Taylor Pass Decent All Day

Sometimes even when it is cold outside, and the wind is still blowing, you know that the world outside of your warm tent is going to be so different you just have to get up to explore. This morning we woke up to 6 inches of the first snow on the top of Taylor Pass. It was a beautiful sunny day and the blowing snowdrifts made it seem other worldly. 

Since the tent was covered on the outside with snow, and on the inside with condensation that was quickly turning to ice we decided to go on a walk to explore and to let the sun shine on the tent and melt off some of the snow and ice.

Taking an easy morning, we finally cooked and packed up to see what the backside of Taylor Pass had in store. It turned out to be some of the most challenging terrain we have ever crossed in a vehicle. We were heading further south and expected to have 4 miles of rough going, but never expected it to be as complicated as it was. The guidebook we were referencing said that the whole 21 mile route we were on would take 3 to 5 hours; we spent about 4 just on this section.

Large boulders, big drops, narrow passages, and wet rocks called for complicated maneuvering that required slow forward movement and constant monitoring. John and I had to constantly talk about route choices and then while he drove very slowly I was "spotting" by walking backwards, and jumping around outside the vehicle looking at the clearance of the vehicle over rocks, and making sure the tires were lining up in the places that he wanted it to go. This careful concert of my hand signaling and his driving goes pretty well about 95% of the time and everyone is happy and the vehicle goes unscathed, but mistakes and miss communications do happen and it can be very stressful.

On most routes, there are difficult sections that are broken up by easier sections where I can get back in the vehicle to have a rest. Not so on the Taylor Pass decent. It was constant, which meant that I was out of the vehicle spotting and jogging along all day. At one point we entered the hardest section we had ever put an expedition vehicle through. The trail was entering a river, not crossing it, but entering it to go down the river bed, and there was a sharp left hand turn with a 5 foot drop littered with boulders. At the bottom of the drop the "trail" was actually at another 90 degree turn to the right to get into the river. Turning a vehicle as heavy and long as this on a dime is obviously not an option so some careful route choice, spotting and luck had to come into play. I set the video camera up to document what I could, and it turned out beautifully...the line up was spot on, the driving was perfect and the vehicle literally slid into place in the end!

Video of the slide into the creek at South Taylor Pass

We made it in, and then I found myself spotting in, yes IN the river for about a mile. Thank God I picked up a nice pair of Sorel boots on sale in Aspen the day before! At the end of the river the "trail" then had another 90 degree right turn that faced directly into some aspen trees. It required the smallest two point turn, and here, as I was spotting on the front side, and maybe exhaustion was setting in, we missed on the communication and John backed up without either of us checking the driver side rear. We pushed the vehicle hard into a large sized boulder and the mud flap was bent forward. Unfortunately with the design of this vehicle that mud flap is also connected to the fender flare and the whole thing came off in one piece. Silence.

And nothing else to do but move on. Pull forward, talk about the inches you have to make the turn, use it, do it and roll on. In the river, and downhill with more boulders and tight passages for the last mile that took another hour.

By the time we reached Taylor River Road we were exhausted and the chill was settling in again. Time to set up camp quickly and get some food on. An exhausting day, and disappointing not to have a fun route for other Overlanders to try safely. This route used to be recommendable for all sorts of high clearance vehicles, but we would not encourage anyone to do it in anything bigger than an ATV or at least a skinny rock crawler. It is too bad because the scenery at the top is amazing and being the old supply route from Aspen to Buena Vista and Taylor Reservoir it has historical value.

Pearl Pass South to North

One of the goals of this trip was to discover what types of trails we would feel comfortable sending clients out in vehicles that have been especially prepared for off road, rugged driving, but still need a steady hand at the wheel (and spotter on the ground) when things get rough. We have been using our knowledge of the area, maps, and guides to pick routes and this time we were using "Colorado Backroads & 4 Wheel Drive Trails" by Wells and Peterson.

Pearl Pass is marked as a red, or very challenging route in this guide, and maps of the area have highlighted boxes that say "4 wheel expert driving only". So what does that mean? How much are we going to bang around and how much would someone not used to these conditions bang up our vehicles?

As it turns out the beginning of the trail from the Crested Butte side on Brush Creek road is easy and enjoyable. We started out kind of late in the day so we went about 10 miles in and found some fantastic boondock sites all along the road. We camped overlooking the valley and sunset and took a hike up into the golden Aspen trees before setting up for dinner. Overnight the temperature dropped significantly so we added on the room that fits below the tent to have a warm place to change. The rooftop tent was cozy and warm all night and did not flap around in the wind.

