A sign marks the high point of the highway (Route 2) at 3,335 m (10,942 ft), from where the vehicle track and hiking trail begin.

The higher areas are páramo habitat, with stunted shrubs, dwarf bamboo, and tree ferns, and smaller plants like blueberry, gooseberry and lady's slipper.

These include fiery-throated hummingbird, timberline wren, sooty robin, black-billed nightingale-thrush, peg-billed finch and volcano junco.

[1] Because crossing Cerro de la Muerte took up to five days on foot, at the beginning of the twentieth century, three resting stations were created by Congressional Decree Number 45, signed on 5 August 1908.

In 1990, the Ministry of Culture recognized the importance of the resting stop houses, and in 20 November 2016 the "Casa Refugio Ojo de Agua" was restored and is now a small museum.