CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From El Cazadero it runs 484 km to El Cazadero; allow about 9 h 49 of riding. The stops in between: Cerro Altamirano, Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Cerro Pélon and back through Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,750 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Cerro Altamirano comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Between November and March, the fir forests on the mountains of central Mexico turn orange. Millions of monarch butterflies, which have flown some four thousand kilometres from Canada and the northern United States, cluster on the oyamel firs at about three thousand metres, hanging in dense clusters that bend the branches. In the warmth of the sun they open their wings and fly, and the air fills with soft movement, a sound like rain falling on leaves. Nobody knows exactly how they find the place, since the generation that arrives has never made the trip before, and the mystery adds to the wonder. The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, on the border of Michoacan and the State of Mexico, protects the wintering grounds and was listed as a World Heritage site in 2008.
Read the complete Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 158 km into the recorded legs you reach Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Next is Cerro Pélon.
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, about halfway. Next is back through Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve sits at 199 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Cerro Altamirano comes up about 418 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 closes the day.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → Cerro Altamirano is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cerro Altamirano → Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve → Cerro Pélon is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cerro Pélon → back through Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve → back through Cerro Altamirano is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cerro Altamirano → Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.