My wife and I, after having moved from Colorado where we hiked in the mountains, were even nervous that we might not be quite ready for this. However, we had several people in the group who had no hiking experience at all. In fact, one of my favorite responses was a guy from Germany who said: “I am a chainsmoker and have never hiked anything in my life.”

And everyone in our group made it. The most difficult part of hiking Acatenango is definitely getting past the farmland, which is the first hour or hour-and-a-half of the hike. After that, it gets a little bit easier through the cloud forests and pine forests, when you’ve got more gentle switchbacks and shade. Finally, the last part of the hike to your basecamp is like a gentle roller coaster, up and down, with nothing too steep. Everyone in our group was in a good mood when we reached this last hour or so of hiking because of how tame it was in comparison.

Overall, yeah, it’s tough. If you’ve got health challenges, I wouldn’t try to tackle this. I’d instead check out some of the alternative tours we listed below. But if you’re in decent health and especially if you’ve got hiking experience, I think you’ll do fine.

As another note, the hike to basecamp is the easier segment of the expedition you can do. There are two additional hikes, depending on your tour operator. One is to Fuego and the other is to the summit of Acatenango.

The hike to Fuego is frigging tough. Harder than hiking Acatenango to base camp. It’s a total of about 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back, but takes almost three hours in total. You go down part of Acatenango, then up steep, steep Fuego. Sit around on Fuego listenign and watching and feeling the monstrous volcano erupt over and over, then you return. So it’s down-up-down-up. Not easy.

The other optional hike in your tour is Acatenango. This is the summit of the volcano your basecamp is on. It’s only a little over a mile straight up from your basecamp, but it’s steep. Plus, the paths there are mostly loose volcanic rock and dirt. Sometimes it feels like every step you take, you slide down two. So while the hike up might take an hour or hour-and-a-half, it feels tougher than the Fuego hike. 

If you’re tired by the end of the basecamp hike, don’t feel bad. You might enjoy your time better just hanging at basecamp and enjoying Fuego’s fireworks. The views from basecamp should be spectacular anyway. Most tour operators will give you the choice if you want to continue to Fuego and/or Acatenango, but don’t feel pressured to do either. Your legs and lungs might thank you.

That being said, I completed both volcano hikes, while Katarina just did Fuego. Definitely the right choice of each of us, respectively.

Our Experience

Morning

The morning started off bright and sunny, meeting at our tour operators’ office at 7 am. We chose OX Expedition for their reviews on Trip Advisor and Google. Since we had never planned to make this trek when coming to Antigua, we didn’t have all the right gear for it. They did have a bunch of extra cold-weather gear, including hats, coats, pants, and gloves. Admittedly, some of it was a little rattier than I’d expected. While the warm coats were in abundant supply, the gloves that were left for us when I got to pick out my equipment were full of holes. I picked up two pairs just to keep my fingers warm (and Katarina did the same).

Thankfully, they had plenty of warm hats and, importantly, totally great headlamps to make up for the less desirable gloves. So lesson number one, make sure you check out your tour operator’s supplies and make any last minute purchases if necessary at if you need them.

Lesson two, it turned out they wanted some help with hauling some extra supplies, including food, sleeping bags, and wine up the mountain. I had packed my 40 L Osprey Farpoint with the rest of the gear I needed. Didn’t have a cubic centimeter left of room, so I ended up exchanging my bag for one of their more used 65 L backpacks, which were again free to borrow. However, I would’ve preferred my Osprey.

We had a great, filling breakfast at Rainbow Cafe. Refried beans, eggs, tortillas, orange juice, coffee, tea, fried plantains, and guacamole filled our bellies before we took our van to the bottom of the mountain to prepare for our hike. 

