I’ve been wanting to scout out the Izta-Popo national park ever since I got a sneak peek at the volcanoes while in Ikea a few months ago. Several blogs pointed at exploring this region by doing the La Joya traverse which essentially gets one to the base of the Iztaccihuatl volcano. I head out this morning to Amecameca – a small quaint town to the east of Mexico City. The bus that left TAPO [Terminal de Autobuses de Pasajeros de Oriente] around 0700 only got to Amecameca by 0900. Should have left earlier! From there at the Centro, I was able to hop into a cab that got me to Paso de Cortes around 0930.
I hit the trail without wasting any time. Izta looks pretty unassuming from here. About 30 minutes into the hike, Popocatepetl reveals its massive self, smoking out pretty tamely. As I tread my way up to La Joya, just as I pass the radio tower around 1045, I notice a small rattle snake slither across the path. I looked up iNaturalist a few days ago and knew this park did have a good bunch of snakes. Needles to say, seeing one slithering around did give me a good reality check. The last couple miles, I’m stuck behind a big group making their way up to La Joya. I initially planned to climb Izta upto Portillo 2. Getting to La Joya and seeing the crowd there, I decide to head back. Also, the scenery wasn’t changing much and I didn’t see great benefit in climbing the last half mile of the planned hike.
Next time I come here, I’d probably make this a multi-day trip and camp at La Joya. Great hike overall but for the heat and crowd.