Cerro Imbabura via La Esperanza

Even though I did not start recording till the road ended and the trail began, I started and ended this hike at Casa de Aida in La Esperanza. If you plan on hiking this route, I highly recommend staying at Casa de Aida. Aida is the owner and is an amazing women with 43 years of stories (how long she has been at this location). Awesome pancakes in the morning to start your journey. I had already downloaded a Wikiloc route that started where the road ends, so route was fairly easy for me to follow. I highly recommend downloading the Wikiloc app and following via your phone. My phone was only at about 50 percent after the whole journey (was on airplane mode), but make sure you carry a mobile battery charger. If you hike the road instead of taking a truck from Casa de Aida, head south and take a right on the first road before the bridge. From there, you follow this same road to the trail head. With the exception of a few flat areas, you will be walking straight up the hill. If you are not heading up, you took a wrong turn. There is trails that allow you to skip the switch backs on the road which was nice. From their the trails is pretty straight forward. When you reach the water treatment plant, I recommend my southern track. The northern track was on my decent and crossed steep areas where the track was filled with dead grass. Made if very slick and was the most difficult part of the decent... for me. To reach the rim of Imbabura and to traverse across the first third of the rim requires some moderate rock climbing, nothing too difficult. Keep in mind when you are climbing up that it is a steep decent and make sure you have sufficient strength and energy to make the journey down. It is approximately 26.6 meters and over 2000 meters of climbing round trip from Casa de Aida... but well worth the journey. FYI, according to the Aida, the average time from her Hostel to the summit of Imbabura (one way) is between 6 to 7 hours... so leave early. A truck up to the trail head is always an option. Don't count on a truck down unless it has been arranged. On my decent down the road, I did not see a truck until I was almost to Casa de Aida's.