In the morning we headed further up the road with some fun creek crossings and steep climbs. The road got significantly more rocky, but nothing that the high clearance Land Cruiser couldn't handle easily with a driver being cautious. There was a huge open valley that was too good not to stop for some pictures and it was a good test to see how easily the tent, table, and a modest lunch could be set up! One person seemed to be able to get most things set up in about ten minutes, with the tent only taking up a small amount of that time. That is all good news if there is bad weather arriving or you are just too plain tired from all the fun adventuring to really want any hassle.

After preparing a few sandwiches we decided to continue up the road a short bit to the trailhead for the "Twin Lakes" hike. Granted it was already late in the day, and we still had the most challenging section of trail to do, but we figured that we had everything we needed to boondock somewhere just below or on the other side of the pass if it got too late. That is the essence of Overlanding with everything you need, when you want to do a side trip, and it gets late in the day, you can stop just about anywhere with a flat spot and you are home!

The "Twin Lakes" hike was a three mile out and back that was absolutely gorgeous. We were pinching ourselves at the great weather and beautiful scenery and talking about how much we wanted to share this special place. So far the road in was absolutely doable for clients and the rewards were well worth it.

After the hike we entered the "red" section of the route and wow, it was a significant difference! There was a huge rock talus that we had to cross with a very very narrow path through and a significant climb. This is where things started to get interesting and there was still about 4 miles to go. The trail continued up some very steep terrain with narrow ledges and some rock climbing. There was one turn that was at a very steep angle and loose rock that didn't leave much room for error. Having one person spotting was a must for about 60% of the terrain and that meant I was out walking at 10,000 ft uphill at least as fast as the truck was moving!

At the top of Pearl Pass the scenery was amazing.  The altitude was 12,705ft and John could feel the effects with a headache and shortness of breath. This does not make for great sleeping even on the warmest of nights, and we knew that it would be a harsh cold stop at the summit. We could see some clouds in the distance, and felt that it was a good idea to keep rolling to find a place down low for boondocking.

Of course, THIS was the more difficult side. The trail immediately fell into another talus that surely was laid as glaciers receded in the area, and the boulders were huge, loose, and the route through them narrow, steep and curvy. In one of the switchback sections we followed a bit of a drainage and then there was a large drop off a series of rocks that we had to consider very carefully. With delicate maneuvering we managed to come down with only a short fuel tank rub, but the consequences could have been higher if we hadn't had the experience or planning.

This trail was actually in great condition compared to what it could have been. This area typically has snow until late in the season and the day we were going through it actually started to hail and snow. There are some huts on the north side of the pass that are used by hikers and winter backcountry skiers and they would feel very remote for much of the year.

We continued on and found a site to stop with the wind block of some tall pine trees near a creek. The temperature continued to drop through the night and we made a nice camp, cooking up some homemade soup and lighting a big fire in the fire pit. Tomorrow we would do the last three miles of dirt road, easy, and then a beautiful paved road into Aspen. This area was incredible to explore, and either side of the pass has its charms. On a low precipitation year it might be one to do again, but drivers beware!

Hot Springs, Volcanoes and Africa in Mexico!

This is an update that we wrote way back in 2010 that I am sorry never made it onto the site. It was the last long, and best, trip we did in the van in Mexico. We continued to explore around Jalisco and Nayarit through 2012, but as I started working as director of the Costa Verde International School we never got this kind of time and freedom to explore again! All good things will continue in the future..

Many people are afraid to get off the toll roads in Mexico, but every once in awhile we got itchy and here is a little example of what can happen “off” the nice pavement…

           

We notice from the toll road that there is a consistent plume of white, pure smoke coming from some hills in the distance……

Roll up to a very well developed geothermal energy production area…. Steam pushing through valves and turbines and out through stacks all over the side of a pine forested mountain. The mixture of industrial construction, large tree cut fenced areas with miles of pipes, and the knowledge that there was clean energy being produced here makes you consider carefully how land can be managed and used. And then on the side of a the road a young man approaches the van to hand you a flier for a natural sulfur hot spring open for soaking! Mulit-use land! As it turned out, around the corner from all the energy production were many sites of natural human energy rejuvenation. Families and tourists were spread around different thermal springs to soak up the healing properties of the springs and breathe in the clean mountain air.

            We took a turn at the Azufres Spa. Apparently it is the original and oldest around. Nothing fancy here, just a huge pond with some mud at the bottom that you can spread all over your body before moving to the temzcale, or sauna that is heated from steam coming right from the rocks and captured in a dark room made of old boards and tin. Then when you run screaming from the heat and smell you can slip into another pool of bubbling, murky, water around 90 degrees to “rinse” off. The sulfur and minerals in the mud are supposed to be very therapeutic and your skin does feel noticeably softer, if not also drier afterwards. However, be warned, the smell you emit for the next 24 hours can be trying. John spent the next four days trying to clean everything that he had touched in the six hours after he “soaked” at the springs and would constantly comment, “Do you still SMELL that? Or me? When will this stop?” to which Julie’s response might be “Yes, I smell the sulfur, its healing me.”

