Category: Outing

A description of a particular event or day out and about having DONE something. Outings are things that have occurred. Trails & Ride Routes are conceptual items that can be used by others to plan and complete their own outings.

MTBing, Outing, Photos

¡Feliz Navidad de Colorado, mis amigos!

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Hello, friends in Oaxaca!  I hope your holidays are going well.  My friend Carlos Silverberg (of www.MountainBikeOaxaca.com fame) teased me the other day via email saying he was headed out with a tour on the EcoTrail…the best downhill trail I know of in Oaxaca.  Although it’s a bit colder here in Colorado, United States, than in Oaxaca, I too was thinking of getting out on the bike.  Work and weather have gotten in the way of that for too many weeks here.  So, while Carlos and crew were out burning up some brake pads, I was out enjoying a delightful 60F December day on South Table Mountain.  Thinking of Oaxaca and many of you while on the trail, I thought I’d throw up some pictures…and a comparison elevation graph for my ride and the last time I did the EcoTrail with Carlos.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing you in January in OAX, friends!

Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Oaxaca Flume Trail

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Another day out in the saddle riding with the local trail builder and guide, Carlos Silverberg. This time it was a full day grinding up and taking in The Oaxaca Flume trail. Starting from San Pablo Etla, it’s a short bit of rolling singletrack to reach the dirt road that is 95% of the ascent. The road will take you up the side of the mountain to the “La Mesita” park and then well beyond, climbing over 700 meters in about 8 kilimeters. Once you reach the junction with the singletrack, you work your way northward through pine trees on a skinny tread of trail that is thickly covered with dry pine needles. Elevation drops, but after each ravine crossing you can expect a brief climb before the more typical rolling flow across the ridges. The slippery pine needles and occasional rock band keep your attention, but the biggest challenge is just keeping your line on the thin trail as it traverses very steep slopes.

Eventually there is a sustained downhill (~1km) which leaves the pine forest behind and drops you into scrub oak. The trail utilizes an erosion-worn rut full of scree and blocks of rock…and in the dry season, lots of dry leaves (~15cm deep or more). No large drops but pretty much steady 15 – 30cm jumble of rock crud to plow the whole way down, with the occasional sharp turn and/or 20 – 45cm ledge or pile-o-crap to descend.

From there a ~0.75km climb up a steep slope with occasional breather breaks heads to the northwest and allows the trail to connect to the next big valley. The reward for the climb is an extension in the final descent, as the trail will cross back to the southern ridge as it winds its way back to the west on its return to the Etla valley.

The Oaxaca Flume trail’s namesake, the old hydroelectric facility’s water flume, is visible across the valley to the north as the trail heads west at this, its most northern point. The flume appears as a landscape scar running along the contour line across the far south-facing slope. As the trail dives down to the valley it follows a well-worn donkey trail that is full of the typical scree and baby-head boulders. Yum!

Once down out of the scrub oak and into the weeded fields and occasional corn-field, countless social trails crisscross the area — i.e. multiple options exist for routing your way home or adding extra kilometers. For this outing we headed across the small valley to the outcropping hill known as La Corona (The Crown) and ran down its eastern flank and on into San Pablo Etla for lunch before returning to our starting point.

I STRONGLY urge you to hire a guide the first few times you take on The Oaxaca Flume. Using the GPS, it would be easy enough to find the singletrack turn off from the Etla Ecopark dirt road, but the trail eventually crosses MANY intersections or heads through low, grassy vegetation that obscures the route. As noted above, the bottom part of the trail involves the massive network of social and improved trails near populated areas, but even though this would just lead to alternate routing/mileage, one could easily get totally lost in the middle sections of the trail. Besides, having a guide will have somebody giving you an idea of what to expect on the trail and allowing you to ignore navigation and totally focus on drinking deeply from The Oaxaca Flume trail.

Physical Rating: Difficult (A shuttle up the road would cut this to Moderate)
Technical (i.e. IMBA) Rating: Intermediate to Advanced / Blue Circle to Black Diamond

Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Trail Work

Scouting for an Etla to SFdA Connector

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After a short Thursday Morning No-Drop Group Ride with Larry and Judah, Carlos and I headed up Trail HFR to check on the post-rainy-season condition of Trail BK and to scout for possible singletrack trails to connect over to the trails Carlos and his amigos have built in the Etla hills.  Our ride/scout GPS data is in grey, other trails and scouting efforts in the Viguera valley area are also included.  In short, we didn’t find a way that gets us far enough north, but we were please to find Trail BK in such good condition and to be reminded how interesting and fun that trail is.  We’re going to pursue pushing it on to the north and thus provide a bi-directional rideable route of singletrack. Care to help us?

