As we left the hotel corral, everyone named their horse.

At the top, around 3000 m, the view is spectacular.  Clouds filled the Valle Central and the Caribbean lowlands were clouded over well below our elevation.  The overlook was about 200 m above the floor of the main crater.  Within it are 3 smaller craters.  The eastern is small and old with no sign of recent activity.  The central crater has the mineralization of many fumaroles but none appeared active.  It apparently had a small eruption in the middle of the 19th century – according to Dani.
 

Clouds hung low in the Valle Central as our horses wound their  way up the trail toward the summit of Volcán Turrialba.

We descended into the main crater and walked across the floor to the central crater.  Sarah Carpenter was unable to accompany us due to cramps.  She discovered, however, that by placing hot volcanic rocks (sun-heated, of course) on her abdomen that she could relieve the discomfort. She coined a phrase to market this discovery: "Rock Away Those Cramps". At least half of the world's population should be interested in this product!
 

The floor of Turrialba crater is arid with little vegetation. No fumarolic activity is evident in the oldest, eastern,  crater. The central crater, over the lip at the edge of the flat area seen in this photo, has minor fumaroles which appear to be emitting mostly water vapor. The western crater is by far the most active. The fumaroles there emit both hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide. The white mineral seen on the crater wall was deposited from fumaroles that were once active there. The minerals were dissolved in the hot gases that came out but condensed into solids as soon as they came in contact with the relatively cool surface air. Most of those seen in the photo are probably gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate).

A bunch of us descended to the floor of the central crater and formed a human “BC” which the others photographed from above.  Brian and Jeremy made "Ash Angels".  We looked at the minerals deposited at a couple of fumaroles.  One had beautiful sulfur crystals and the other had white fibrous balls (cristobalite ?).  After the students mooned those up above, we climbed out.  From there, we split into two groups.  One returned the way we came in and the other ascended to the main crater rim to walk back along it.  I chose the latter group.  It was an arduous climb up to the rim.  A steep climb on a narrow trail at high elevation is not fun.  As we climbed, I noticed that much of the area the path crosses is composed of extremely vesicular cinders. This suggests that a cinder cone once occupied this portion of the crater. It was probably blown apart during a large eruption in the not too distant past. 

The walk along the outside rim of the western crater was spectacular.  I was tempted to start skiing down the steep outer slope but the thought of having to climb back up deterred me. It was very steep for the first 10 m or so and then dropped vertically to the rugged crater floor. The trail goes right to the edge of the cliff in a few places on the southwestern part of the rim but then heads back to a safe distance. By holding their breath, counting to three, and going, everyone made it by these dicey areas without incident.
 
 

The hike around the western part of crater rim was spectacular, in spite of the thin air and occasional whiffs of noxious gases.  The slope along the outside was steep but not treacherous. The  slope into the crater starts out very steeply and becomes precip- itous. In some places we had to walk along the edge of  50 m  vertical drops. Fortunately, these areas were only a few  meters long.

To the west, we had views of the cloud-filled valley and I took many shots of the active fumarole area below the steep walls of the crater. When we made it back to the horses we were greeted by our cohorts.  I was beat.  Why do I always forget how hard this is on me?
 

A thin blue haze of fumarolic gaes hovers above the most active (western) crater, seen in the foreground. The central crater, seen just above the white wall of condensate minerals, is the crater into which many of our group descended. The eastern crater, seen just this side of the far wall of the volcano, appears to have been either a small lake or a large puddle in the fairly recent pass. It may be an ephemeral lake that fills only during the rainy season.

We mounted our horses and started the 6-km trek back to the hotel.  The horses kicked up a lot of dust.  I have to say that Argentine saddles are much more comfortable than the Costa Rican variety. 

Numerous Costa Ricans had gone up the mountain for a picnic so many cars passed us in both directions.  One descending car was laying on the horn, scaring the horses. He came right up behind Dani and laid on the horn.  Dani apparently kicked the car.  The guy driving it was raging drunk.  We had seen him up on the top being totally obnoxious.  He jumped out and was screaming “maricón” and “puta” at Dani.  He came over and hit Dani twice and tried a third time but fell flat on his back. Then he started throwing dirt.  Finally, his wife and friends got him back in the car and drove off.  Dani was great.  He remained completely calm through the whole ordeal. How drunk does a guy have to be to attempt an attack on foot against a guy on a horse who has 24 friends that are also mounted?

The remainder of the trip down was uneventful and we arrived back at the hotel with very sore butts around 3:30.  I was covered with dust so I went right in and took a shower, shaved, and then had lunch. I took a nap from 5-7 and then went to the bar for a couple glasses of wine.  Dinner was at 8:00.  I did some business work for Dani afterward, and then looked at the stars with Jen and Molly.  It is now 10:45 and I am sore and ready for bed.  This was a great day – I think all agree.