The only remedy for John was to sweat out the stench on some great mountain bike trails so we headed to Valle de Bravo. “Valle” has it all, mountain biking, sailing, waterskiing, parasailing, go-karting, and the list goes on if you live there and are a member of one of the many sporting clubs. Consider it Mexico’s mini-New Zealand. It is the get-away place for many upscale “D.F.ers”, and if you want to spend your time oogling new dirt bikes in some fancy stores you won’t be alone. This was our second time to Valle and we had a great spot to camp right in the park of Monte Alta on the well laid out mountain bike trails. We also hired “no name guide” (we never did catch his name, and don’t think he made much effort to tell us) to take us on a route outside of town. After our gringo-test ride of uphill two hours, down forty-five minutes we treated ourself with a night out on the town of Avandaro where we browsed bike shops and ate some great pizza.

Great campsite right at the summit and on the bike trails!

View  of Valle de Bravo from the paragliding launching site.

We tore ourselves away from Valle and headed to the Itzaccihuatl-Popocatepetl National Park. These two volcanoes are the second and third tallest in Mexico. We approached from the west side just as dark was coming and we had to scurry for a camping spot. With no light left we found a lightly used road that seemed to go up the side of Popo into nowhere and we took it. We had a beautiful spot overlooking the lights of the valley with cool temperatures at 3,180m – 10,400ft! And there was more to go up! When we woke up in the morning John scouted the road and found that it continued and at some point would meet up with the main route, so off we went! It turned out to be some of the best 4x4ing that Tonto has done in a long time!

Volcan Popo is spewing steam and still considered active so it is off limits, but we found out that Itza is climbable, so we went to check it out. We paid the entrance to go up to the highest parking lot on the volcano and then started our hike, at 4,000m. Ouch. Lobo was having no trouble pulling John and I up the mountain and he made instant friends as we hiked up the trail. Finally at 4,500m, that’s 1500 feet of climbing at altitude, we were pretty cold and decided to have some lunch and then turn back down. There is a refugio not much further up that is used for the staging of a full ascent to “El Pecho”, but Lobo forgot his winter coat. 

After a ridiculous downhill from Itza-Popo through probably the dustiest, twistiest, longest and busiest dirt road ever we pointed toward the small town of Chalula to see the Chapel of the Virgin of Remedies which is built on top of the widest, and possibly the largest, pyramid in the world. There is still some speculation on its actual size since it has been built on top of by three civilizations, culminating in the Spaniards and their chapel. There is a lovely hotel right across the street and it was time to get out of the van for a night and into a shower and a pool after all the dust. How were we to know it would be one of the worst nights sleep ever. Apparently being the Easter Vigil, all of the 36 churches (Cortez really wanted 365) sent off a firework or two to “celebrate” the resurrection of Christ. Julie even had to stop and question a nun to clarify that a bomb going off at 2:30am was a kosher form of celebration since it seemed in juxtaposition of all the candlelight vigils that normally happen during the Easter program in Northern countries.

Before we left John had read in the lonely planet about a place called Africam, described as one of those drive through zoo experiences with lions and tigers. Our expectations were low, but we felt that a look-see would be worth it, and honestly, Tonto would look bad-ass next to a African animal. Luckily Wally World was open. Grandma didn’t die on the way, and we didn’t accidentally leave the dog tied to the bumper, but he did have to go into “quarantine” because his smell might “stress” the animals. We were pretty aware that Lobo might lose his bark and sprain an ankle in the ensuing mayhem if we passed through a herd of zebra, so we were glad they had a pet care area. The motorcycle and bicycles also had to be removed before we could enter because the monkeys might be attracted to them. What mammal wouldn’t be attracted to Tonto? Of course we understood. 

Then we crossed the threshold into Africam. Immediately the Giraffes, Antelope, Ostritches and some friendly Lemur were ready to great us. Sure we had to follow a line of cars, but we had Xm radio playing Jam-ON, a cold cerveza, and cameras at the ready. We were on safari.

Our fellow man checks out the big van...

The park was excellent. In operation since 1974, and well sponsored, this was not your usual third world zoo trip that leaves you depressed and seeking out the local authorities. Rather we were so happy cruising in Tonto past white rhinos and bengal tigers, strolling through the kangaroo enclosure, flirting with the Emus, and buying a stuffed blue giraffe for Lobo in the giftshop. In the end we had to go through a few closed gates to get our accessories back. That night we camped on an incredible hillside of the reservoir near the reserve in a forest like what you find in Joshua tree.  

