NEVADO DE TOLUCA
Here are pics from Nevado de Toluca, a 15,300' dormant volcano approximately 50 miles southwest of Mexico City. Timberline is around 13,300'. There was almost no snow anywhere on the mountain when I was there in March 2009. I came within a few hundred feet of elevation of the top.

View from outside of the city of Toluca...



View from around 12,000 feet in elevation...



View from the opposite side of the crater...



View from a short distance below the peak...



Timberline is around 13,300', but these isolated stunted pines inside the crater were at about 1,000' higher!



A strange plant, Eryngium monocephalum (a type of eryngo) from 14,000' in the crater...



The main crater lake...



A second smaller crater lake...



View to south from near the top...



View to northeast (earlier in the morning) toward the city of Toluca from just above timberline...



View to northwest (later in the afternoon) from just above timberline with a fire in the distance...



Just below timberline at 13,000' (with Pinus hartwegii, the pine (and only pine) that grows near timberline in southern/central Mexico)...



Barkleyanthus salicifolius, A very common yellow-flowering shrub (with narrow gray-green leaves) at around 12,500'...



(Probably) Some sort of gooseberry (possibly Ribes ciliatum) shrub in bloom around 12,000'...





Abies religiosa, a fir native to southern Mexico, around 11,500'...





Not sure if this was actually native there (it's native in other parts of Mexico) or just planted (or escaped), but this was a Capulin cherry along a roadside near 11,500'...



A town near 11,500' in the fir habitat...



All of the above pictures on this page were taken in March 2009 by Brandt Maxwell.

Return to the Mexico City Area Pics Page