| Day trip to Ajusco (Malacatepetl) Trip Report |
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| Day trip to Ajusco (Malacatepetl)   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Distrito Federal, Mexico, North America Lat/Lon: 19.20808°N / 99.25753°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 30, 2009 Activities: Hiking Season: Summer | Page By: nicstandaert Created/Edited: Jul 24, 2009 / Jul 26, 2009 Object ID: 533207 Hits: 409 Loading... Page Score: 86.02% - 1 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Metro Bus TaxiI hiked Ajusco from Mexico City as a day trip. I left the hostel at 5.30 am to catch the first metro to 'Universidad' at the end of the green line. From there I took a bus to the amusement park 'Six Flags', where you should change to another bus that takes you to the village of Santo Tomás Ajusco. There is another bus that takes you to the 'refugio', but I didn't want to wait another half an hour so I took a taxi there for 40 pesos. I think in total it took me about two and a half hour just to get there. The trail  My guide through the forest.
The refugio is some 100 meters up the road, and when I got there there was nobody although a sign says they are open all year. I thought I would just look for the trail going into the woods but there were several trails so I decided to walk back to the roadside restaurant where the taxi driver dropped me off to ask. Walking down I bumped into six scouts from Coyoacan that were going up. The two leaders had gone up before and knew the way. They went up the first trail after the broken bridge that hangs over the little river flowing down to the refugio. After some fifteen minutes there was a sign indicating the way down to the refugio(for those going up the other side), that's where we went up. From here I went on on my own accompagnied by the dog in the photo attached because the trail was pretty clear now, although there was quite some fog around.The top  Me at la Cruz de Marquesa.  Pico de Aguila seen from La Cruz de Marquesa.  View from Cruz de Marquesa.
La Cruz de la Marquesa peak.
After about two hours I reached a top with three crosses, one of them clear white,
about three meters high. I wasn't really sure which peak I was standing on, and it was more like
standing on a hill than on a peak, I therefore assumed this was La Cruz de la Marquesa peak (3986m), from where you can see another one, being the Pico de Aguila. The latter seems to be higher when standing on La Cruz de Marquesa, but apparently it is not. I took some photos from a lower spot, like the one right below of the crosses with the clear blue sky behind them . After some twenty minutes the groups of scouts arrived, and they were sure we were standing on the Pico de Aguila, so I got a bit confused. We talked for a while about other Mexican volcanoes and I then walked over to the Pico de Aguila, from where I hoped to decended as I didn't feel like going back the same way. It was quite a steep climb up the Pico de Aguila, which again has some crosses on it. The view was worse as I reached the top, couldn't see a thing except for the crosses. I met two couples here, on of them with their dog, which was suffering to reach the top as it involves going over some big rocks.Getting down  Walking down to the road.
From the Pico de Aguila I walked down the trail that another three groups, some ten people in total, were walking down. This seemed to be the most popular trail that heads up from a couple of restaurants and parking next to the road. Im not sure which trail this would be, although it was pretty clear, and it would be hard to get lost going up this way. Walking down I met two nice Mexican men that had quite some hiking experience (they had even gone up El Popo many years ago) gave me a ride to a bus stop where I could take a bus to the 'Copilco' metro stop (so to get to Ajusco you can get a bus from Copilco too). I was back in my hostal around 3.30 pm.Looking backI had a great hike up to the two peaks, but it took me a while just to get there and back. Going up this 'lodge route' it found the trail at the start not at all indicated, but then again I think all trails at the bottom lead up to the main trail leading to La Cruz de Marquesa. I was lucky having some nice views and no rain although this was early July. My hiking boots served me well, and wearing an old jeans and windproof jacket over two t-shirts was all I needed that day.
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