Riding in Chico National Park, Hidalgo, MX

Camp and yoga after a ride in Chico

The summit after a day of rock climbing in Chico National Park

Update from Julie - Fish Spears Surfer

Update from Julie:

Sayulita, Mexico

As I write I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of John, Lobo and our friend Michele who is hitching a ride from Texas. I have been here in Sayulita for six weeks working, tending to the house, and ducking for cover in some of the crazy rain and lightning storms of the tropical season. I started working in a new school that is being referred to as a “project” by my director. The idea is to have a non-profit school with an ecological focus, which also serves as a cultural center and a resource for environmental sustainability in the area. So far we have the school
part up and running and I teach math, science and English to 3rd and a combined 4,5,6th grade class. We have six other teachers in the school for preK-6 and the cultural center is offering after school English and computer classes to the public school kids. There are lots of jobs for English teachers in town if anyone is looking for a project. When John gets here I will take some photos of the school and some of my students who are a mixture of Americans, Mexicans, Canadians, and Italians. I only have five 3rd graders right now (up two more from last week) and supposedly more are coming as their families return for the high season.

The story I want to share though is one of those “What are the chances?” kind of tales. Last weekend was the Mexican Independence day so we had a much deserved four day break from school. My friends Steve, Cassie, Mike and I piled into a car and headed south to La Ticla to find some waves. The first morning we paddled out and caught a few waves in the slop. After a bit I was just tired of the hot, extra salty water and the New England style smushy waves so I got out to hang on the beach with Cassie and watch. As we were sitting there another surfer entered the water, and minutes later was stumbling out of the water waving his hand looking desperate. As I walked towards him, he was pointing to something in his chest. Yes, IN. There was a two inch barb-looking thing sticking out of his check just below his right collarbone. As we sprang into action to lay him down he explained that a fish had jumped AT him and something on the fish had stuck. He wasn’t sure if it was a tooth or what. It looked to us like something from the dorsal fin of a needle fish. Who knows, really, but it looked like a two inch square stick with serrated edges and we had to get it out. Steve and Cassie ran back to the campsite to get water and a first aid kit and Mike and I stayed with the patient.

As he calmed down I started making small talk with him and I asked where he was from. Here is the crazy part: he was at University in Guadalajara but originally from Costa Rica, and he had been a student in one of the first schools I worked in as a Chemistry teacher, and he was on the soccer team I coached!! After a minute his face started coming back to me. He had been a senior at the time, and he remembered when I had made the team run up the hills of Escazu on the first few days of practice. Such a crazy small world!!

So now I had to pull the scale out of his chest. No options for hospitals or clinics very close by to do anything else really. We checked that it didn’t have a hook on the end, we couldn’t feel anything under his skin that might get stuck, so we all decided the best thing to do was grab it as close to the skin as we could and pull it out. It hurt him, but it came out cleanly. Then a little more cleaning of the wound, a bandage, and all set. Turns out he was camped right next to us! Crazy world.

Note: I am pretty sure that the chances of getting speared with a fish scale while surfing ranks around there with lightning strikes, so I am not deterred about getting in the water.

Tonto to Storage in Atlanta

BIG NEWS!!!
TONTO goes into storage. As much as we hate it. We traded in Tonto for a Jeep, or rather we traded one new computer for John´s mom Julie´s old Jeep, to use while staying in our house in Sayulita for this year. There is not really a good parking or storage option for our beloved Tonto here, so its sad but a good decision. Maybe Julie and Dennis will take him for a spin and write an update to fill in the blanks here. Still, I am going to use the Tontotrails site to keep recording memories and friends! Come see us!

Long Road Home and Back Again

I have a HUGE hole in the Tontotrails Series, and there are some drafts written, somewhere, but not here.

Here´s what happened from March 08-Aug 08 in a nutshell..

1. Took Tonto on a major cross Mexico adventure through to Oxaca, the Sierra Nortes and back again. Lots of tails and history to tell. Lots of mtn biking and driving. Awesome trip.
2. Lived in the house in Sayulita for a few months to work on projects.
3. In early May high tailed it in Tonto north to Atlanta. Long drive with some interesting boondocking sites...my favorite was under a bridge in Texas.
4. Mid May - July Lobo was bunking with his buddy Bailey in Atlanta while we worked the Shimano Coasting Tour with a fully wrapped Taureg pulling a trailer of Coasting Bikes from Columbus to San Fran and then up to Seattle. Julie stayed a few extra days in Seattle to meet up with the Dixons and Sean Hartman and then a stop over for Sharon K´s bachelorette in Chicago. Good times.
5. July-August time on the East Coast with family and friends at Lake George and Salter´s Point. Wedding planning in full swing consuming a lot of time but getting things checked off the lists. Its going to be great Sept 12 09!
6. John and Lobo returned to NJ to work on the 3-family apartments and had quite the adventure with a flood and a fire in just one 24hr period. Learned a lot about getting rid of smoke damage and sanding floors the correct way!
7. Julie flew to Sayulita Aug 4th to start a job in the Costa Verde International School.


