On April 3, 2022 my buddy, Chris McWatters and I pointed the Top Out Adventures van south and started driving from Austin, TX to Monterrey, Mexico. We were headed to play in the gorgeous Sierra Madre mountains that rise out of the plains north of Monterrey and continue all the way down central Mexico in the south. Our first stop was in Monterrey to hook up with our good friend and local race director, Eric Palafox. His knowledge of the local scene and never ending smile were key ingredients in the adventure concoction we were dreaming up. (As a side note, we pride ourselves on designing trips that are challenging and doable. For this trip we had picked routes that matched the extensive experience and high level of fitness of the group. Not all our trips are this intense.)

First, let’s get to know the Sierra Madres. I first experienced them when our family lived in Monterrey. Our girls were both born in Monterrey, and we used to go hiking in the Sierra Madres when they were little. These mountains make up the backbone of the North American continent and connect to the Eje Volcánico Transversal (Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt) in Mexico where the Yucatan roughly starts. To say we were visiting the Sierra Madres is actually non-specific because the range is broken into 5 different ranges. Our playground was going to be the Sierra Madres Oriental. As we drove from Austin, TX down to Monterrey, it wasn’t until the last hour of the drive that the mountains began to rise out of the planes. They start as large knolls, but just on the southside of Monterrey they rise in a wall that continues for hundreds of miles. It was those cliffs and peaks where we were going to be exploring.

For the first 3 nights of our trip, we stayed in a local chain hotel, SAFI, in el centro of Monterrey. The big silver van was squeezing between small cars and dodging pedestrians.

Dinner was at my favorite local chain, El Papalotes. It isn’t authentic Mexican food, but the arrachera tacos and guacamole are mouth watering and bring back memories for me. The highlight of the night was when walking back to the hotel, and Eric was suddenly sneaking up behind a young couple in an embrace at the bus stop! For a moment I thought he was breaking up a domestic dispute, but it quickly became obvious these are friends of his. So we met Oscar and Lidia who are trail runners and have run (and won) some of Eric’s races. Through my bad Spanish and the common language of trails and mountains, we shared our favorite places. Oscar was adamant that we check out Pico Perico. He said it was “muy duro y muy bonita” (very hard and very beautiful). Pico Perico wasn’t on our packed schedule, but as we departed Oscar was chanting “Pico Perico! Pico Perico!” Let’s just say the seed was planted.

After a good night's sleep, Monday started early with a 5:30 departure to run/hike/scramble to the high point in El Parque Chipinque called La Eme, (aka La M). La M is special to me because my family used to live just below it. My daughters were born in Monterrey and came home to the condo below La M. On my drive home from work, I could always find my way by scanning the ridge line to find the M shaped section. La M is in the Parque Ecologico Chipinque, which is a national park that includes most of the ridge line south of Monterrey. A permit and a guide are required to get to La M, but Eric had hooked us up with Martin Humberto. Martin fit right in with the group from the start. After showing our permit and handing over drivers licenses at the entrance, we were on the winding road up to the trailhead. We arrived about 30 minutes before sunrise, put on our packs and headlamps and started up the trail.

When Eric and I were discussing who would be our guide for Chipinque, I had told him that we want to move fast. I didn’t want to be presumptuous, but I didn’t want the group to be frustrated with a guide who was used to a typical hiking pace. Eric just laughed and said don’t worry, Martin will be fine. This became obvious about 5 minutes into the day when we were all sucking wind and could just barely see Martin’s headlamp pointing back down the trail. I was duly humbled.

The route up to La M is 5.8 miles with 3,233' of ascent. This was the day when everyone came to the understanding that mountain running means lots of climbing with a little bit of running. For the first hour, it was a steady hike at a good 2.5 mile per hour pace. Then the trail turns into a gully or wash, and it is not so much a trail as the only way to go up. It was a pretty steady diet of scree and big step ups for the next hour. Then the via ferrata started! A via ferrata is a fixed cable or chain on the route to assist. The last couple of hundred feet were a thrilling climb. It finished with climbing rebar steps and hand over hand climbing to the summit view that was incredible.

The view from the top was otherworldly. Monterrey was completely covered in clouds to the north. All you could see was the mountains rising above them. Pico Perico, Las Antennas and Cerro de la Silla looked like they were floating on a sea of clouds. When we turned to the north, the valley of Santa Catarina was clear as a bell. The La Huasteca range was just sitting there like you could reach out and touch it. We took our time to fill out the registry book, take pics, eat and enjoy the rising sun.

