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Printable Version Waypoints Dayhikes in Mexico

Cañón de la Angostura

Trail Data
  Length = 2 km. Exertion index = about 100 going about 20 returning. Maximum elevation = 1350 m.

Cañón de la Angostura is included without enthusiasm. On the plus side the canyon is very beautiful: steep walls with a wild profusion of greenery hanging over a lively stream.

The first issue is accessibility. For most drivers it calls for high clearance and in wet weather 4WD. The surveyor did see a taxi making its way down so presumably the road is passable for cars but he didn't see the taxi going back up.

Walking down from the highway is a possibility but the return requires an elevation gain of 315 m in 4.4 km. People live along the road but there's no way of knowing how long you'd have to wait to hitch a ride.

The other issue is the trail. Mainly you have to follow the stream bed with numerous crossings. You should expect to wade so short pants and sneakers would be good choices.

Where the canyon is at its narrowest and the stream at its deepest concrete slabs have been attached to one of the canyon walls to form a walkway. They look as though they could break away under a person's weight and in fact one of them has broken away. Experiments have shown that people submerged suddenly in cold water have an irresistible reflex to inhale which causes instant drowning.

If you decide to do this hike find the foot trail on the left side of the stream as you face upstream. Follow it until you can proceed only by crossing. After that keep going upstream as well as you can. When you see three large boulders that have rolled into the bottom of the canyon and stacked against each other you're near the end. The end is at a dirt clump in the canyon bottom through which the stream has eroded a channel so it can pass through, called Puente de Dios. It may seem irreverent to identify such a modest geological artifact with the Almighty but that's its name.

The map shown here is schematic because the surveyor's GPS receiver couldn't work in the narrow canyon.

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