Will post some highlight photos soon!!

First Annual Plankerwanker Ball - Vail, CO

Another whirlwind trip by John and Julie: Skiing in Vail with perfect Colorado conditions, Plankerwanker Ball, fiance time with the family, spending time with friends, and a few quiet nights to recover.

Lucky for us we have some great friends in Sayulita who agreed to take in Lobo and Tonto. For the past ten days Lobo has become the unofficial mascot of the “Tropical House” restaurant run by our friend Michel and Tonto has found a perfect backyard of our friend Wyatt to rest in while we hit the slopes! That’s right! After a season off, and many months of torturing John with “but I have to go skiing this year..” we made a very special trip to Vail to spend time in the snow with family and friends. I could hardly sleep the first night wondering if a) I still had it in me b) my ‘new’ ankle would fit in the boot c) my fiancé would get lost on the mountain “accidentally”. So of course I was ready to go on day one as soon as I opened my eyes and Laura, John and I hit the slopes! IT WAS AWESOME! It all came back; how much I love to ski, carve turns, laugh with my sisters, do our favorite runs, and show off the cool spots on “our mountain”. Only this time I had a special someone to show around and he kept up! Of course we all know John is a terrific athlete, so I wasn’t too worried, but still, we all had a great time and crawled into the hot tub at the end of the day with a few more aches than we remembered from previous years.

The next day was a very special event so we were very happy to wake up to some sunny Colorado skies. With the amazing support of Kees’ friends we had a rendez-vous at the top of Vail mountain we called “the Plankerwanker Ball”. Complete with one-piece suits, St. Pats day costumes, a BBQ, funny-hippie ball games, a pic-nic table jump into the backbowls, a superb Plankerwanker trophy, and plenty of margaritas we had a full day of laughs. A lot of thanks goes out to Nick, Torrey, Will, Boyd, Tori, Brian, Will’s mom, everyone who showed up, and the B sisters. Elise is still doing the final tally, but I think we will be able to donate a nice amount to the effort to build a hut in Kees and Claires name in British Columbia where they enjoyed countless days of skinning and skiing and enjoying the outdoors together. We can’t wait for next year’s fun!

To add to the fun, John’s good friend Mark from Atlanta came to stay for a few days. He was such a positive person to have around and was just as eager as I was to hit the snow! Of course staying mountainside with anyone’s family could be tough, but then there is the hot tub and beers to “make it all better”. Another highlight of the trip was a special “off piste” route with the boys that ended up in Brian skiing on one tele-ski from about as far away from the base of the mountain as we could possibly get. People saw me skiing down with the ski on my back in a pack..looked up and then hardly saw Brian wiz by! He was amazing!

Finally at the end of the week, John and I had a few days in Vail to spend on our own, where we took some time to hike out to the memorial park in west vail, cruise around town and window drool, and just sit quietly. Thanks to Bob and Linda for letting us spend a few blissful days in their condo! We had a great time getting back to Sayulita because our good friends Suzy and Macy swooped by to pick us up on their way to the same plane! It was so great to travel with our buddies and sing songs, and get picked up by Tom and Carol in sunny Puerto Vallharta!

Oaxaca City in Oaxaca

We decided to take the fast toll road to Oaxaca which cost us about $20 for only 250km. The toll roads here are very nice, wide, with at least two lanes of no traffic, however, there is a high price to pay. The alternatives can also drive one mad. Cruising around a blind corner there might be a little pueblo, and of course that means a TOPE. Aka: sleeping policeman, muerto, speed bump, shock wrecker and you have to immediately slow down, or swear and scream as you hit the tope and Lobo goes flying.

The only known place to RV camp in Oaxaca city is at San Felipe trailer park, which is actually a working maguey farm. Maguey is the plant used to make mescal, a cousin of tequila, and the owners of the property, a couple from California, let people camp around the farm. We found our spot just on the other side of the compost pile and after a few hours we were used to the sweet smell of rotting maguey. Unfortunately we had to use all our leveling blocks and even deflate the tires a bit to make it level enough to put up the roof and sleep. The nice thing about the camp is that it is outside the city on a hill so in front you can see all the lights at night, and just behind there are the beautiful hills of San Felipe for hiking, and well, biking for us. We had some great adventures getting our bikes up into the mountain, following a waterfall and river carrying our bikes, and then finding random trails and roads to ride back down. On one adventure we were racing the sunset to find our way out of the river to a “bike-able” path, and I laughed because we were both head down and pushing hard with our bikes on our backs bushwacking through dry desert brush just like an adventure race!

The city of Oaxaca is an amazing city, cultural center and UNESCO World Heritage Site. That means that because of its ecological wonders, complex history, cultural diversity and artisan community it needs to be protected for “outstanding universal value”. I am sure there are a million more reasons why Oaxaca is so special, but with only a few days to spend we came to know about a few special reasons to visit.

