Why this ride
It goes by way of Huiricuta: Mucuyahue, Tuy Mayau, Nihuetaritsié and Cuhixu Uheni. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Huacuri Quitenie and Cuhixu Uheni
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 706 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 16 h 14
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Huacuri Quitenie
Somewhere in the creosote flats north of Charcas, in San Luis Potosí, the land that the Wixárika people call Wirikuta begins to feel different, even to a visitor who knows nothing of its meaning. The horizon widens, the mountains of the Sierra de Catorce rise to the east, and on a clear morning the whole desert seems to hum. Huacuri Quitenie is one of the sacred places along the Wixárika pilgrimage route to Wirikuta, where pilgrims stop to pray and leave offerings on their way to Leunar, the hill they call Cerro Quemado, where the sun was born.
Read the complete Huacuri Quitenie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Huacuri Quitenie is where the day begins. Next is Huiricuta: Mucuyahue.
2. Huiricuta: Mucuyahue
In the high desert of San Luis Potosí, below the mountains of the Sierra de Catorce, lies Wirikuta, the most sacred landscape of the Wixárika people, better known as the Huichol. Every year, pilgrims walk or drive hundreds of kilometres from their homes in the mountains of Jalisco and Nayarit to this semi-desert, following a route they believe their ancestors travelled at the beginning of time. According to their tradition, the sun was born on the hill called Cerro Quemado above Real de Catorce, and the desert is where they come to collect hikuri, the peyote cactus, which they consider a sacred plant and use in ceremonies. The various sacred sites along the pilgrimage, including this one, are on Mexico's tentative list for World Heritage.
Read the complete Huiricuta: Mucuyahue write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Huiricuta: Mucuyahue comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tuy Mayau.
3. Tuy Mayau
Out in the high desert of San Luis Potosí, near the town of Charcas, lies a landscape that for the Wixárika people, often called the Huichol, is the most sacred place on earth. Wirikuta is the land where, in their cosmology, the sun was born, and each year pilgrims walk or travel hundreds of kilometres from their homeland in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Jalisco and Nayarit to reach it, visiting a chain of sacred springs, hills and other sites along the way.
Read the complete Tuy Mayau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Tuy Mayau. Next is Nihuetaritsié.
4. Nihuetaritsié
High desert stretches away in every direction here, dotted with yucca, nopal cactus and mesquite, under a sky that seems twice as big as anywhere else. For centuries the Wixárika have made pilgrimages from their homeland in the Sierra Madre Occidental across these plains to Wirikuta, the sacred desert near Real de Catorce, stopping at springs, hills and other holy places along the way. This is one of those places, a spot that matters in their ritual geography even if, to an outsider, it looks like empty desert.
Read the complete Nihuetaritsié write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nihuetaritsié, about halfway. Next is Cuhixu Uheni.
5. Cuhixu Uheni
Every year, groups of Wixárika pilgrims, the people known to outsiders as the Huichol, walk hundreds of kilometres from their homeland in the mountains of Jalisco and Nayarit to Wirikuta, a sacred desert in San Luis Potosí. The route crosses a chain of sacred places, springs, hills and rocks, where offerings are left and ceremonies performed, and Cuhixu Uheni, near the small town of Villa de Ramos, is one of them. The pilgrimage route as a whole has been put forward for World Heritage status as a living cultural landscape.
Read the complete Cuhixu Uheni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cuhixu Uheni sits at 198 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nihuetaritsié.
6. back through Nihuetaritsié
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nihuetaritsié write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nihuetaritsié comes up about 398 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Tuy Mayau.
7. back through Tuy Mayau
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tuy Mayau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 537 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Tuy Mayau. Next is back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue.
8. back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Huiricuta: Mucuyahue write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue, late in the day. Next is Huacuri Quitenie.
9. Huacuri Quitenie
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Huacuri Quitenie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 706 km.
Leg by leg
Huacuri Quitenie to Huiricuta: Mucuyahue
Huacuri Quitenie → Huiricuta: Mucuyahue is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Huiricuta: Mucuyahue to Tuy Mayau
Huiricuta: Mucuyahue → Tuy Mayau is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Tuy Mayau to Nihuetaritsié
Tuy Mayau → Nihuetaritsié is 177 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nihuetaritsié to Cuhixu Uheni
Nihuetaritsié → Cuhixu Uheni is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cuhixu Uheni to back through Nihuetaritsié
Cuhixu Uheni → back through Nihuetaritsié is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nihuetaritsié to back through Tuy Mayau
back through Nihuetaritsié → back through Tuy Mayau is 139 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tuy Mayau to back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue
back through Tuy Mayau → back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue is 141 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue to Huacuri Quitenie
back through Huiricuta: Mucuyahue → Huacuri Quitenie is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.