Monterrey still sleeps below the clouds.

What was challenging on the way up was just plain perilous on the way down. Chris quickly set the standard for descending with some hilarious scree field surfing. Eric and I were clearly going to be pulling up the rear, but Martin lit up. He knew he had somebody who could hang with him, and Chris and Martin were off. Every descent for the rest of the week would follow the same pattern.

We all made it back to the van with smiles. After a few beers and snacks, we headed back down into Monterrey for tacos at a local favorite taco stand and then to the hotel. After Chris' first nap in 2 years, we went to dinner at La Fama in one of the swankiest shopping areas in Latin America. Walking in with our sandals and t-shirts, we caught a few stares. But hey, we were at least showered! We ate bacon wrapped shrimp, octopus and scallions like we knew what we were doing.

Tuesday, we drove 20 minutes out of town to La Huasteca Parque. It has been featured for beautiful climbing in movies such as Free Solo. We took on the run/hike to Horcones. It is crazy steep with a 30% grade overall. It finishes off with a climb that has a serious pucker factor!

The ridge and view at the top were totally worth the climb. We played around on the ridge hamming it up for Martin's drone when the swallows weren't trying to dive bomb it. The descent was much more stable than the day before but no less steep. A crazy fast and exhilarating descent back down killed any strength left in our legs. Since La Huasteca is known for its climbing walls, we grabbed Martin's rappelling gear and played around on the nearest wall.

After a quick stop at the hotel to clean up, we ate at Las Hidalgo's steakhouse. They serve up plates of gorgeous meat family style. We had arrachera and prime rib, and we waddled out full and happy that night.

Do you remember when Eric’s friend was chanting Pico Perico when we left the bus stop? Well, Wednesday was supposed to be a rest day, but it didn’t take long for group think to determine we could climb Pico Perico in the Las Mitras range and still make our way to Ciudad Victoria. The report was that it was 3x as hard as La M. Some internet research revealed that it is 7.1 miles and 4,371' of ascent. I normally wouldn’t go on a route I hadn’t scouted, but our local buddy Martin was up for showing us the way. And the group was so strong I was confident we could handle whatever was thrown at us.

Pico Perico turned out to be one of the most thrilling days in the mountains we could imagine. It starts right in town and goes straight up a wash between two huge ridges. We were either on scree fields or huge rocks for about 3 hours. (Quick word of advice…don’t try to get the last few miles out of your shoes in the Sierra Madres!) We then began working a traverse ridge that was leading us to a 250+ foot wall. At this point, we trusted Martin, but Chris and I kept looking at each other with wide eyes. Finally when it seemed we had no choice but to start rock climbing, we turned a corner and Martin was standing in a huge hole in the side of the mountain. It was a mine that led through the mountain! Thank goodness. I had been mentally reviewing the clauses in my life insurance plan. The mine was nice and cool and had beautiful quartz veins. It led us through the ridge to a new valley on the other side. After a short traverse it was time to go up again. This time it was so steep that chains and cables are installed. Our tiny little runner's arms were put to the test as we scaled 20' to 30’ sections of rock. As we got higher the terrain changed to drop offs on either side.

It all paid off in a gorgeous view of Monterrey, Santa Catarina, La M and La Huasteca. We could see every place we had been so far. We stopped for pictures and food. It was a gorgeous day, and I could have napped on that summit for hours if we hadn’t been on a timeline to get out of town. Of course we had to descend and down climb everything we had ascended. When you climb up, you are just looking at what’s in front of you and up. Going down you’re looking at open air and trying to figure out where to put your foot. Chris and Martin were excellent descenders. Eric and I lost them after the mine and didn’t see them again until the van at the bottom. We were all totally stoked and tanked. After farewells to our new friend Martin, Eric, Chris, and I pointed the van south to Ciudad Victoria.

After a great night’s rest in a simple iStay hotel in Victoria, we were met at 5:30am by Eric’s wife and daughter, Laura and Laurita. They would be joining us for the rest of the week. Laura served as our van driver when we ran through routes, and Laurita was playing hooky for the last day of school for the year. After a 30 minute drive that ended on dirt roads outside of town, Laura dropped us off to head up Cañón de Novilla. We quickly encountered a cattle gate, and Eric directed us to climb over it. You know it’s gonna be an epic day when it starts with climbing over a gate!