The famous “Zocaló”, or central square, of Oaxaca has been the site of many protests and renovations, but things looked peaceful and festive while we were there. The city is buzzing with visitors from all over the world. As we started touring some of the museums and shops we could hear many different languages being spoken. Shopping is a unique experience in Oaxaca because of all the beautiful art displayed in fabrics, wood and stone carvings, paintings and jewelry around the city. And we had a lot of fun going around and around to different shops and artists to find some “treasures” to bring back to our Casa in Sayulita. We took some photos of the many artists who work long, hard hours to perfect their craft and bring them to the city to show.

One of the highlights of Oaxaca City are the Churches. Each one was more elaborately adorned than the last, but each held a reverence all their own. The highlight of course was the Santo Domingo de Gúzman Church with a huge wood carved altar covered in gold leaf and ceiling decorated with a complex family tree of senior Gúzman. What is amazing about all the churches in Oaxaca is that when they were built the local people were asked to use their skills as artisans to create them, and in recent years there has been a surge in restoring many of the churches in the area and again the local artists are called. Even though the conquistadores did terrible things to the people in the area, and the government repressed many people here for decades, there is certainly a pride of workmanship, ownership, and loyalty to the church here that is translated through the gorgeous works of art all over the city. We took the time to walk through the national museum of art and history in the ex-Dominican convent and learned a lot about the ancient and modern cultures in the state of Oaxaca that we would take with us on many more days of adventure.


As a side note, for those who are interested in how we actually function on the road here’s a day in the life. After many miles of traveling and sight seeing and activity we woke up in the a.m. with full intentions of having a day exploring. But then again we had some nice internet access, access to some water for cleaning, a few things on the van that needed organizing and fixing and when breakfast turned into lunchtime we decided it was “day at the van”. Ahhhhhh.

Volcan de Nevado to Tierra del Fuego!

As we reluctantly headed out of “Valle” toward Mexico city, we noticed a cool looking volcano and national park on our trusty “Guia Roji”. What made this one interesting is that there was a road all the way to the crater of Volcan de Nevado at about 4,600m almost 14,000ft! We had to check it out. We drove to the base and parked Tonto and Lobo in the sun and then hopped on Mike to see what the story was. At the top there were two small sized lakes in the crater and a few cows grazing on dirt. We took a short hike up to the rim to try to see what it would be like for us climb around at some serious altitude. Not easy, but there were some outstanding views. If it would have been less hazy I am sure you could see to Mexico city.

Just as we returned to Tonto and were packing up to leave, a couple came peddling up on their bikes! We HAD to stop and chat, and find out what their story was. It was a long story, and so interesting that we ended up spending the night with our new friends Ralph and Pat from Colorado at the base. It was a cold night so we shared a warm meal in Tonto while they told us about their travels, on bike, from Alaska with a goal of reaching Tierra del Fuego in another 16 months! They were very grateful for the propane heater and we loved having people to share food with! It is cramped in Tonto with four, but on a cold night it is just the perfect thing to keep everyone warm! In the morning there was frost on Tonto and on their tents! After a nice hot breakfast we headed down the hill, and Ralph and Pat got on their bikes for the ride up to the summit. What a side-trip for them! With two years to make their trip it seemed important to make the best of their time and see all the sights whether uphill or down, and we wish them luck!





Then it was onto our next challenge in our big, tall, beefy 4x4 van; make it through Mexico city to the toll road to Oaxaca. So many people had warned us against going through the city, because of traffic and accidents, but our local friends in “Valle” drove there all the time, and they didn’t see it as too much a problem. Hector even called the “transito” to make sure they wouldn’t stop us for our plates, being that only certain numbered plates could drive in the city on certain days. As we entered the city limits, John turned on the smooth jazz radio station and we tried our best to navigate the congestion, lack of road signs, and roadwork. Turned out to be “no problemo” (John has picked up some Spanish ☺.) and we rolled through hardly noticed….amazing!

Mariposas to J-24's

People have raved about it, we’ve read about it, and we almost skipped it, but finally we made our way to one of the well-known butterfly sanctuaries of Mexico. Personally having spent a few years in Costa Rica I thought I had seen butterflies before, thought I knew when I had seen a lot of butterflies, but it was nothing like this. The whole way up the trail in the park I was getting excited about a little group of “mariposas monarch” and some very educational signs on the trail but John was busting ahead at full speed and kept saying “no don't stop here for THAT, you just wait”! ....He would like me to mention that he had THE total ITYS (I told you so) moment when we reached the top of the trail and the air and the trees were full of “mariposas monarch”! Yes, the trees! There were MILLIONS of butterflies hanging in huge pods on the fir trees weighting the branches down like snow or ice. The monarchs are clumping together these days for warmth, to reproduce and to eat a heck of a lot of plant material before they start their migration back to the north. Well, these particular butterflies don’t make it all the way, first they mate, then the males die and then the moms and babies start the trip. The grand-babies will get to Canada and their great-grand-babies will start the return trip back to the same place, however the stamina and the survival system that these tiny creatures use is well documented. Hike up the trail at “El Rosario Santuario de Mariposa Monarca” and stop to read the signs to find out more, or just run to the top and be swarmed by butterflies.

