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We are lucky enough to have a national forest practically in our back yard. Any time we want to forget the mad, modern world buzzing around us, we can stroll down a cobblestone road and disappear into a narrow, twisting canyon fifty meters high or hike for hours along a heavily wooded mesa without ever seeing a single human being. Actually, it’s not a national forest, but a “protected area,” known as the Bosque de la Primavera (Springtime Forest) and it is also considered the Lung of Guadalajara. One of the jewels of the Primavera lies only 1.7 kilometers from our door, as the blue jay flies (Sorry, we don’t have many crows around here). People in our community call it La Atarjea Tapada, the Sheltered Spring. It’s a shallow cave located smack in the middle of a sheer canyon wall some 40 meters high, curved in a giant parabola that would probably produce great acoustics for an outdoor concert. For years, people have been hiking out to this little cave to fill jugs with the crystal clear water that drips and drizzles from its roof.
Not long ago, eight nature lovers came to join us on a walk to the Atarjea
Tapada...
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...We began our hike in an arroyo with gnarled walls of pumice. Somewhere
above us, a zenzontle was warbling a melody which sounded like three flutes
being played simultaneously, accompanied by the steady tap tap tap of red-headed
woodpeckers boring holes in the oak trees where they like to store great
quantities of acorns...
The pumice walls would do justice to a Spaghetti Western. John Pint as Clint Eastwood on a bad day. |
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| ...Conversations flip-flopped between English and Spanish because we were truly an
international group with people from Canada, South Africa, the USA and Mexico.
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As we entered the narrow, zigzagging canyon that leads to the spring, two
members of the group, Cesar and Vero, told us they had tried to do this hike
several years ago but were “turned back” in this very same place…by a large
horned owl.
| ...“It
came swooping down from a hole high up in one of the cliff walls and landed
right in the middle of this narrow part of the arroyo, on top of that old
log. It showed us its claws and opened its wings and we took that to mean it
wanted us to stop. We just stood there quietly, figuring it would fly away
any minute, but it didn’t. In fact, it sort of relaxed like it was planning
to stay right there for a long time...
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After half an hour, we came to the conclusion that we were not meant to go any
further, so we quietly turned around and went back home.” ...
A curious footnote to this incident is that it took place at noon, not exactly
the time of day when you normally see owls. According to Jalisco owl researcher
Enrique Valdez, this owl was almost certainly defending a nearby nest with
babies. “Cesar and Vero got the message and did the right thing,” he commented.
This time there was no owl blocking our way and we were soon passing beneath
walls some twenty meters high. “There’s the place where we once found around a
hundred workers armed with hatchets, chopping big chunks of pumice off the
canyon walls,” we told our companions. This occurred about twelve years ago when
a local entrepreneur managed to fill over a thousand gunny sacks with pumice
rocks before we could get the Mexican authorities to stop him. By then, the
damage to this unusually delicate forest—which has only a few inches of
topsoil—had been done, resulting in massive erosion. The entrepreneur ended up
in jail but a few days later he was out and vanished with his thousand bags of
pumice…which were shipped to California for the manufacture of stone-washed
jeans. “I wonder,” quipped Susy, “how many US ecologists knew that the price for
their stylish jeans was an environmental disaster in a far-off Mexican forest.”
The last part of our route found us jumping from rock to rock to avoid muddy
water running down the canyon. Here we found a curious kind of wild mint that
makes a delicious tea. We’re not sure what’s in it, but we discovered it is just
as effective as coffee for keeping people awake.
| ...At last we followed the small stream uphill to the shelter cave, where we could
step inside and enjoy a cool drink just by looking up and opening our mouths. We
hope you have as much fun as we did on this hike, but keep your eyes open for
overprotective owls!
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Below are instructions for finding the Sheltered Spring from Guadalajara.
HOW TO GET THERE (Green
= See GPS coordinate below)
Follow highway 15 west (toward Tepic and Nogales). Pass Rancho Contento and, 9.5
kms (5.9 miles) from the Periférico, look for a large, rectangular arch, which
is the entrance to Pinar de La Venta. Make a U turn at the next "retorno" and go
back to the arch. Tell the guards you are going to park in the "tercera sección,"
the undeveloped third section of Pinar, in order to hike in the "barranca". As
long as you and your friends do not look like burglars, they should let you in.
Immediately turn right and skirt the perimeter of Pinar, always keeping to the
right until, 3.4 kilometers from the arch, you come to a wide
cobblestone road
going off to the right. Turn right and immediately right again and go down a
steep hill till you come to a beat-up old street sign. You can actually traverse
the entire length of this little lane quicker than you can say its name: Retorno
del Paseo de la Casuarina! Turn left here and drive to the edge of a big canyon.
Here, the cobblestone road turns left and parallels the arroyo. Drive past four
non-functioning electric power poles and park. Here you can scramble down into
the arroyo heading south. Follow the main canyon about 350 meters and
turn
right. In a minute or two you should come to a barb-wire fence which you can
easily skirt. You are now in an arroyo which twists and turns but always takes
you south. Sheltered Spring is a half hour walk from this point. Driving time
from the Guadalajara Periférico to the Pinar de la Venta parking spot: about
thirty minutes.
USEFUL GPS COORDINATES
cobblestone road: 13 Q 653883 2291637 (Entrance to Pinar third section)
park: 13 Q 653795 2291287 (SEMARNAP survey marker #26)
turn right: 13 Q 653869 2290966 (Sugar loaf-shaped hill)
Sheltered Spring: 13 Q 653907 2290285 (Although hard to read GPS in canyons)
John and Susy Pint
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Quaintly curved canyon wall
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Constanza tries a "Natural Chair" on for size.
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Nani cooling off
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