Outdoor Sites in Western Mexico
An Overview of Hiking and Camping Areas near Guadalajara
Dec 9, 2008
Western Mexico is a loose term referring to the area around Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. It could be said to include landforms that fall inside a circle with a radius of 200 kilometers, drawn around that metropolis. This would cover the states of Jalisco and Colima and parts of neighboring states.
One of the main characteristics of western Mexico is its diversity. Popular as well as little-known beaches lie at sea level while high mountains top 4000 meters (13,000 feet). Guadalajara itself has an altitude of 1552 meters, assuring its inhabitants (called Tapatios) of a temperate climate year-round.
Guadalajara is almost completely surrounded by the deep, wide canyons of the Santiago River. In these barrancas, as they are locally known, abundant springs and hothouse temperatures have conspired to create conditions that are nearly tropical.
Canyons Near Guadalajara
The Spanish conquistadores who founded Guadalajara in 1542 discovered this immediately and created extensive huertas or orchards where they could grow mangoes, papayas, bananas and even coconuts, as well as more exotic fruits like chirimoyas (custard apples) mameyes (mamey sapotes) and bonetes (Jacaratia Mexicana).
Hikers can enjoy this lush environment while trekking to majestic waterfalls and spring-fed pools in La Toma Valley, located 50 kilometers northwest of Guadalajara.
Volcanoes and Boiling Mud Pots
Mexico’s volcanic belt cuts right across the magic circle around Guadalajara, meaning that outdoors enthusiasts can camp alongside geysers, ancient obsidian workshops, giant volcanic balls, hot rivers like famed Río Caliente or the boiling mud pots of Los Negritos, located only 17 kilometers from Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake.
Climbers, instead, will be challenged by tall monoliths like El Diente, 14 minutes from Guadalajara, not to mention peaks like Cebroruco and Tequila Volcanoes and the often snow-capped Nevado de Colima. Another volcano, el Volcán de Fuego, is better to be admired from a distance than scaled. Its frequent lava flows and pyrotechnics can best be observed from a tent near the peaceful crater lake of La María in Colima.
Deep Caves of Manantlán
Large parts of western Mexico are composed of limestone. The most celebrated of these is the Sierra de Manantlán on the Jalisco-Colima border, an area of staggering botanical diversity and also home to around 100 surveyed limestone pits, the deepest, el Resumidero del Pozo Blanco, measuring 241 meters vertically, with a free drop of 233 meters.
Countless other caves in the area have yet to be explored. Near Manantlán, one finds Jalisco’s longest horizontal cave, el Resumidero de Toxín, which is over three kilometers in length with an underground river that any caver would find challenging.
Beaches, Jungles and Sand Dunes
Over 600 kilometers of Pacific coastline stretch from the bird-watching paradise of San Blas to the deserted beaches of Michoacán. This is a truly tropical zone with jungle, mangrove swamps, palm trees, sand dunes, prime surfing areas and, of course, the year-round warm waters of the deep blue Pacific Ocean.
Mines, Haciendas and Curious Pyramids
The geological diversity of this region should satisfy the most demanding hiker or photographer, but western Mexico offers much more. The mountains, hills and canyons abound in quaint villages, abandoned gold and silver mines, sprawling haciendas, ancient petroglyphs and, of course, the region’s curious circular pyramids,unique in all the world.
Such extraordinary richness and diversity in such a relatively small area (about the size of Kansas) suggests that hikers, campers, photographers and other outdoor enthusiasts could spend 50 years exploring the many corners of western Mexico and still feel that they had barely scratched the surface.
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