Nevado de Colima

Saturday March 19. A long morning walk on the beach, a breakfast of old-fashioned oatmeal with raisins, pecans and honey, and a new mountain adventure ahead restored our spirits. While Mike drove the slow road to Colima I tried to research the climb. Phone service was intermittent, but I

Mural in the Palacio del Gobierno in Colima

eventually determined that Volcan Colima is closed to climbing due to the eruption, but its older and taller sibling Volcan Nevado is a popular climb. We stopped in Colima for more information, but the tourist office only knows about the state of Colima, and access to the national park is on the Jalisco side. We proceeded on the slow route to Guzman, which doesn’t show up on our map, not because it is small—its not-- but because the name on the map was the name of the municipality, not the name of the city. Argh! In Guzman we asked directions to the park office to get maps, but it was closed. We asked the security guard, then at the tourism office, then a police officer, then a guy on the street, then at a hotel, then at the emergency

Sculpture on the ceiling of the stairwell in the Palacio in Guzman

services station for a map or information on where to go and how to get there, all with limited success. Information was mixed on whether the road up to the park is drivable in a two-wheel-drive vehicle. We decided to go and see how far we get. It was late afternoon by then.

We followed the instructions to the park road, which was signed, and headed up. We went about three kilometers before it got so bad with sand and steepness and ruts that we had to turn around. The car behind us turned around too.

The park road showed up on maps.me not as a road but as a trail. It led up to a place called La Joya, which I learned from a couple blogs is the standard place to camp before climbing. Maps.me seemed to show an alternate trail to La Joya from the nearby hamlet of Fresnitos, so that is where we headed. Fortunately it was light until 7pm. We followed maps.me up the street. At a fork in the dirt road, a guy hailed us in English and offered to help. His name was Joao, he owned the finca right there and a little store in town, and his three daughters all live in the States. He invited us to park for the night in front of his finca, so we did.  He said the trail is well signed and would take about four hours. He and his workers went back to town. We cooked and ate rice and lentils, packed for our hike, and settled in for the night with our mountain-weight sleeping bags.

Sunday March 20. Up at six, we started walking up the dirt road before 7. The road is lined with avocado orchards and cow pastures. At km 3, the man who had passed us on his motorbike was busy

Would you like a glass of fresh milk?

milking his cow. He invited us in for a glass of fresh milk, which we gratefully accepted. He fetched a clean glass from his outdoor kitchen, and filled it straight from the udder. (The calf, who was tied just out of reach, was not pleased.) Yum! I have never tasted absolutely fresh, warm milk before. His name was Jesus and he invited us to camp at his place anytime.

The track was less and less traveled, skirting a ravine on the right and more huertas on the left. At km 4 the trail took off straight up the hill following a water line through the woods. Around km 6 to km 8 a dirt road climbed the same hill, with the trail short-cutting the switchbacks. We passed two campsites, one near the bottom and one near the top of this section. The sign post was missing its sign, but around km 9 the main trail turned right to traverse, while a smaller track continued straight up.  We followed the main trail, glad to get some reprieve from the steep uphill. But it went on and on and on. We were concerned that it was not heading in the right direction toward the peak. Then it crossed a ridge and started to descend. When

Nevado de Colima from La Joya

we are climbing we hate to lose elevation, knowing that we will just have to climb up again. It was very trying to have never seen a map and have no sense of where we were going. We had been told by three people that the trail would take about four hours (to where?), and the four hours were up. But soon we could see that there was a deep valley between the ridge and the mountain, and so there was not a more direct route.  The trail started climbing again.  We were very gratified to see a dam and water system, an electric pole, a road, a parked truck, OMG there is a huge complex of buildings here! La Joya is an environmental education center and reforestation work complex as well as a major park facility, camping and hiking area. And from there a road leads up to a group of microwave towers at about 13,000 feet.  In addition to the several trucks, there were a few two-wheel drive autos that had made it up the road. We didn’t find an open rangers office, but there was a large signboard with a… MAP! We could finally see the trail we had come up—12 km!—and the route options to the summit. We chose the shortest (3km) and most direct route, the “Jota,” named for the J-shaped notch high up on the left horizon. This route had a little light scrambling. A group of young climbers from Guadelajara were heading up at the same time as we; I suspect they were a hiking club from the University, out for spring break.

At 4,270m (14,009 ft), Nevado de Colima is the sixth highest peak in Mexico. I was feeling the

On top of Nevado de Colima

altitude, but slow and steady, feeling just fine. And with the peak in sight there was no turning back. It is an iconic, pyramidal peak, with a younger twin next door.  It was a lovely climb up, through sparse forest, then pumice slopes with tufts of grass, then the summit rocks. There were a few shallow patches of snow from last weeks’ storm. The wind on top was cold, so we put on all our clothes. The summit view included the erupting volcano El Fuego, giving off gas and ash and occasional sonic booms.

We went down by an easier but longer route, down the rocks, plunge stepping through the pumice, then marching down the road. It was 5:20 when we got back to La Joya. The parking lot—and our chances for hitching a ride--was empty. We still had a 12km walk back…

Though the 33km and 3000m of elevation gain was double what we had expected and planned for, we actually held up just fine. That is what acclimation and training do for you. Night fell just as we emerged from the forest onto the dirt road. The last 3km were the longest of the day. When we got back to the van a little after 8pm we were too tired to drive, so no beer, no shower, no cooking, just pulling out all the leftovers, cheese and bread I could find then falling into bed.