VOLCÁN IZALCO, VOLCÁN SANTA ANA & LAGO DE COATEPEQUE
Parque Nacional Los Volcanes covers 3 volcanoes in western El Salvador: Santa Ana (7812 ft), Izalco (6396 ft.) and Cerro Verde (6500 ft. approx.). Izalco is a rather new volcano--it first erupted in 1770; however, Santa Ana has had the most recent eruption (2005) of the volcanoes in the park (2 people died from that eruption!). To the east is Lago de Coatepeque, a crater lake (with no outlet and an elevation around 2500 ft.) in a caldera formed over 50,000 years ago.

Lago De Coatepeque (with Volcán Santa Ana in the background). What's that floating in the water, you ask? Those are indeed water bottles.



Along the shores...



View from the north. Note that there is an island a bit towards the right, almost near the opposite shore.



Looking towards Santa Ana (but a bit above)...



Another view...



View from the southwest...



Volcán Izalco (from Cerro Verde)...



Izalco from below...



Viewing the forested (and partially deciduous) lower slopes of Santa Ana from the slopes of Izalco...



Lava from Izalco...



View from the top (with haze)...



Other volcanoes to the west...



The rim of Izalco...



Vents near the top (spewing HOT GAS!)...



An alder with a native range from Mexico to Argentina (Alnus acuminata) trying to inhabit the slopes of Izalco...



Volcán Santa Ana (viewed from Izalco)...



Slopes of Santa Ana (note the dead trees higher up)...



View of forested Cerro Verde (where the park entrance is) from Izalco. If you look really closely, you can see a guard watching over the volcano (because of some hikers being mugged in the past).



Native "deer antlers" tree (Oreopanax xalapensis) at the park headquarters on Cerro Verde...



Oreopanax xalapensis blossoms nearby...



Driveway at park headquarters with the (non-native) princess flowers (Tibouchina urveillana)...



Closeup of one of these shrubs...



And once again, that mystery shrub (also found on the slopes of Cerro El Pital)...it was very common here...



And, below Cerro Verde, not a mystery at all, coffee trees in a plantation (almost always requiring the shade of larger trees)...



All of the above pictures on this page were taken in November 2007 by Brandt Maxwell.

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