To better examine these map items, instead of displaying a small map here, please load the map data in GoogleMaps (opens in a new window)

Here is the GPX file.

Here is the KML/KMZ version.

 

GPS, Mountains, MTBing, Outing, Photos, Ride Routes

Cuajimoloyas to Lachatao

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If downhill is your favorite direction, then the ride from Cuajimoloyas to Lachatao should get you really excited! Both of these villages are part of the Pueblos Mancomunados, a collection of eight very small communities high in the Sierra Norte mountains of Oaxaca state, about 30 miles northeast of the capital of Oaxaca. Cuajimoloyas sits at an altitude of 10,398 feet (3169 meters), while Santa Catarina Lachatao registers 6986 feet (2129 meters) on the altimeter.

This particular ride follows dirt roads that connect the two. You can also ride between these villages using a singletrack footpath that covers a portion of the distance before linking with the same roads – but taking the path requires hiring a local guide (to support the local economy and prevent your getting hopelessly lost in the forest).  If you look at a map, you will see that it is also possible to extend the ride by doing a detour to Yavesia on the way to Lachatao – again using either dirt roads or unmarked footpaths in the woods. And, of course, you can make this either a one-way or out & back trip.

However you accomplish the ride, there are logistical considerations. Both towns are rather remote. There is bus and colectivo service to each place from Oaxaca city every day. But there is no service between these villages. We managed a one-way ride by leaving our van in Cuajimoloyas and hiring a resident of Lachatao to haul us back to our starting point. That wasn’t cheap (400 pesos) but was better than the alternative – which was to crank back up over 4500 vertical feet  over 18 miles and riding several hours after sunset.

The route shown begins at the ecotourism office in Cuajimoloyas, where you pay the 50 pesos per person fee to enter the communal lands, and ends at the village church in Lachatao. The distance between the two is 18.4 miles (29.6 km). The elevation gain along the way amounts to 1116 feet (340 meters), while the downhill totals 4530 feet (1381 meters). The downhill sections are fun and fast! Our group managed to complete the ride in about three hours, pausing frequently to take photographs. We also had a late breakfast in Cuajimoloyas and stopped for lunch in the very pleasing restaurant next to the church in Lachatao, which precluded our trying to ride back to Cuajimoloyas under our own power while there was still daylight.

Foothills, GPS, MTBing, Outing, Photos

San Felipe – East Side Loop

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This is the second and more difficult loop ride utilizing various elements of the trail network in the hills above San Felipe del Agua. Our purpose here is to illustrate how a great ride can be had by stringing together some of the smaller trail segments described in the “Trails” page of this web site.

The paved (but never completed) road called the “Libramiento Norte” (LNR) is the main access to the entire trail complex. The jeep road labeled “Toro, Toro, Toro” (TTT for short) is the principal dirt trail leading up and into the trail network. The singletrack trail we call “High Flyer Ridge” (HFR) leads to the many steep, downhill-specific trails that plunge down into the forest from the ridge. Finally, it should be noted that none of these trails are in “Benito Juarez National Park,” which is located higher up the mountainside and may be closed due to an ongoing land dispute.

This loop, which stays in the forest on the east side of the Libramiento, offers a terrific ride – with lots of elevation gain, challenging runs through thick forest, technical, rock-strewn descents and several scenic overlooks. The loop covers 9.8 miles (15.8 km) and accumulates a total of 2482 feet (765.5 meters) of elevation gain & loss. The highest point on the trail tops out at 6906 feet (2105 meters). This outing is rated “Difficult” because of the terrain. Expect to complete the ride in from 2.5 to 4.0 hours, depending on the level of your strength, skill and stamina.

If you want to reference this loop with the trail segments listed on the “Trails” page of this web site, you will want to connect the following sections:  (start) LBR to LNR to TTT to R to LNR to HFR to Ma to (unnamed) to M to LNR to LBR (finish).

 

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