Many lakes, mountains, valleys etc. have several names in Cajas. For example Lake Llaviuco is also called Zorrocucho. Different spellings are even more common: Llaviuco is also spelled as Llaviucu and Zorrocucho as Zurocucho. In general can be stated that the more recognizable names are Spanish. The more exotic names are Quechua. We tried to use the official topographic maps (see LOCATION tab) supplemented with the "local" names.
The Instituto Geográfico Militar in Quito sells topographic maps with a 1:50.000 scale to civilians. Cajas covers four maps namely: Chiquintad (CT-NV-F2), San Felipe de Molleturo (CT-NV-F1), Chaucha (CT-NV-F3) and Cuenca (CT-NV-F4). See fo more information LOCATION tab. In Cajas: You recieve a map when you register and pay your entrance fee. This map is accurate but does not show much detail. Sometimes the map is out of stock, do not count on it.
Cajas is a National Park since 1996. Cajas was declared a National Area of Recreation in 1977. Since 2001 the park is managed by the "Corporación Municipal Parque Nacional Cajas" consisting of the municipality of Cuenca and the ETAPA company.
The park is managed by "Corporación Municipal Parque Nacional Cajas" (the municipality of Cuenca and the ETAPA company). ETAPA is a Cuenca based company specialized in telecommunications, energy and water. A significant part of the drinking water in Azuay has its origin in P.N. Cajas. The volcanic soil which covers about 90% of the Parks surface has a very high water storage capacity. Substantial management to protect the soil for erosion results in a constant supply of high quality water throughout the year.
Till 2000 INEFAN (Ecuadorian Institute of forests and natural areas, similar to the National Forest Service in the USA) managed the park.
The Provisional South American Datum 1956 (PSAD56) is used for topographic maps in Ecuador. So the official paper maps (produced by IGM) have the same datum as our maps and waypoints. The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is used as it makes calculating distances easier. The alternative (latitude and longitude) is in degrees, minutes and seconds which makes it harder to calculate. (There are more advantages: calculating with positive numbers, increasing values going from left to right among others. )
The kml files used for the google maps are conversions of the SAD56 UTM 17s. We strongly discourage the use of our KML files other than we made them for: viewing in google maps or google earth. There is a significant displacement caused by the conversion.
A good starting point is ETAPA in Cuenca. ETAPA Cajas website There are several scientific publications on the park, ranging from bird life to water quality and soil carbon sequestration. Try Google Scholar to find scientific information
PNC welcomes around 35000 visitors each year. They generate an income of around 150k US dollar.
There are two roads. The most used one is the Cuenca - Molleturo - Naranjal - Guayaquil road, which comes along the Refugio at Laguna Toreadora. The second one is at the south of the park. It is called: San Joaquin-Soldados Angas. This way of entering the park is much less used and you start your tracks at a much lower altitude.
Yes you should! It is for your own safety. You also support the maintenance of Cajas Park.
For foreigners 10 US$ per person a day. And 4 US$ for a night.
dowload page of the ETAPA Cajas website
Yes, we do. See the [Tracks] page, above in the menu. The contour line interval is 20 or 40 meters, depending on the location. The interval is mentioned on the map. It is resized to fit a A4 paper size. The scalebar can help you to calculate distance.
Yes: The Provisional South American Datum 1956, UTM Zone 17s. Tracks are recorded in 1999 and in 2000.
Google maps uses WGS84 and a lat long coordination system. Topographic maps in Ecuador use the Provisional South American Datum, UTM Zone 17s. Calculating distance on a map with the Ecuadorian map system is much easier as they use meters. Using latitude and logitude demands you to calculate degrees, minutes and seconds to meters. Difficult!
We had to reproject and displace the original data to fit with google maps. All the google maps mash ups are therefor useable in google maps, not anywhere else. Please use the [Tracks] page to download GPS waypoint for walking purposes. Or contact me at info@parque-nacional-cajas.org
Short answer: because google maps uses WGS84 and original data is in PSAD56
Long answer: All the original data are in the provisional south american datum of 1956. The national cartographic institute in Ecuador (map producers, Instituto Geográfico Militar http://www.igm.gov.ec/) uses this datum, the sattelite images and air photo's are georeferenced in the PSAD 56 and for the field work (tracks, routes, poi's) this datum is used. World Geodetic System 1984 WGS-84 is the reference system used by the Global Positioning System. It is also used for google maps.
Mapwindow (GIS, freeware)
PSPad (brilant editor, freeware)
Idrisi Taiga (GIS)
ArcGis 9.3 (GIS)
FWTools 2.4.3 (Open Source GIS Binary Kit for Windows and Linux)
Total Commander (file manager)
Yes, In an earlier stage we used the more general used transformation for South American Andean countries (1201 PSAD_1956_To_WGS_1984_1). Never took time to compare the results on a structural way, so we suppose the Ecuadorian specific parameters are more precise.
A geocentric translation with the X, Y and Z parameters (X axis -278.0, Y axis 171.0, Z axis -367.0). These parameters have at some locations a displacement of several meters (Leiva, ?).
Off course many other transformations exists for the PSAD 56 to WGS 84 for Ecuador. In fact the national (military) cartographic institute in Ecuador (IGM) used a Isogonal transformation. See the article written by Leiva (Spanish) or refer to the website of SIRGAS (Sistema de Referencia Geocéntrico para las Américas) at www.sirgas.org
website mapaspects website mapaspects
wikipedia: The name "Cajas" is derived from the Quichua word "cassa" meaning "gateway to the snowy mountains".[1] or "caxa" (Quichua:cold).[2]. It has also been linked to the Spanish word "cajas" (boxes).[2] See "kettle and knob geomorphology"
No. Laguna Toreadora to Soldades walked a horse for me. And I did not climb Avilahuayco, yet. Guagrahuma to Mazan with a horse and Pili. Most of the other tracks with German Guittieres (Park ward and friend)
There are two kinds of trout. The rainbow and the .. ?
Not all lakes. Laguna Luspa and Laguna Toreadora for sure.
No, the hiking tracks are not marked. The starting point is often indicated with a sign / plate. The tracks peter out quickly and a good map in combination with a compass or gps are necessary. And above all experience in mountain hiking. Please do consider hiring a guide.
Yes you can. Even with a gps, a map, a compass and weeks of experience in Cajas (and years in mountain hiking) I got lost several times. When you end up in haze / fog with a sight of several meters you will get lost.
Although ETAPA manages the park there is absolutely NO GMS coverage.
Above 3800 meters asl I always drank the water and never became ill.
Because it is less known. It is also called Paredones de Molleturo, near San Felipe de Molleturo, Cochabamba. You can use "El sitio arqueológico de Paredones de Molleturo" to search.
info@parque-nacional-cajas.org .