We reached the mountain a little before 10 am. In the end, it didn’t matter too much what bag I went with because Katarina and I decided we weren’t going to be carrying them. A major source of employment around the Acatenango is porter service. Locals will haul your bags to the top of the mountain for 200 Q (about $25 USD). We opted for that service since we were carrying well-loved, borrowed bags and we had some previous experience with porters and tough hikes in Uganda that taught us it might be the right choice.

Plus, that 200 Q goes to the individual porters, no middlemen. It’s one way to ensure you’re putting some money into the local economy to locals and, yes, it’s a privilege that we were able to use that service to our benefit. But ultimately, it was definitely helpful for us and many of the individuals in our group who did the same.

In fact, the couple people who didn’t hire porters on the way up ended up regretting it and hiring porters for the way down. (None of us were pro backpackers, unfortunately.) We also rented hiking sticks for 5 Q each. Holy crap, trust me, rent that fricking stick if you don’t bring your own hiking pole. It’s crucial to some of the tougher bits of the journey.

Then we started walking. As soon as we reached the farmland portion of our hike, we got lucky. Clouds rolled in over us, along with a cool misting fog. We pushed ourselves up the steep paths filled with loose dirt and occasional stairs, all while being surrounded by fences and sometimes barbed wire. 

Unfortunately the views sucked thanks to the uncooperative weather, but I did get to see this part of the hike on the way down. I can say without a doubt the Guatemalan Highlands are beautiful. I can’t say weather I would’ve liked doing this part of the hike in the relentless hike if it meant good views though. Maybe I should count our blessings.

First stop was a rest area of sorts where you could stock up on coffee, gatorade, Coke, fresh juice, snacks, and, more. Plus, bathrooms.

Then we continued up  the farmlands into the forested portion. We eventually made it out of the farmlands after a little over an hour where we official entered the park. After a brief form-filling session to record our entries with the park officials, we got the chance to again purchase any snacks we might want from another little store.

And again, onward we went into the forest. Another hour or so, another little store. More forest hiking led to our lunch stop. We were given sandwiches. Really, huge chunks of bread with a little bologan and peppers, if you were a meat-eater, or cheese, broccoli, carrots, and other veggies if you were a vegetarian/vegan.

The story continues the same, pushing up through the forest for a final twenty minutes or so before we reached the gentle ups-and-downs of a trail overlooking the surrounding highlands. Supposedly this is the most scenic part of the hike to basecamp. Woudln’t know thanks to the clouds, but it was a welcome relief to the constant uphill fight. Everyone was in much better spirits by the time we made it to base camp.

Afternoon

Our porters dropped off our gear then went to work setting up our tents. We were each shown where we’d stayed. Every group or couple had their own tent; some individuals hiking on their own also asked for private tents and were given them. I couldn’t say if they cost extra or not, but some tour operators didn’t seem to charge extra if you didn’t want to share a tent with a stranger. 

Anyway, this was the first time we were supposed to see Fuego. It was an utter letdown. Fog everywhere, rain drizzling down over us. We could hear Fuego erupting, teasing us, telling us it was out there, but we couldn’t see the darn thing.

Until miraculously, at about 4:30 pm, the clouds started to clear. There she was. The first time Fuego erupted, people were literally cheering. We finally saw the black smoke and bits of lava rock flying from Fuego’s mouth.

Our guide told us if anyoene wanted to do the Fuego hike portion, this was our chance. So we made that hike, wrapped up in our coldweather rain gear and bringing along our headlamps.

Evening

We started the tough hike to Fuego at 4:30 PM, making our way down from basecamp toward the spine of Fuego. It wasn’t easy going down, dealing with a lot of slippery sections and precarious paths on the steep sides of Acatenango. When we started up the side of Fuego, it was still light, but clouds had rolled in, completely obscuring our view of Fuego. We pushed on praying and hoping the weather would change. Maybe, just maybe, the wind would start blowing and push those damn clouds out of the way so we could see Fuego. As we got closer, we could hear the volcano erupting and even feel it under our feet. After all, we were actually on Fuego now. 

