Category: Mountains

GPS, Mountains, MTBing

El Carrizal Loop

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The village of San Miguel del Valle is one of the gateways to great mountain biking in the high country of the Sierra Norte mountains near Oaxaca city. Tucked into a fold of the mountains on the north side of the Tlacolula valley (one part of the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca state), San Miguel is reached by driving north from Tlacolula and passing through the municipio of Diaz Ordaz. San Miguel itself is part of the valley, but it lays claim to miles of mountainous terrain abutting the Pueblos Mancomunados. Once you have reached San Miguel, you should check in at the ecotourism office on the town square (the bright green building next to the municipal building). There is a 50 peso fee for hiking or biking on communal land. The charge is worth it, though, as there are miles of great trails, most of which are mapped and are well marked with signage — which is rather unusual hereabouts! Guides may also be hired at the ecotourism office for 150 pesos for three hours work. The office may be contacted at 951-520-9105. The person in charge in 2016 is Sergio Lopez Garcia.

The ride that is featured below is a 12.9 mile (20.7 km) loop utilizing dirt roads running through the forest. The loop can be ridden in either direction, but we recommend going counter-clockwise, hitting El Carrizal first and then continuing on to La Neveria and La Ventosa. Why? The road drops rather steeply from the El Pedimento trailhead (again, well marked and easy to find) to El Carrizal, losing 1134 feet (346 meters), with only 651 feet (198 meters) of climbing along the way. This would be a painful climb out if you ride the loop clockwise. The distance from the El Pedimento trailhead to El Carrizal is just 4.4 miles (7.1 km). The road from El Carrizal to La Neveria, on to La Ventosa and back to the El Pedimento trailhead runs 8.5 miles (13.7 km) — a greater distance, but with gentler climbs alternating with some mild downhill sections. An alternative — for those who like to finish a ride going downhill rather than up — is to start the ride in El Carrizal, ride counter-clockwise and finish with the screamer of a downhill back to town. The overall elevation gain & loss riding around the loop is 2219 feet (676 meters).

  • El Carrizal in the distance.
  • One of the prettiest mountain valleys.
  • Village church
  • View from the hill
  • Municipal building
  • Eco-tourism cabins.
  • El Carrizal from a hillside above
  • Lake near El Carrizal

Hiking, Mountains, MTBing, Outing

Zapotrek – Responsible tourism in Oaxaca, Mexico

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Eric Ramirez is an enthusiastic young man with a passion for exploring the natural wonders of Oaxaca. He offers hiking excursions, bicycling tours, cultural tours, mezcal tours, eco-archeological tours and rock climbing. He speaks excellent English. Visit Eric’s web site at Zapotrek.com or contact him personally at eric@zapotrek.com or 951-257-7712

Mountains, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Nitos Ride To Guacamaya

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Nitos Ciclistas en Movimiento sponsored an all-day ride from Oaxaca city to the mountain village of Guacamaya on Sunday, 18 May 2014. This was a challenging 43.3 mile (69.7 km) round-trip excursion that required pedaling steadily uphill a total of 4171 feet (1271.3 meters) in the 9.8 miles (15.77 km) from the turnoff on Highway 190 to Guacamaya – and mostly on a gravel road. Thankfully, the trip organizers had two sag vehicles accompany the group of 34 riders, so a number of people got a very welcome lift on the final leg of the ride into Guacamaya. The group departed the Church of San Agustin shortly after 8 am and the first party to get back to Oaxaca did so about 5 pm.

Go to www.facebook.com/NitosCiclistasEnMovimiento to learn more about this club.

GPS, Mountains, MTBing, Photos

Mountain Misadventure

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In theory it should not be difficult to ride from La Cumbre to La Neveria. This could be an out & back excursion or the first leg of a truly epic day in the saddle that would continue on from La Neveria to Benito Juarez, then down the mountainside to Teotitlan del Valle and on to Oaxaca – a trek that would cover over 60 miles and see the rider drop something over 7500 feet in elevation. But theory and practice seem to be out of alignment. The first time I tried this a few years back with a friend, we got totally turned around in the forest and wound up – after timber bashing for several hours through steep, heavily wooded terrain – in Latuvi. Oops! Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere!

On this first Sunday in May I corralled another group of friends and we set out with somewhat better instructions. Things went smoothly for the first fourteen miles, but then we found ourselves in a maze of logging roads which went every which way. We picked a road that, while little traveled, seemed to head in the right direction. Unfortunately, after a few miles the road petered out, becoming just a footpath through the woods and eventually disappearing altogether. That was aggravating, as we knew we were close to our destination. However, we felt it would be foolhardy to push on and so reluctantly retraced our steps to La Cumbre.

The map below indicates our course, including a false turn that would have taken us to – you guessed it! – Latuvi if we had persisted. Altogether we covered 28.4 miles (45.7 km) and had the pleasure of gaining and losing 4481 feet (1365.8 meters) in elevation going out and back.

If it is true that “the third time’s the charm,” perhaps we’ll find our way to La Neveria on our next attempt.

GPS, Mountains, MTBing, Trail Info

Visit to Yuvila

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Yuvila is a small Zapotec village in the highlands of the Sierra Norte not far north of Oaxaca city. It is accessible from a dirt road that links La Cumbre with La Neveria. The ride illustrated on the map below is an out & back trip to Yuvila from La Cumbre that covers 9.3 miles (14.97 km) round trip. It is a relatively easy ride, as the road is wide, smooth and not too steep. The bike rider will gain and lose a total of 1472 feet (448.6 meters) in elevation going up and down the hills along the way. We had expected to go longer and further on this ride, but found heavy cloud cover, light drizzle and chilly temperatures in the area when we visited on 14 April, so we cut short our time in the saddle.