| w |
Deane, Alex, and Jim's Motorcycle Trip to Mexico - 2004 | |
|
May 4, Cuernavaca to Morelia - 210 Miles |
|
After the ride through the dry, dry hills of Guererro yesterday, today was a special treat, as we rode through beautiful forests and mountains, and on very good roads. What a difference a day makes! As we left Cuernavaca, we rode through a forest rivaling the beauty of any on the North American Continent. Cuernavaca is in the mountains, and we immediately started climbing higher. This forest is one which must be national park lands or protected in some way, in that it had not been logged, at least in the last 100-150 years judging from the size and height of the trees. It had at least Ponderosa pines, Fir, Spruce, and other varieties we couldn't identify. It obviously gets a lot of rain, in whatever configuration of mountain range it belongs to, and it is one of those mountain ranges which has a wide variety of plants, depending on elevation. In temperature, we started from about 55o F, and as we went higher the temperature dropped, finally to about 46o F as we reached the top. We had to be up to close to 10,000 ft. elevation. We no sooner came down off that set of mountains than we started up the next set of mountains. This one had areas of trees with large meadow valleys that made us think we were in Colorado or Montana. Coming off that second set of mountains, we started climbing yet a third set. This one was beautiful again, had excellent road, and almost no cars at all. What a great time we had in exercising the Gold Wings to their maximum capabilities on those curvy roads! One just doesn't think of Mexico having so many mountain ranges and such high mountains, but this is an extension of the Continental Divide. We agreed that only through our extensive riding over the whole of Mexico did we come to realize how mountainous Mexico is. Our temperatures for the day, then, ranged from 46o F to about 65o F, because of the elevations we rode. Between riding the mountain roads and the "Libre" all day, we made just over 200 miles again, but it was a great fun! |
||