San Pablo Etla is a small village on the northern outskirts of Oaxaca city. Like all the communities abutting the mountains around here, San Pablo lays claim to communal land rising from the town up the neighboring hillsides. In recent years (2008-2012) various people in the village have worked together to create a park on these shared lands. Volunteers have built a visitor’s center with parking lot, observation deck and zip line, along with several miles of hiking and biking trails in the park.
The map below shows a loop ride beginning in San Felipe del Agua going to the mountain park in San Pablo, with the return trip following a different route into downtown Oaxaca and thence up the hill to San Felipe. The outbound segment takes advantage of some of the many trails in the San Felipe bike trail network, gradually working up and over the hills and down into Viguera, where the the Camino Al Seminario leads up and into San Pablo. The return section follows the main highway connecting the various communities in the northern Etla valley with the capital. Obviously, you can ride the entire loop, or pick either half of the route according to your location and desire.
The entire loop runs 25.2 miles (40.5 km) and has an elevation gain & loss of 3370 feet (1027 meters). If you are leaving from central Oaxaca, you will save yourself considerable climbing by avoiding San Felipe and just riding along the highway to San Pablo. However, this way is not as scenic and has a lot of vehicular traffic.
