CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
520 km from Barrio de Arriba de San Juan Xoconusco to Barrio de Arriba de San Juan Xoconusco, about 10 h 38 of riding. On the way it passes Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal, Cerro Altamirano, Town of Aculco and Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,750 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Every winter, something close to a miracle arrives at Cerro Pelon. Monarch butterflies, which have flown from Canada and the northern United States, a journey of some four thousand kilometres, gather in the oyamel fir forests of the high volcanic mountains on the border between Michoacan and the State of Mexico. They cluster in the millions on the trunks and branches, so thick that the boughs bend under their weight, and when the sun hits them they leave the trees in a swirl of orange that sounds like rain. The sanctuaries here are part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Read the complete Cerro Pélon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cerro Pélon is where the day begins. Next is Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal.
The mountains where Michoacán meets the State of Mexico are cold, high and thickly forested with oyamel fir, and every winter they host one of the great natural spectacles of the continent. The Chincua, Campanario, Chivatí and Huacal sanctuaries are part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site, and they are where millions of monarchs arrive from Canada and the United States after a journey of thousands of kilometres. Nobody has ever fully explained how butterflies that have never seen the place find it, but they do, usually in early November, around the Day of the Dead, which locals link to the souls of the departed.
Read the complete Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal comes up 42 km in. Next is Cerro Altamirano.
Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies fly thousands of kilometres from Canada and the United States to spend the winter in the fir and pine forests of central Mexico. Cerro Altamirano, near the village of Contepec in the state of Michoacán, is one of the mountains where they gather, part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When the butterflies are here, roughly from November to March, the branches of the trees are covered with them, so thickly that they sag under the weight.
Read the complete Cerro Altamirano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
84 km in you reach Cerro Altamirano. Next is Town of Aculco.
Aculco is a quiet stone town in the northwest of the State of Mexico, on the high plateau at well over two thousand metres, where the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial road to the north, passed through on its way from Mexico City. The town was a staging post, and its well-preserved centre, with a broad plaza, the Franciscan church and convent of San Jerónimo and old houses built of pinkish stone, is part of the UNESCO listing for the route. It was here, in November 1810, that royalist troops defeated Miguel Hidalgo's insurgent army, an early setback in the War of Independence that people still mention with a kind of local pride.
Read the complete Town of Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Aculco, about halfway. Next is Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco.
For almost three centuries, wagon trains loaded with silver rolled north and south along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that linked Mexico City with the mining towns of the north and eventually with Santa Fe in what is now New Mexico. It was one of the longest trade routes in the Americas, carrying silver, mercury, goods, people and ideas across thousands of kilometres. In 2010 UNESCO listed a series of sites along the route, including stretches of the old road, bridges, haciendas and towns. This section, between Aculco and San Juan del Río, crosses the high plateau on the border between the State of Mexico and Querétaro.
Read the complete Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco sits at 168 km, about halfway. Next is back through Town of Aculco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Town of Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Town of Aculco comes up 210 km in. Next is back through Cerro Altamirano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cerro Altamirano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
252 km in you reach back through Cerro Altamirano. Next is back through Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal, late in the day. Next is Cerro Pélon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cerro Pélon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 520 km.
Cerro Pélon → Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal → Cerro Altamirano is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cerro Altamirano → Town of Aculco is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Aculco → Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → back through Town of Aculco is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Town of Aculco → back through Cerro Altamirano is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cerro Altamirano → back through Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chincua-Campanario-Chivati-Huacal → Cerro Pélon is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.