Igor at sunset near the Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 11th.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Somewhere in the mountains near Mexico City (day 2)

You might want to read yesterday's post first because I only posted them within minutes of each other!

Written Feb 16…7:30am

Yesterday morning, we were trying to find a trail to a lookout. We went for a walk around 9:00am, expecting to be gone an hour or two. We didn’t get back to Sherman until 1:30pm!

We found a trail alright! The temperature was perfect for hiking, about 18C (65F) but it got cooler the higher we climbed. And the trail was exactly the way we like it. Maintained enough to know where the trail was, but not so much that it wasn’t natural.

The trail leads up the mountain that you can see just to the left of the clouds.

Heading uphill

Hundreds of switchbacks!

Only two problems…the higher we went, the higher we wanted to go. But we weren’t really prepared for being gone this long. We only had one water bottle, so it’s a good thing it was cool outside. But we had no food with us and so we did get a little hungry.


Other problem was that I don’t think we were quite used to this altitude. It was a very steep hike. Some parts were so steep we had to hike for two minutes and rest for two minutes. The hike started around 9,000 ft and the top was around 12,000 ft. Our systems aren’t quite used to this and both of us complained of feeling a little light headed at times.

At the top, the views were fantastic! Well worth the hard work. Any of you non hikers will never know the feeling of accomplishment when you climb a hill under your own steam to experience the view from the top. You feel like you’re on the top of the world!


Can you see Sherman? No?

Now can you see him?

This plant was actually growing out of the side of the rock face.

Heading back downhill.

Ruth had baked some chocolate chip cookies earlier in the morning, and a couple of those went down really good when we made it back to Sherman. We relaxed for most of the afternoon, and Ruth baked some granola bars. Around 6:00pm, the park ranger ( a different guy from yesterday morning) came by and asked if we would move to beside the administration building. Said we were welcome to stay the night, it was no problem, but he said we were safer closer to the building. Okay, no problem so we moved. We’re heading out at 11:00am this morning anyhow, although once again this won’t get posted until we find some internet. 

14 comments:

  1. Safer from what?????

    http://travelinglongdogs.blogspot.com

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    1. My feeling was that he just wanted us closer to their office so that they could see us without actually having to go outside!

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  2. nice of him to suggest you move closer...beautiful hike and pics...

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  3. Wow this is a beautiful area! Your hike looks like it was great too, and such a wonderful view. Glad you two are doing well and enjoying life!

    John and Ellen
    connectedtothevinephotography.blogspot.com

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  4. Looks great. And free. Any facilities at all? e.g. water/dump?

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    1. They definitely didn't have any dump station and we didn't see any water. They did have washrooms but not showers. This is not like a National Park in the States or Canada, they don't have any formal sites for camping. It seems to me that it is mostly tent camping but isn't a problem to just set up an RV in a suitable spot.

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  5. Wow the was some hike for sure and the views looked awesome!

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  6. Wow 9000ft to 12000ft, when I was flying in the Navy we would have oxygen for anything above 10.000 ft. No wonder you were light headed. But a good day was had that's all that's important.Like you said the ranger was probably too lazy to leave the office to make a round of the campsites. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

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  7. Excellent post. What a fanstastic spot. Most people are not aware that Mexico has state and national parks although not as developed as the U.S.

    Looks like we need to come along and let you guys do the leading. I think you are better at it than I am. Keep those pictures coming and a shot of those choco chip cookies too!

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  8. That is some hike. Well done! I know what you mean about the sense of achievement. 12000 feet is extremely high with the altitude! I had a race to the top of Mt Kinabalu at the same height and had difficulty with my breathing at the top.

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  9. Great view from the top. So safer meant less expended energy from the ranger?:)

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  10. WOW that header picture is STUNNING! What a great hike. I wanna go.

    I know exactly what you mean about the further you go the further you want to go. And it seems the off hand hikes for which I go sort of unprepared are always the ones I end up wanting to spend the whole day.

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  11. GORGEOUS header pic! As a so so hiker, what an amazing thing you two did. What memories! ~wheresweaver

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  12. Great hike ... but be careful in those altitudes. The sense of accomplishment after such a hike is quite the rush, I agree.

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