WINDY POINT is the name of the place.
One climbs up from the south shore of the Lake along winding rutted dirt roads to a high table land of grassland with just cows and the occasional cowboy.
The viewpoint looks out south over farmlands and into the next State of Michouacan.
Above. At the edge of Windy Point looking west at Cerra Garcia which is just over 9000 feet high.
The Lake itself is at 5000 feet above sea level so it is about 4000 feet above the Lake.
We climbed to the 6-7ooo feet level (in vehicles ) for these spectacular views.
There were 17 of us and the hike was led by Jim Cook. He has an excellent blog the latest post being about this same hike
Every week there are modest and serious hikes for those Lakesiders interested.
Most if not all hikes near here involve some uphill climbs so this hike was somewhat unique in being mostly on flat terrain.
The sides of the hills up here are dense prickly chaparal like vegetation.
We had to wade through some of these thickets to traverse along the escarpement.
Below-A red barked tree that up north would be called a Madrone-however I am not sure what it’s local name is.
Hiking back through open fields where cows and horses roam. This time of year is the tail end of the rainy season the grasses are still green and wildflowers are still out.
It must be even better earlier in the summer rainy months-though getting up here may be more problematic without 4 wheel drive.
Above-A bit like the African Savanah up here except no Wildebeests…. just cows with longhorns.
Below–Returning to the Lake and the village of Mismaloya we had a late lunch overlooking Pelicans below.
Below– The late afternoon light began to change the sky and distant mountains.
Driving back along a narrow winding road I could not capture these spectacular views with a camera. Another time.
They looked like the Scottish Highlands with rugged mountains ending in the Lake shore, along with pink tinted cumulous clouds.
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Jan 31st
To the west of Guadalahara are large undeveloped areas of oak and pine forested rolling volcanic hills .
The Bosque Primavera is the most well known being quite close to the city. It was preserved in the ’80s after development threatened.
This particular area we went to is nearby and is owned as a preserve and maintained by a very successful Latin rock group called Mana. They wanted to give back something back to the Earth to offset their world travel.
Above– Sugar cane fields on the approach.
The hills looked very much like California with much the same climate and vegetation.
The oak trees however have larger leaves.
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Below- El Volcan De Colima.
About three hours south is the beautiful town of Colima and the nearby 12,500 foot high volcano is the most active in Mexico.
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Below– On the way south toward Colima is El Limon-an ex hacienda now converted to a small boutique hotel.
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