Nacapule Canyon

Another posting about the month spent in Mexico before the Covid closures. As I mentioned in previous posts, since we did not put our sailboat in the water, we wanted to explore some local attractions that we never seem to take advantage of in our usual haste to go sailing. We had heard about this amazing hike at Nacapule Canyon just out of San Carlos, and we were not disappointed.

We almost didn’t get to hike. It was a park that charged admission, and as we approached the gate to pay, we were stopped in our tracks by a sign that read: NO MASCOTAS. We had Lily with us (of course), so we were about to turn back and find a dog friendly adventure for the day (it was way too hot to leave her in the car, not to mention how unfair that would be). The person collecting fees saw our hesitation and disappointment and came after us to tell us it was okay for us to bring Lily with us (benefits of visiting off season perhaps). We were so happy about being able to hike the canyon.

It was an incredible hike—I know what you are thinking, “how can a hike in the middle of the desert be so great?” Well, there is a natural spring near the bottom of the canyon, so we were hiking into an oasis of greenery including palm trees.

While the hike started out fairly easy, there was plenty of rock scrambling to do…

and a rope ladder up a steep cliff…(you will note several other hikers were kind enough to let us go first while gathering their own courage--and yes, I am gripping that rock like my life depended on it!) As challenging as climbing up a rickety old rope ladder was for me, I saw a man climb up while holding on to his frightened and screaming toddler. This is one thing we have always loved about Mexico. Unlike the overly regulated and lawsuit happy United States, Mexico has more of a "adventure at your own risk" attitude that can be quite refreshing.

Almost there...

Sure enough, there was water seeping from the rocks making a water hole in the middle of the desert, amazing!

After visiting the spring we took another trail to that led to some small caves.

Our Nacapule Canyon hike was a wonderful adventure that we highly recommend to anyone visiting the San Carlos/Guaymas area. We walked away thinking about how many desert canyons may exist that have hidden springs creating oases within this harsh landscape. I'll bet the coyotes know...and maybe a few rancheros and vaqueros.