But even though we met it to the volcano, our legs demanding rest, our minds knowing the volcano crater was only dozens of meters away, the clouds covered everything. We couldn’t see much more than twenty, thirty feet ahead.

Waiting on Fuego

We waited at the peak as the sun set and what little sunlight that had been pushing through the fog disappeared. The top of Fuego was pitchblack. We couldn’t see anything. But we felt it. That was cool. The volcano trembled with each eruption as we hoped maybe the weather might shift.

And still, it didn’t. We had to give up waiting, turn on our headlamps, and headback. The return trip was pretty frightening given we couldn’t see anything and the headlamps reflected off all the fog, making it rather difficult to make good use of them. Hiking down from Fuego was just as difficult as going up it.

The disappointed return

All I was thinking about was how much of a waste of time and effort it was. I’ll admit I was pretty negative abotu the whole experience. Why did I just spend nearly 10 hours of the day hiking up hear to see absolutely nothing?

Once we made it off Fuego, we had to climb back up Acatenango.

And wouldn’t you know, right when we were about ten minutes from camp, the clouds parted enough for us to get our first good view of an eruption. Glowing red lava pouredd own the side of Fuego. The thunderous rumble shook through our bones. 

It was magnificent.

The eruptions just kept coming as we made our back. We were rewarded with a pasta dinner as Fuego put on a show for us for the rest of the night.

The clouds kept clearing.

And finally, I could admit. Yeah, this was worth it.

Although there is no way in hell I would do the Fuego hike again if it was cloudy. Screw that.

Night

Trying to sleep when a volcano is erupting next to you isn’t easy. Especially not when the sleeping bags and pads you’re given have been very, very well used. I’ve been camping plenty before, but this wasn’t one of hte most comfortable times.

However, I didn’t really care. I spent less time sleeping, and way more time just staring out my tent, attempting to take pictures of the volcano, and watching it explode. LIke I said before, from 2-3 AM, the volcano goes nuts. The eruptions look like thermonuclear bombs goign off, the rumbles shaking through your chest, and lasting several minutes.

I cannot explain how amazing it is to see this phenomenon up close, but I knew, as tired as I was going to be the next day, I didn’t regret one second of the hike now. Well, okay, I still regretted the unnecessary trip to Fuego.

Morning

The next day, I “woke” up at 3:30 AM. I put that in quotes because I really didn’t sleep. Maybe for like 2-3 hours. Katarina was equally tired. I was excited to give the optional Acatenango summit hike a try at 4:30 AM while Katarina hung out around the bonfire watching Fuego from teh comfort of base camp.

I spent a little time before that hike taking pictures of the volcano before we took off. And yeah, this hike was definitely tougher. Once again, we were hiking in the dark. The way up was extraordinarily steep, with rocks and dirt falling around our feet as we tried to push ourselves up. There was a brief technical portion requiring some rock scrambles, but eventually we made it. The hiking poles were absolutely necessary on this one.

Just in time for sunrise.

At the top

It was beautiful watching the sun rise just beside another volcano, Agua, nearer to Antigua. On a clear day, you can see all the way to Guatemala City and even up north to Mexico. The views were insane. Plus, we were now above Fuego, which allowed for some more fun volcano watching.

In the meantime, while I was exploring the summit, Katarina was watching Fuego erupt over and over again. I did miss some of those cool eruptions because on the second half of the Acatenango summit hike, you can’t see Fuego at all. So that’s kind of a bummer.

If you haven’t gotten your fill of watching Fuego erupt, it might actually be better to just chill at basecamp. But if you’re a completionist like me who has FOMO issues, the summit hike is totally worth it. And thankfully, the weather was a total one-eighty from our Fuego hike.

Rest of the morning

We returned to camp, had breakfast (guacomole, nutella, and peanut butter on English muffins plus yummy banana bread and coffee and tea). Then we took about 2/2.5 hours to get down off the mountain and back to our waiting shuttles. Man, that walk down felt good. But it was hard as hell on the knees. The walking sticks definitely helped alleviate some of the weight going down. 