We don’t usually do this, maybe because we don't see many, but we picked up a hitchhiker, how bored on the road were we? We thought it was a gringo, but it turned out to be an interesting Czech-guy who showed us the turn to the butterfly place. It was a great change in the monotony of a driving day to chat with someone who had been hitching and hiking all around central Mexico, with little showering, and he had a lot of fun feedback on his experiences and on his perspective of politics in the US. He had been traveling three weeks in Mexico and was excited to share his stories with his geography class in the Czech Republic.

A short trip later we entered Valle de Bravo. A lakeside community only two hours from Mexico City that is renown for its sailing. Yes, sailing. We had actually come to “Valle” because our friends had told us of some great mountain biking right in town, and it was such a surprise to see all the great racing boats! We walked into a great looking bike and sailing shop and talked to a guy named Hector who drew us a map of how to get to the biking trails. After a little poking around on tiny, narrow streets (read: John and Tonto were struggling) we got up to the trails and did a beautiful evening bike that turned into a moon-light ride back to the van and our campsite in the parking lot of the park. The next morning we were preparing to go for another ride and Hector came by with his dog Nuri! He invited us to tag along, and we went for a great two-hour ride to the top of the mountain, past the paragliding take off. Yes, paragliding is also a huge sport here. Of course Hector and I got talking about sailing, and then he said he would help us get a boat to rent! We took our solar showers, changed clothes and went down to meet Hector on the docks. He was sorry that his sailing club was closed during the week (since most members are only around on the weekend) so we couldn’t use his boat, but we rented a very old J-24 and had a great cruise!! It is a beautiful place to sail and the clubs are really gorgeous! On the lake there are about nine different sailing clubs, a J-24 class of approximately 225 boats, and a very active junior sailing program in optimists and lasers. Can’t wait to come back to show ‘em how its done! Anyone else want to sail in Mexico?





That night we also had a great invite for dinner with a new friend “Debbie” who is doing her one year mandatory volunteer service as a doctor in a tiny town outside “Valle”. All Mexicans in any profession have to do one year of service before they are licensed. Imagine what we could accomplish with programs like that! Debbie hooked us up with a huge cheese platter, (my fav) pasta and then Ate (a gelatin) and more cheese for dessert!! To end our perfect day we watched the lunar eclipse from the porch and then returned to Tonto, now in Hector’s driveway, to fall exhausted into sleep!

Hot Chocolate and Bikers In Pátzcuaro

On Valentine's evening we rolled into the beautiful colonial town of Pátzcuaro and the next morning unloaded “Mike” (the motorbike) so we could go explore the town and the Lake that it sits on. We set ourselves on an intense agenda of sightseeing so our first stop was a beautiful sidewalk café outside the Basillica. Tea, juice, eggs, beans, tortillas for $4. Heaven.

John led the walking tour of the city that was once the capitol of the indigenous Tarasco people, who were oppressed by the savage Spaniard Guzmán, and then rescued and organized into village cooperatives by Bishop Vaxco de Quiroga. The craft specialties that he introduced to many of the villages are still practiced today and there are wonderful finds in the markets in the area. We mostly go to the markets to buy fruits and veggies, have a few (read 5) tacos for lunch, and then cruise the endless stalls. John’s favorite market so far is in Pátzcuaro, crowded, but not too huge, great weaving and furniture and dogs who lie on tools.

We decided to make the most of our day so we went to the “not to be missed” spot, which is an island in the lake called Janitzio, on a local “lancha”. There was food being sold and music being sung on the small boat so that not a moment was missed to “entertain and gain” from the tourists and locals. Its true people are always coming around to tables where you sit, or stepping on buses to sing or play something (guitar, accordion, drum, rain stick…) but I have noticed that the locals give them their due as well as the tourists, and the artist is probably hoping that some great record producer will pick them out one day, or maybe they just like to play. Anyway, on this island is a huge statue of another great Mexican liberator, Morelos. The size of the memorial says one thing (40m), but when you walk up inside of it there is a mural running all the way up to the top that depicts his life. Fascinating. No cars on the island, just a lot more souvenir shops and food stalls. As we were leaving we saw some local boys out on some spiffy looking surf kayaks practicing their moves. Nice boats, good paddlers, where did they come from? Mexico. Never fails to surprise.