The forest here was totally different than the desert type of growth we had seen in Monterrey. Pine trees were the main type of trees and the soil was more of a red clay than the sand we had been experiencing. The plan for the day was to climb the dirt road up to the Rancho del Cojote owned by Señor Horácio where we would have lunch and then continue on to Las Mulas. The Cañón de Novilla is not a canyon in the sense of steep walls and a narrow base. It was more of a cleft in the mountains that served as the most logical route up.

The vibe on this 4th day was more chill than the others. We were going to be covering almost 3x as far as the previous days, but the route was much less steep. We chatted and goofed off for the first couple of hours. It was a beautiful, cool morning, and we were just soaking up the beauty together as friends. As we climbed Eric pointed out the water system that the 4 ranches on the mountain share. It starts at the top at Señor Horácio’s place and descends down the mountain to each ranch. They all work together to maintain it in a communal partnership. The ranchers know that water is life and nobody owns it. When water is scarce the ranchers at the top conserve to allow for sufficient water for those down below. In turn the ranchers below support those up higher by transporting supplies. We could all learn from this approach to sharing resources.

After 3 hours of a steady climb, Eric started whooping and calling “Senooooor Hoooracioooo”. It was right about that time that we started to smell the smoke from Horácio’s fire, but we still had about 15 minutes to go. It’s amazing what you can detect when you are away from the pollution of the city and communing with the world around you. After a few calls from Eric, we heard a whoop in response. Horácio was out and waiting for us. We approached the ranch from the downhill side where we could see his pasture, mules, water system and his modest home. Standing in front was Señor Horácio Lopez. He is about 70 years old but doesn’t know his exact age for sure. He looked like something out of a Mexican western movie in his cowboy hat, knife on his belt and gun tucked into his waistband. Despite the menacing hardware, he exuded warmth and hospitality. We were all met with warm brazos (hugs).

Horácio welcomed us into his home where we quickly pulled out the eggs, chorizo, tortillas and Coke we had carried with us. The fire was already hot, and Horácio dropped a big pad of butter into a skillet. Horácio grabbed coffee cups off the counter, blew out the dust and handed them to us to prepare coffee from the surprisingly wide array of options he had on the table. Horácio insisted that we sit at the table drinking coffee while he cooked up our breakfast. We felt like foreign kings who were being welcomed in a new land, and the smells were incredible. With the fresh air, burning wood, sizzling chorizo and coffee, it was a scent that should be bottled. I don’t know if any candle makers out there could get all of that in a scented candle, but I would buy it! Or maybe a body wash?

Horácio cooked the best breakfast tacos!

After eating every ounce of breakfast and using tortillas to mop up the grease, we washed dishes and Horácio took us on a tour of his ranch. This ranch is 17,000 acres and has been in his family since his father purchased it in the early 1900’s. He and his brothers were born in the small house that he lives in today. The roof of the house is made of license plates from 1933 that his father purchased as a production overrun. The ranch’s main source of income is cattle. Horácio had some mature cows in the paddock ready to go to market the next day. Horácio is the only one who lives there full time. His brothers are professionals in Victoria, but Horácio loves the land so much that he is happy to never leave.

As we walked the property with Horácio, it was inspiring how beautiful and functional it is. The fig trees and grapevines provide shade and food. The water system is built with hydraulic considerations to maintain water for Horácio’s ranch, his cattle and allow water to flow down to the ranches below. Solar panels provide the small amount of electricity that Horácio needs to charge his cell phone, a couple lights and play a small radio.

Horácio led us up a path on the edge of his property where we could look out to the valleys beyond. As we stood there and Horácio pointed out the various geographical features and properties in the distance, he exuded confidence and comfort with his world and his place in it. The only thing that got him agitated was as we looked to the west and saw the fires burning about 50 miles away. Fire is the only natural force that seems to scare Horácio. He has experienced the destruction of fires on his land before. In the evenings he stands on the high points of his land and looks for campfires. If he sees a campfire he will hike for miles to warn the people about the impact of fire on his land.

Horácio shared his love for the land with us.

After returning to the house, we convinced Horácio to let us help clean up from our meal. He refused any sort of gift in appreciation for his hospitality, but he was in for a surprise the next time he opened his coffee can!

Our route from Horácio’s home would continue on his land for the next several miles. We headed out and quickly started climbing a steep slope covered with pine trees. There wasn’t much of a trail to follow, but Eric uses this section for his races and a few faded confidence markers showed the way. Chris and I took turns route finding with Eric following along grinning as we continuously got ourselves into difficult spots.

