Immediately west of Guadalajara lie 30,500 hectares (75,367 acres) of rolling hills covered with pine and oak trees — home to hot springs, deep canyons and over 300 species of woodsy creatures.
This is Bosque la Primavera, or the Primavera Forest, a quiet and beautiful place where Tapatios and other visitors can escape the noise and stress of the city. In 1980 the forest was declared a protected refuge for flora and fauna.
Bicycle riders in particular have discovered just how easy it is to disappear deep into the woods, soaking up the good vibrations. Each weekend around 2,000 of them head for the west end of town where the forest begins, just six kilometers beyond the city’s ring road (Periferico).
Driving along Avenida Mariano Otero, they first come to a caseta (entrance gate) where forest rangers remind them not to bring pets or alcohol into the protected area.
After another 2.6 kilometers is Estación Estéfano, a secure parking area that can hold 700 vehicles. Here, the owner, Ramón Estéfano, told me that for a fee of 60 pesos you can leave your car all day and use the toilets and the showers and even a free bicycle wash. You also have access to several businesses, each housed in a modified shipping container. These include a restaurant, a coffee shop, and a bicycle mechanic. My friends and I found the restaurant’s breakfasts excellent and the toilet spotlessly clean.
Estación Estéfano is open every day of the year, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restaurant, however, is only open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Most people leave their cars here and pedal up the road for 3.4 kilometers to a delightful place called Check Point. Here they find a tastefully decorated rustic cabin, a cultural center, a cafeteria, good fellowship and, believe it or not, a gourmet restaurant.
Yamil Karim, one of three brothers who own and operate Check Point, told me what attracts 2,000 people to this neck of the woods every weekend.
“For cyclists, the mountain bike trails are great fun and offer a little of everything,” he said. “If you want long distances, you can cover 60 or 70 kilometers. We have one route called The Three Towers, which is 100 kilometers long and entirely inside the forest. We have really nice trails passing right alongside Check Point, with very good bajadas (down slopes) that are well signposted and maintained.”
These routes are looked after by an association called MTB Pro Bosque, a non-profit organization of volunteers who work with the support and approval of the forest’s landowners to maintain to improve the Primavera’s bicycle trails. To achieve this, the group depends entirely on donations.
Karim went into greater detail about the different trails.
“We have trails called Mosca, Garrison, Toboganes and Espinazo, which are typically named after the people who created the route or who did a lot of work on it. For example, Mosca, which means fly in Spanish, is actually named for a dermatologist named Dr. Mosca. This 2.3-kilometer uphill track takes you to the Garrison Trail, which has been around since the 1980s and is named after a guy who ran a bicycle shop in Guadalajara. Other trails with curious names are La Preciosísima and La Vaca Muerta. Each one has a story to tell.”
Check Point is housed in the same buildings that were once known as Estación Bicicleta, which provided food and refreshment to mountain bikers.
“For years my brothers and I were happy customers of Estación Bicicleta,” Karim told me. “After cycling, we would arrive here dirty, sweaty and half dead. Estación Bicicleta was a true oasis. Every weekend we would eat here, and one day, relaxing here in the shade, my brother mentioned to me that he would love to run a place like this in the middle of the woods.
Several years later, after Estación Bicicleta closed, the Karim brothers decided to turn their dream into reality.
“After great difficulty just finding the owner of the land, we bought the place, renovated the cabin and installed a cafeteria and a fireplace,” Karim said. “It’s really cozy now and people love to come and taste our fine coffees, which we rotate every week. We even bring in experts and hold catas (tastings).”
Another specialty of Check Point is their exotic fruit juices, including their house version of hydrating drinks.
Clients of Check Point enjoy all this surrounded by the paintings and artistic photos of another brother, award-winning artist Ramadam Karim.
“Shouldn’t it be Ramadan?” I asked.
"Yes,” Karim answered. “We are of Palestinian descent, but here they spelled it wrong on my brother’s birth certificate, and it stuck.”
Karim credited his girlfriend Fernanda as the genius behind Check Point’s delicious food.
“She studied to be a chef and now she invents our dishes and drinks and desserts. The current dessert of the week is a croissant garnished with chocolate and sprinkled with almonds. Fernanda delights in choosing just the right ingredients and mulls over every detail so the result turns out just right. The response has been muy padre (very good). It seems people really like this place!”
Karim said while he has not been surprised to welcome plenty of mountain bike riders to his establishment, he never expected to see so many non-cyclists.
“It seems word has spread and now families are showing up, with grandmas and grandpas in tow. They come by car, eat here and then go for a walk along one of the trails. We’ve had to expand our parking area to accommodate them. It’s like people in Guadalajara are only just waking up to the realization that we have a treasure right next to the city.”
Check Point is open from 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. on weekends and 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Thursdays.