And then the best surprise of the day! We still had daylight and a whole mountain right behind our in-town trailer park to go for an evening bike ride! It was fabulous! Lobo ran along side us up the miles of trails that wound up to the “Cerro Blanco” passing runners, hikers and horses (couldn’t help a bark at those). Ending the day with a ride that took no effort to find? Priceless.

At this particular trailer park in Pátzcuaro almost everyone had a dog and Lobo had morning Frisbee dates with Zoe the heeler, and wrestling matches with a big dog named Ned. Turns out Ned’s owners “Dale and Gail” were avid bikers from Vancouver so they were very excited to meet “John and Julie” and go for a ride. They led us on a dusty dusty route up into the mountains that a local had shown them the last time they were in town. It felt great to follow some good riders and be shown around some fun routes in the pine forest that we would have otherwise never found. After we got back and cleaned out the dust from unspeakable places, we had a special event to get to; the guitar concert for “Enarmorados” by the award winning Patzcuaro guitar ensemble. When you think of hugely romantic latin guitar music, this was it, played by 12 men with a lot of love to give. Following the concerts we went to one of the oldest coffee shops on the square. The specialty of the house: hot chocolate! Que bueno!

Another morning of a great breakfast and we were on our way. Well sort of, we had to do a few errands first, and then we did a nice driving tour of the local area, by mistake, but we did end up setting up camp at sunset overlooking the Tarasco ruins of Ihuatzio.

Tonto Rolls Again!

Rolling again. Since Casa Chachacha is rented out, we loaded up Tonto and hit the road. Of course as all our planning goes, we had no big plans in mind, just to see where the roads in Mexico lead.

After flying through Guadalajara we wanted to get a glimpse of Lake Chapala. We drove a road on the north side of the lake, with variable details on how long it would last. At one point it seemed as if we were going through someone’s yard, but no, just around the corner the dirt road, continued. It was the first of many narrow roads, but it only ment we had a closer view of the kids playing with home-made kites, donkeys tied to telephone poles, and the homes built on the steep banks of the lake. We ended up boondocking in a field once we joined the highway again, with a tiny vista of the lake. But it felt good. We put Lobo on patrol, in his chair, with his blankey, outside the van to watch for “banditos” and settled down for the night. Early in the morning, before sunrise, our fearless watchdog sprang from his chair and started barking. John turned on the light, and we saw a farmer and his son coming into the field with a truck, a horse, and some milk containers. Lobo came inside, we rolled over, and everyone went about their business. About three hours later, at a reasonable hour, the farmer had finished milking the cows, and John and I started our day. I had the opportunity to chat with the farmer. He was very nice, and very proud to tell me he was hoping to get work in Washington state in the future, with his other son I think. He thanked us for the light early in the morning and offered his horse if we wanted to go for a ride. I declined the horse ride (to John’s amazement) and they went on their way.

A few weeks ago, our friends Mike and Rosemary from Oz lent us the move “Beat” about William S. Burroughs and his friends when they spent some time in Mexico. In one of the scenes two of the characters visited a church that had been partially buried by a volcano. It turns out that in 1943 a man actually witnessed the birth of a volcano and by 1952 Volcan Paricutín had engulfed two towns! When John, Lobo and I arrived, we concluded that the church was “very lucky” since nothing within the 6 mile radius of the volcano is visible under the piles of lava, yet there are a few walls and a steeple still intact. John put it this way “Everywhere we go we see very cool things that are human made, or natural, but this is beautiful and cool because it is an amazing combination of both!” It was a great stop, for the Volcano, the ruins, and the very old town of Angahuan where women are in colorful dress and men are on horseback, well, for the tourists who want a ride. What a wonderful way to spend Valentines DAY!

Sayulita Life

After our last overdue Tontotrails I had a lot of requests for more brevity in my updates and more photos. So here it is. A few photos of the past couple weeks, and a short list of things we have been up to:
1) Fixes on the house:
a. Sprayed the palapa for bugs and cleaned up after them for weeks!
b. John and our friend Tom got after the hot water system and re-routed pipes under the house so we have a faster supply to the showers
c. Capped up some stinky septic pipes
d. Cleaned up some lamps, washed some walls, cleaned up the pool filtration system and started varnishing some windows
2) When there are renters in the house Tonto goes on a trip! This time we did a short loop into the Sierra Madres on our way to Guadalajara. Not many photos because we ate something bad and it chased us all the way home! Did make a stop at the C&A store and offices in Guadalajara and enjoyed the city and the shopping. For house stuff of course.
3) A day at Casa Chachacha: Lobo checks the tree tops for furry things to chase, Jules catches a wave in the a.m.
4) Our friends Joe and Michelle were the first to visit and John put on a great HASH all by himself so that I could participate! We had a ton more people show up than we thought including a bachelor party, Idaho girls on a last minute vacation, and some new local friends! Viva la Sayulita Hash House Harriers!