We met a lot of great people on this trip and still stay in touch with them. You get to know people pretty well when you endure some tough challenges plus some very high highs and some low lows. After returning to Antigua, dropping our borrowed equipment off at OX Expeditions, and exchanging contact information with a few people, we went our separate ways with our backpacks lighter and our memory cards fuller.

Picking a Tour Provider

For the most part, picking a tour operator for your Acatenango trip is very much a “you get what you pay for” experience. Better tour operators will provide better equipment and tents along with better food. They’ll have briefing sessions and clearly tell you what to expect every step of the way. They also generally pay their tour guides better, which means you end up with happier more enthusiastic guides who are worth their pay.

I’ve heard of cheaper operators providing people with nothing more than instant oatmeal, some bruised bananas, and a thin bologna sandwich for food. Trust me, you’re going to want good equipment and good food on this trip, which means you either bring your own or you get a good provider.

Tips for finding the right provider… beyond just looking at reviews

Now if you do have your own gear and bring all your own food, it’s probably still worth going with a better operator that listens to the needs of the group, rather than an operator with guides that just want to get the trip over with. You’ll want a guide that makes frequent stops and doesn’t try to push people past their limits.

So make sure you ask some questions of your potential tour operators (besides doing your due diligence using travel blogs, TripAdvisor, Google reviews, etc.)

What kind of equipment do they provide?

Do they provide decent meals?

How is the condition of the provided tents and sleeping bags?

Will you need to carry all your own equipment?

Is the ticket to the park included or do you need to bring cash for it?

How many people are in each hiking group?

How many people in each tent?

You get the picture.

Alternatives to the standard 2 day, 1 night trip

If for some reason you’re really against a 2 day, 1 night trip up to Acatenango, you can do the trip as a day hike. Your day will start much, much earlier, and you’ll hike all the way up before coming all the way down. Your time will also be much more limited viewing the volcano (maybe minutes to an hour instead of getting to spend all night at basecamp). But you will make it back down in time to sleep in your own bed. I would recommend the overnight trip unless you are absolutely pressed for time and just really, really want to somehow fit this in.

Also, Old Town Outfitters, a reputable company, offers an overnight trip where you take a 4×4 vehicle up most of the way. This means your hike to basecamp ends up much more comfortable and shorter than the typical tour. Of course you pay for the convenience, but if you would prefer to avoid the most difficult portion of the hike to base camp and you don’t mind spending a great deal more money, this would be a good option. 

Recommended Equipment and Supplies

Clothes

• Windproof/waterproof jacket – ideally this is one piece of clothing, but you will not want to miss it.
• Down jacket/warm jacket – something to keep you warm in near freezing weather. This would layer nicely under your waterproof jacket.
• Long-sleeve, thinner jacket or athletic zip-up shirt – something that’ll keep you a little warm, but isn’t as heavy as your big coat.
• Dry-fit/athletic shirts – Ideally, bring a couple of these. One for the way up, then one to change into so you have a dry one for your Fuego and/or Acatenango summit hike. Do remember, keeping dry is keeping warm.
• Underwear – Bring two pair.
• Socks – Bring at least two pairs. This is important if they get wet. Wool, like these ones we brought, would be recommended to wick away the moisture and keep your toes warm.
• Hiking shoes – We wore these Danner boots (men’s style for me, women’s for Katarina) because we didn’t actually have real hiking boots for our year-abroad trip. They ended up working fine, but my toes would’ve been a little warmer and dried had I gone for a more traditional hiking boot or shoe like this. We did see people do this trip in normal running shoes, but you’re going to want that extra grip and protection a hiking boot provides if you do the additional Acatenango and/or Fuego hikes
• Hats – A baseball cap for keep the sun out of your eyes and a warm hat for your ears and head when you summit the volcano.
• Sunglasses – The higher in altitude, the more you need to protect your eyes.

