Cayambe Coca National Park, National park in northeastern Ecuador
Cayambe Coca is a protected area in northeastern Ecuador spanning more than 400,000 hectares across Napo, Pichincha, Imbabura and Sucumbíos provinces. The terrain ranges from rainforest valleys to glaciated peaks above 5,700 meters, taking in páramo grasslands, cloud forest and lowland rivers.
Ecuador established the area as an ecological reserve in November 1970 to protect water sources and mountain ecosystems. In 2010, the government changed its status to a national park, expanding official protection measures.
The park contains traditional thermal springs in Oyacachi, where indigenous communities maintain their ancestral practices near the Reventador volcano waters.
Visitors can enter the protected area via the 214-kilometer Quito-Papallacta-Baeza road or through the Sangolquí-Cayambe access route. Mountain trails pass through multiple climate zones, and hikes should account for altitude acclimatization.
Watersheds within the area split in two directions: rivers flowing east join the Napo-Marañón system toward the Amazon and ultimately the Atlantic, while western streams drain via the Mira into the Pacific. This rare divide sits at a transition between the Andes and the Amazon basin.
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