For years I’ve heard stories about the difficulties and rewards of hiking to the top of Cerro Bola del Viejo, which – at 2,960 meters above sea level – is Jalisco’s second-highest mountain after El Nevado de Colima (4,240 meters and, by the way, not in Colima).
Those stories all had to do with awesome views, pristine forests, freezing-cold temperatures and exhausted hikers fainting along the trail. It sounded like a wonderful place, but a bit more than my old legs could handle.
Then I got a message from a friend, Franky Alvarez: “John, there’s now a road going all the way to the top of Cerro Viejo – Wanna check it out?”
The result? Here I am in the Casa Ejidal of San Miguel Cuyutlán, located 26 kilometers south of Guadalajara and 15 north of Lake Chapala.
The President of the Ejido and other officials welcome me warmly. They tell me that Cerro Viejo is a place of extraordinary beauty and they are dedicated to keeping it that way. “It was recently declared a Protected Area,” they tell me, “and now, rather than exploit it, we want to preserve it.”
Curiously, one step to preserving it has been the creation of a road leading up to the very top. This was built only two years ago after a ferocious forest fire raged over the mountain. The road now gives the bomberos easy access to the legendary cerro.
The ejido reps regale me with tales of animals, cold springs, caves, treasure and a light plane which once crashed into Cerro Viejo. Then we are off to explore for ourselves under the guidance of Don Alfonso Tejeda who knows every nook and cranny of the mountain. We drive past San Miguel’s impressive new Unidad Deportivo to a steel gate which is open for us today but normally kept locked. “Visitors can easily get permission to come up here from the Casa Ejidal,” says Don Alfonso.
A mere five-minute drive from San Miguel, we come to an Interpretive Trail, which the state environmental agancy, SEMADET, helped fund. It will eventually be a four-kilometer loop, passing through a charming thicket of weeping willows and springs of clean, cold water. So far, one kilometer of it is finished and visitors are welcome. I should note that the brecha leading from the town to the trail (one kilometer) is smooth enough to be negotiated by any sort of car.
Not so the rest of the road, which continues winding its way up to the very peak. It’s rocky and steep and I definitely recommend 4WD … also because you can later use your gears instead of brakes during the long descent. However, during the rainy season, don’t even bother, says Don Alfonso.
We start out driving through a forest of robles (oaks), pochotes (silk cotton trees) and sauces (willows). The air grows colder and colder as we rise in altitude and soon (around 2,000 meters) the trees are encinos (another kind of oak) and madroños. “This whole mountain range, whose correct name is La Sierra del Madroño, is named after this tree,” says naturalist Manfred Meiners.
In English, this is the Texas Madrone (Arbutus xalapensis), also known as Lady’s Leg because of its exceptionally smooth trunk and branches, which may be white during one part of the year and a shiny brown or red during another. The tree produces a bright red berry which animals and birds love and from which some Texans apparently make wine. This tree is infamously difficult to grow. In seems in 1975 researchers planted 10,000 Madrone seeds and succeeded in germinating only two of them! The Madrone’s European version (Arbutus unedo), is known as The Strawberry Tree. While this tree is quite short in most other parts, Don Alfonso says it grows exceptionally tall in certain areas of the aptly named Sierra del Madroño.
At 2,837 meters altitude, we stop to admire a wide meadow called La Mesa de la Gringa, so called because “Someone brought a gringa here once.” A few minutes later we come to a small meadow where we have the inevitable and obligatory flat tire, which is part and parcel of every Mexican outing. “This spot will now be known as La Mesa de la Ponchada,” we tell Don Alfonso, who replies quite seriously, “It probably will.”
Now the mountain narrows dramatically to a knife blade, where we can see a steep drop on our left and on our right and in a few minutes we reach the very top, the Old Man’s Hump, where there’s a big flat area convenient for parking or for camping. We grab our hats as we step out of the cars, for the wind is whistling through the tall trees and radio antennas above us. Taking care not to get blown over the edge, we enjoy a different and spectacular view of Jalisco from every side of the Bola. “Those are the salt flats of Sayula; that’s Tequila Volcano; and over there, Lake Chapala and the Cerro de García,” point out my friends.
Now we have time to take a few short hikes along some of Franky’s favorite trails. The thick carpet of leaves crunches underfoot as we pass between big volcanic rocks and candelabra-shaped trees covered with moss, lichens, Spanish moss and even tiny ferns.
Our guide takes us to see a notorious man-made pit dug a few years ago by local people, perhaps looking for treasure. It looks about seven meters deep with a side tunnel disappearing into the darkness. The diggers made the mistake of introducing a jerry can of gasoline into it for some reason, which flooded the confined space with toxic fumes, killing one of the party.
This wood is laced with enticing trails, leading off in every direction. “You need to be here at dusk,” says Franky. “The sunsets defy description.” We pull out our pocket agendas and start making plans for an overnight. Maybe we’ll see the pumas, wild boars or jaguarundis that Don Alfonso tells us are lurking in this magical forest … and a few more of the 889 species of plants up here. I have a feeling this story may have more than one sequel.
How to get there
The entrance to San Miguel Cuyutlán lies along the Circuito Metropolitano Sur, which stretches from Ajijic to Tala. Drive to the church, whose steeple you can see from the highway. Across from the church stands the Casa Ejidal where you can get a local guide who will arrange for the gate to be unlocked. Continue south on the same street, passing the Sports Center. Just 1.1 kilometers past this Center, you’ll see a large sign on your left, marking the beginning of the Interpretive Trail. If you have 4WD, you’re off to the top (13.4 kilometers from the edge of San Miguel). Driving time to San Miguel either from Ajijic or from the Guadalajara Periférico is only half an hour.
To see the complete route, go to Wikiloc.com and search for “Pintroutes – San Miguel to Cerro Viejo.”