Cerro El Pital

Where is Cerro El Pital?

Cerro El Pital is part of the Sierra Madre.

You will find it in: El Salvador.

Summit: 14.383° N, 89.117° W

The story behind it

Cerro El Pital sits in the far north of El Salvador, where the land climbs into the Sierra Madre and clouds often hang in the trees. The forest on top is a cloud forest: moss covers the branches, ferns grow on the trunks, and water drips from the leaves even when no rain is falling. Because the mountain is so high, the nights turn cold and frost sometimes appears, which is unusual in a warm country like El Salvador. On the lower slopes families grow coffee, peaches and flowers in the cool air, and a dirt road climbs almost to the top, so the last part of the walk is short. The border with Honduras runs across the summit, and anyone standing there has one foot in each country.

Find it on the globe

Cerro El Pital is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.