We were rewarded after about 15 minutes with the view from La Regia. It is a beautiful lookout at the top of a cliff. We had been able to see this high point all day in anticipation. We climbed over the barbed wire that keeps the cattle from getting too close to the edge and soaked up the view.

From this high point, going down the otherside of the mountain the terrain changed dramatically. It felt like something between the Rocky Mountains and Scotland highlands. The views of rounded mountains in every direction were awesome. Underfoot it was uneven granite. The rock was solid but jumbled in all directions. It was perfect for playing a winner takes all game of hopscotch as we descended like kids on a playground. There was no trail, and the only other life we saw besides squirrels and lizards were Señor Horácio’s cattle and horses.

After stopping at the ranch at the bottom of the mountain for a chat, we got on the dirt road that would take us to where Laura had the van waiting for us. Those last few miles were a machismo game of chess. One of us would take off running and the other two would have to follow or risk damaging their ego. Eventually Chris figured out that he could cut the switchbacks of the road pretty easily, and it became a game of skill/stupidity as we barreled down the hill. Needless to say our quads were thoroughly trashed by the time we got to the van.

At the van, Laura and Laurita had set out chairs for us and had warm gorditas waiting for us. Washing down a warm gordita with cold Topo Chico Sangria is better than the finest 5 star meal. We sat and ate until we were on the brink of falling asleep. We loaded up the van for the 30 minute drive to the small town of Miquihuana, where we would stay for the next two nights.

In my opinion Miquihuana represents the best of Mexico. With a population of 3,500, dirt roads, a quaint town square and church, it has the cultural roots that the big cities seem to have lost. Miquihuana has a small but growing tourism industry. One of the places that is leading this growth is Sol Y Luna Resort. Run by Andrea and Javier, their quaint and comfortable paradise is 2 acres surrounded by a 10 foot stone wall right in the middle of town. Each building has its own kitchen and sitting area. In the middle of the complex are beautiful gardens, koi ponds, a sauna and lap pool. With a simple, rustic charm it’s the perfect place to relax with a cold cerveza or mezcal and friends.

Eric had arranged for Andrea to prepare dinner for us. The good news was that she planned for 8 people, and we were only 6! We needed the extra calories. Eating in what was essentially Andrea’s kitchen and dining room, we ate until we were stuffed and laughed our way through dinner. As the sun set, we finished our beers on the patio and listened to the town come to life.

We woke early for what was to be our last morning in the mountains. Andrea filled us with eggs, tortillas, fruit, juice and coffee. We started our run from Sol y Luna that day. It was still dark, but the town was starting to stir as we ran through the streets. We saw store owners sweeping their doorsteps and children heading off to the school.

The trail for the day doesn’t have a name or trailhead signs. It is just a route that is used by the ranchers to get to town. If you didn’t know where you were going, you would never find it. This put Eric in the front with the two gringos in tow. The plan was to climb all the way to a place called La Joya which is about 14 miles from town where Laura and Laurita would be waiting to pick us up. While the rate of ascent wasn’t the crazy steep stuff from the beginning of the week, it was relentless and the international spirit of competitiveness had us pushing the pace for the first 1.5 hours. We finally got some flat sections, but it didn’t last long. It was about this time that we caught up to a rancher who was leading his mule back to his ranch. Eric knew him of course and his name was Señor Gilberto. He was returning from Florida where he had been working on an orange plantation. The plantation had provided his plane ticket, lodging and food for 3 months. He was making more money than he could ever make in Mexico and that allowed him to keep his simple way of life going.

The relief from climbing was pretty short lived, but we were getting more frequent short descents into waterways. It was clear that we were on the windward side of the mountain and water was abundant. After about 2.0 hours, I was getting pretty hungry and asked for a break. Eric led us to the terminus of a water canal system at the edge of the ranch of the Señor Gilberto. The canal was logs of about 8 inches in diameter cut lengthwise and hollowed out. It flowed with a steady trickle of water. Eric cut an agave plant leaf to create a diversion spout for us to drink. With our heads turned sideways, we drank the cold, crystal clear water. This water is what Eric uses for an aid station in his races. It is probably cleaner than what comes out of our faucets in the US.

Despite the idyllic location, we kept moving onward and upward. Pretty soon we came across Señor Gilbert again as he was cleaning out the water system. He explained to us that the system had been built by his grandfather over 100 years ago. It is about 2 miles long. He goes out once a week to clean out the leaves and dirt by hand. Just like Señor Horácio’s place, water is life and these ranchers know it. Their water system is their most valuable resource.