Equipment 

• Backpack – You’ll need at least a ~50 L bag for all your gear. This may be something your tour operator provides and the amount of space you’ll need could differ depending on if the operator requires you to bring extra camping equipment up or not.
• Hiking stick – Bring your own or rent one at the start of the hik for 5Q. You’re going to love these sticks during the steeper, more difficult parts of the hike.
• Camera – Self-explanatory
• Camera batteries – Extra in case you burn through your battery taking lots of pictures like me. Especially if this is the first time you’re photographing a volcano and you’re playing with setting to experiment on your photos.
• External battery – No electricity on the mountain means maybe you want to charge your phone and/or camera overnight with this.
• Cellphone – again, great for pictures and recording just how many steps you did climbing up that damn mountain
• Headlamp – it might be provided by your tour operator, or you might need to bring your own. But you’ll definitely want one. It’s easier than bringing a flashlight or using your phone during the night portions of the hikes
• Toilet paper – Trust me. Okay, or don’t. There’s no toilet paper on the trail and you might even need your own at base camp.
• Sanitizing gel – Don’t be gross.
• Hand warmers/foot warmers – Just in case your equipment isn’t enough to keep you warm, these guys are super handy
• Deodorant – You gonna stink. It’s nice to unstink.
• Baby wipes – Same as above. If you’re not cleaning off sweat, you’re going to be covered in dust. It feels great to get ride of all that dust. You can get some more eco friendly versions here, too.
• Cash – 200-400 Q. You can buy snacks and drinks along the way up the mountain, so it’s kind of nice to have some cash in case you need it. You might also want a cab or tuk-tuk back to your place when you get off the mountain and back into town, so this is useful.
• Toothbrush – Again, nice to unstink
• Mouthwash – If you don’t want to expend any extra water on brushing your teeth and washing your toothbrush, this is a nice alternative. Feeling fresh always makes me feel a bit more awake and ready to tackle those mountains. Maybe I’m a princess, but I don’t’ mind.
• Medicine – both any personal prescription meds you might need, but also think about altitude meds. I sometimes take ibuprofen during these rapid altitude gains. I dont’ usually get altitude sickness, but I have a bad habit of getting bad headaches, and high altitudes can sometimes set those headaches off. Consult with your doctor or pick up some altitude sickness meds at a local Antiguan pharmacy.
• Bandages/blisterpads – In case you get a blister, it’s nice to pad it up so you dont’ have to deal with that pain the whole time you’re trying to get up and down these volcanoes.

Snacks

• Water – Most operators will suggest bringing at least 4 L. Depending on the weather, you might go through all of it or less than half of it. Better to have extra water than need more.
• Gatorade – A half liter is nice to replenish those electrolytes, especially if you’re doing eithe rof the extra volcano hikes after basecamp.
• Cereal bars/nuts/etc – Something to give you some extra energy. We ate a few on our way up and down, which was nice for the extra boost.
• Apples – Nothign tastes better than a crisp, juicy apple when you reach the summit. Hydrating and a nice energy boost. We each took two apples, ended up eating only one.
• You may need more or fewer snacks depending on what your operator provides.

Conclusion

Hiking Acatenango is absolutely worth it–assuming the weather cooperates, you pick a good tour operator, and you’ve got the necessary equipment and supplies. I cannot stress these three things enough, because if any one of them doesn’t work out, you might be questioning why made this very difficult hike at all. Ideally, you’ll want to target a night when the weather is clear (you can check Mountain Forecast to get a pretty accurate idea of what you might face. Although, remember weather in the mountains can change rapidly). Find a tour operator that fits your desires, balancing money vs comfort. And of course make sure you are fully prepared with all the right clothes, equipment, and supplies. Enjoy the climb to one of the most memorable and unique views you’ll ever have!