On the advice of Shai, an Israeli friend we hiked with in Salento, we booked an all day tour via Beatrice at Mountain House, to Parque Nacional de Los Nevados. It was expensive... 95,000 pesos (about $55) each. But Shai had raved about the trip and said we MUST do it.
We weren't quite sure exactly what the trip was about... except a spectacular national park, a mountain, and some hot springs. We also knew that it was an all day trip and the price included breakfast, lunch and all entrance fees. (We did get a detailed explanation, in Spanish, from Beatrice, but we didn't follow the whole explanation).
What we didn't know was that this mountain was REALLY high, that we would hike up above the snow line, above 15,000 feet, and that it would be snowing!
We only wore our lightweight multipurpose (zip off at the knee) hiking pants. But did wear our fleece jackets and took rain jackets as well. My jogging shoes were still wet from the hike in Salento, but I took them along with an extra pair of socks, just in case. Otherwise I was wearing my hiking sandals with socks because of the cold. Dave had on 5 layers by the time we were in the snow.
It took us 2 hours in the bus to get from Manizales to the park, with a short stop for breakfast. Our guide, Milton Caesar, also made us buy a bottle of water and some fruit to help with the altitude. Inside the park, the road deteriorated rapidly as we wound our way higher and higher, passing a number of mud slides beside the road. And Milton told us about a big mud slide that happened yesterday and knocked a bus and big truck over a ravine and killed some people. The newspaper said that the main road from Manizales to Bogota will be closed for awhile until they move 40,000 cubic meters of mud off the road.
Mule Road RepairFinally the scenery changed from the amazing green hillsides we were used to, to the more rugged terrain of the higher altitudes. We still kept climbing. At the end, it looked like a moonscape... just rocks and snow with no trees or anything. We stopped a couple of times. At one place, called Laguna Negro, we bought 'coca tea' (to help with altitude sickness). It got colder and colder as we went up. We started out pretty cold, so by the time we stopped near Laguna Negro (Black Lagoon), I bought a wool hat to keep my ears warm. Dave laughed at me, but I was SO glad I had it when we were up on the mountain.
After some time the road ended and we continued up and up on a pot holed gravel track. Our progress was slowed to about 5mph as we bumped along. We finally got to the Refugio at the top of the road, just 300 meters from the top of the highest mountain in the park. It was at about 4,900 meters (16,000 feet), and it was snowing, windy and very cold.
Our guide told us that we couldn't hike all the way to the glacier or mountain top today because of the weather. But we could hike up to the 5,000 meter mark. We didn't feel much 'altitude sickness' until we started climbing up. Then I felt a headache, dizziness, and shortness of breath. We'd walk about 10 steps and then stop and rest. I couldn't catch my breath, and my heart was pounding. It was agonizing, but at least for once I wasn't worrying about my knees.
The original goal was to hike to the flag (about 4,950 meters). But then the guide told us we 'had' to go on up to the 5,000 meter mark. At that point I had had enough, and decided to stay there. But Dave went on with most of the rest of the group. However, after a few minutes of rest, I kept going up as well. Finally I made it to just 5,003 meters. Dave made it a little higher, to 5024 meters, before the guide made everyone turn back because of the time. We verified the height with my portable GPS, of course (5,000 meters = 16,404 feet). 
Back on the bus, everyone was totally wiped out, even the guide.
Then we bumped and wound our way back down the bad road to the hot springs (and lunch). At that point, I was so woozy that I was just hoping that it was getting so late that we'd skip the hot springs and go on down. I was still dizzy and exhausted from the hike, and the bouncing bus was making me a little nauseous (me, with the cast iron stomach).
But we finally made it to the hot springs. After a good hot lunch, and a soak in the hot springs, I was finally warmed up and felt much better. But even a few hours later, I was still feeling the effects--it felt like I'd been up partying all night.
The trip back down the mountain to Manizales was spectacular! We were well above the cloud line and had to descend almost 10,000 feet. As the sun was setting we could see the cloud tops and green sunlit fields and forests far below. Since the van was moving at such a rapid pace and the windshield was still wet from the snow, it was hard to get a good photo that would show what we were seeing. The sheer drops and scenery reminded us of pictures we have seen of trekking in the Himalayas.
Early on Milton had told us that the road in the park was the 5th highest in the world behind three in the Himalayas and one in the Cordillera Blanca in northern Peru. What a trip and what a place! We finally got back to our hostel in Manizales at about 6 PM, just in time for dinner and a good sleep.
Even though it was a tough hike, we were really glad we went. We highly recommend this trip to others.
More pictures of the Los Nevados hike
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