We said goodbye to Señor Gilberto and continued on our way. We moved above the treeline pretty quickly at that point. Unlike a lot of the trails in Mexico, this one had switchbacks which was a nice change of pace. We got into a rhythm and talked less for a while. Eventually we got to a barbed wire fence with no gate. We each took on our own approach. Chris went with an army crawl. I did my best impression of stop, drop and roll. Eric did something that looked like a jazzercise routine from the 80’s.

With about 3 miles to go, we got to the dirt road that would lead us out. We were happy to be able to run again, but the days and miles were wearing on me. We got about as spread out as we did at any point in the week. Finally I saw a red building and confirmed with Eric that was our destination. I was in the back at this point, but I was determined to catch up before we got there. I emptied the tank. We were at 9,700’ above sea level. With every red blood cell screaming, I caught up to Chris and Eric just as we reached the red building.

Laura and Laurita were there with gorditas and cold drinks. Somehow this meal was better than the day before. With high fives and hugs all around, we celebrated the completion of an awesome week on the best trails in Mexico, although it wasn’t quite the end for Chris…

While we were resting and eating, Laura mentioned that the Juamave Ultra where we met the year before was happening the next day. Well, anybody can guess where this is going. I told Chris about the coincidence and there was a gleam in his eye. Being the instigator that I am, I began to stoke the flames of his competitive spirit with a careful crafted mixture of encouragement, goading and FOMO. Before long, Eric was calling Gabriel to tell him that he needed to add a gringo to the start list for the 50K. It was then that Chris called his wife, Krissy, to share the great news with her! She knows him well, and just said “Do you want me to talk you out of this?” The crux of the conversation was when Chris said, “Don’t worry. We will still be home on Saturday.” while looking at me for confirmation. That meant we had an 11 hour drive after his 50K. It was going to be a long day, but we could do it. I gave him a thumbs up and the deal was struck.

We were up and out of our hotel at 4:30 for the drive to the race start. In a small town square with runners nervously getting ready, it had all the feels of a trail race we love. After a course overview by Daniel, the RD, that Chris didn’t understand at all, they were off. Not knowing the course, Chris had no choice but to go out with the leaders who turned out to be two super nice and fast guys.

One of these things is not like the other…

The course dropped into the river, literally down into knee deep water, for about 6 miles. We first saw Chris after that river run when the 3 leaders came into the first aid station. We were all ready for him, but the other guys didn’t stop so he couldn’t. We had our first of several moving crew aid stations, trying to give him what he needed while running next to him.

The 3 leaders hung together for most of the day. With no common language the conversation, smiles and laughs were still there. Manuel had an eclectic playlist on his phone that was always different.

With about 10 miles to go, Chris and Leonardo put some time on Manuel, and it was looking like a 2 man race as they hit the jeep road for the rest of the race. As we drove past the two guys with about 4 miles to go, Chris asked how he would find the finish without Leonardo. That was it! He’s gonna drop the hammer soon! We gave him the best description we could from the van window and went ahead to wait at the last turn.

After about 15 minutes we had that sight all crew love to see…your runner coming over the rise alone! He was hammering hard and thought he had two miles to go. When we told him he was a 1/2 mile from the finish, he found another gear. It was then a sprint down the streets of the small town with the locals cheering and dogs chasing him. Eric and I could barely keep up to direct Chris to the finish line.

With a big smile on his face he crossed the finish line. Immediately he was saying thank you to everyone and wouldn’t sit down. When the 2nd and 3rd place guys arrived he ran back to the finish line to cheer them in. We had to wait a while for the awards ceremony during which Chris talked to the young race director to say thanks and what a great event it was.

It was an incredible day. The wonderful heart of Mexico and trail running was apparent in all of the runners and supporters we met.

After an epic week, it was time for the gringos to head north. With hugs and promises for the next adventure, we said goodbye to Eric, Laura and Laurita, and helped Chris crawl into the van. The drive north was pretty uneventful with a smooth border crossing. A couple of Whataburgers at the first stop into the US, and we were rolling again. We made it to Chris’ house in Austin at 11:45pm…plenty of time to spare for our commitment to Krissy! We quietly said our goodbyes in the driveway, and I headed north towards Dallas. I didn’t make it past the first Walmart parking lot before I pulled over and slept like I had just completed the adventure of a lifetime…until the next one!

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