Hiking the local trails

The San Miguel Cross hike is in the middle of the town of Chapala.  It is 1/2 mile one way.  The trail is very steep, but also very short.  Beautiful vistas await you at the top.

The trailhead is the Chapala Plaza.  Walk across the street and up the hill where the yellow VW is.

This alley and the steps lead to the start of the uphill climb. 

View of Chapala looking East. 

The Chapala pier and  tourist boats.

View of Chapala looking North.

View of Chapala looking West.

Lake Chapala with Chapala in the foreground.  

Rainy season is here.  The trails will soon have green canopies galore.

The San Miguel cross at the top of the hill.

  

  

Fathers day picnic

Cristiana Park is in the town of Chapala.  It is 40 cents for an adult to enter.  There are volleyball courts, tennis courts, a jogging path and numerous other activities.  The trees are mature, so there is lots of shade.  It is open from 9:00 in the morning to 6:30 at night.  The park is right on Lake Chapala providing a dramatic view.  It is a perfect place for a picnic lunch or dinner.

Entrance to Cristiana Park, one of the nicest parks in the Lakeside area.

The trees are mature and the grass is green. 

Vicki and Joe standing.  Sharon and J. C. at the table.  Note the barbeque area in the background.

The horses  rent for 9 dollars U. S. per hour.  Vicki barrel raced as a youngster.

I caught Debbi and Sharon by surprise.  They were checking out the horses!

The park sits on the shore of Lake Chapala.  This poor guy is wasting his time.

The girls are walking on the jogging path.  Huh?

This guy was really friendly. All he wanted was a meal. 

This is a good example of a Mexican dog.  The owners feed them okay, but they don't get a lot of affection.  It makes you want to take them all home.

The water of Lake Chapala is shallow.  The deepest it gets is about 30 feet.

Specialty stores

On March 10 of this year I did a blog on specialty stores and businesses in the Lakeside area.  Here are some more.

Pastureria is a feed store.

They have feed for horses, cats, dogs and most other pets. 

The paint store.

The paint store stocks standard colors.  They can also mix custom colors.

This is the auto supply store.  They have oil, windshield wipers, etc. etc.

Libreria sounds like it would be a library.  In fact, it means bookstore.

They have both Spanish and English books. 

They have kids books as well as adult books.

Of course, this is a Dentist office.

You can get your teeth cleaned here for $20 dollars.

Hiking the local trails

The El Limon Cross Trail was brutal.  Located just west of San Juan Cosala, this trail was steep from beginning to end.  It is only 1.2 miles from the trailhead to the Cross.  The round trip hike took 2 1/2 hours.  The cool thing about this trail is that it also accesses the Skyline Trail.  The Skyline Trail is the trail that we want to eventually hike.  It runs east to west 18 miles.  

We saw many large cactus' on this hike.

Interesting formations of trees along the way. 

King of the Mountain aka   J. C. 

As usual, these are the spectacular views we have on almost every hike.  This is looking south.

The El Limon Cross.

This is the town of Jocotepec, which is on the western shore of Lake Chapala.

The Cross looking south across the lake.

You're probably tired of these lake views, but I can't get enough of them!

We are now in the rainy season, June, July and August.  In one month, this will look like a jungle. 

Somehow, this huge cactus toppled over.  Part of the root is in front of J. C.