Fuego Volcano Day Trip

• Fuego Volcano
• Volcano Tours

The Fuego Volcano in Guatemala (elevation of 3976) offers some spicy adventure not for the faint of heart nor the unfit hiker. This long technical trek takes you around its neighbor Volcan Acatenango and up to the famous “knife-ridge” of Volcan Fuego with 500 meter drops on either side and the angry summit ahead.

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Fuego Volcano Day Trip

The adventurous Fuego Volcano Day Trip hike starts early so you can get to the knife-ridge for lunch. You start be meandering up through farmland, then venture into cloud-forest, and finally traverse the high alpine slopes of the Acatenango Volcano. This high-elevation technical trail takes you above the clouds and snakes through fantastic landscapes as you cross ravines and scramble rock faces. The apex brings you to the knife-edge slopes of Volcan Fuego. Here you sit in the shadow of the angry mountain for lunch and some chill time before heading back. With any luck you will experience some ground shaking eruptions from the summit of the active Fuego Volcano. *A word of warning, this is a very challenging day hike and is reserved only for those most physically fit clients. 

FUEGO VOLCANO DAY TRIP HIGHLIGHT:

Without doubt having lunch on the knife-edge ridge of the Fuego Volcano. It is definitely an experience you won’t forget in a hurry!

Fuego Volcano Eruption Guatemala 2018

The last major eruption was on June 3rd 2018. On this tragic day the Fuego Volcano erupted producing an ash column around 7km high. Pyroclastic flows and lahars descended the flanks of the volcano destroying several villages in their path. The official death toll was 19o with 256 missing (as of July 30th 2018). However the local communities estimate that around 2000 people died. The most tragic thing about the eruption is that with proper warning systems and education many of the deaths could have been avoided. Since the eruption lots of volcano monitoring equipment has been donated and many more studies are being conducted. These are looking at how to improve warning systems and educate the local people living in high risk areas so as to reduce loss of life in future eruptions. Click here for a more detailed account of the eruption.

Fuego Volcano Eruption: How does this affect hiking the volcano?

The Fuego Volcano’s activity varies constantly. Since the last major eruption on June 3rd it has returned to it’s “normal” activity levels over the last 5 years. This means several small eruptions a day; in the day you see the ash and at night you can see the red lava. On our Fuego Volcano hikes we actually spend most of our time on Acatenango Volcano. We hike up Volcan Acatenango and then traverse around until reaching our campsite taking the same route as our Acatenango Overnight Hike.

For the last part of the hike we descend to the saddle between Acatenango and Fuego and start climbing the Fuego Volcano itself. Due to the topography (there is a valley between our base camp on Acatenango and Fuego volcano) it is unlikely that we would be affected if Volcan Fuego were to erupt. This is because the pyroclastic flows and lahars follow the topography and flow down the flanks of Fuego. We are in contact with the local authorities monitoring the volcano and our guide always makes an assessment on reaching basecamp as to the safety of hiking over to Fuego. So rest assured we take all possible precautions to mitigate the risks involved with hiking an active volcano.