Friday 9th November

7am on the road, heading south towards Doctor Arroyo.

Stopped off to look at some Dasylirion miquihuanensis I’d seen before, plus some other goodies on the same site.

Yucca carnerosana, now more familiarly in the open, Echinocactus platyacanthus and Ferocactus pilosus.

Turned off east towards Miquihuana and I stopped to pick up 2 elederly Mexican hitch-hikers looking for a lift to Miquihuana. I am not sure who was more surprised – the Mexicans or Neil and Billy in the back. Anyway, the road through to Miquihuana is much improved and we made it in around 30 minutes or so. We stopped just outside of town for a wander – Mark disappeared off in search of dahlias (again).

Then we stopped at a place on the Zocalo for lunch – gorditas filled with something resembling catfood. Tasted ok, though. Spotted the hotel, too – maybe next time.

We made our way to la Peña then up the, now familiar, road to the top of the mountain. This would be my fourth time there. We stopped to wander along a small canyon

There were plants of Nolina nelsonii (below, left) and N. hibernica (middle pic, left) growing together. One plant in particular (pic below, right) had a little something about it that was like both – possible sign of intergrading? That twist to the petticoat is usually only seen on N. hibernica.

Reaching around 2700m, still a few hundred metres from the top, it became apparent that much of the area had been subjected to a forest fire around 18 months or so ago. We had seen some charred cut logs at the bottom of the road – now we saw where they were from. This was a very changed landscape from my last visit. There was a good deal of regeneration going on - seedling pines were popping up, new growth sprouting from the Arbutus trees. The Agave montana were largely unaffected or singed a bit around the edges – Mark has a theory they are adapted to fire, not cold, by their shape, which it is hard to argue against. The Nolina hibernica were also charred – to the left one from lower down that had escaped - and had flowered like mad. Obviously triggered by the fire, I have never seen these flowering before.

Once we had reached slightly beyond the usual stop off point at La Joya the woodland was back to normal and I indulged in a picture fest with the Agave montana, a plant I will never, ever tire of admiring. The individuality of the plants is infinite!

We were gathering back at the car when along came two armoured trucks filled with pretty scary looking military police. They were extremely suspicious, until it became apparent we were, in fact, a harmless bunch of middle-aged plant anoraks. They left with waves and smiles and I have to say I feel much safer knowing guys like that are around, patrolling the remote spots.

Off towards our night stay at Jaumave – Hotel Posada De Los Reyes, where I had stayed a couple of times before. En route we stopped at Las Palmillas to investigate some giant Nolina nelsonii plants. It is always a thrill to get up close to these awesome and majestic plants. Illuminated by the low late afternoon sunshine, the steel-blue star-burst crowns just glow out of the landscape. This seems to be the only place they come from – I haven’t seen it growing anywhere other than around the lower parts of this particular mountain in Miquihuana district. But locally quite common, with a fair number along this particular hillside.

In Jaumave I discovered that the hotel had changed hands and was now run by a fairly surly young man, not the friendly old fella we had met on our previous stays. Nevertheless, the rooms were clean and comfy and still only 300 pesos. The restaurant was closed, so we wandered around town and found somewhere pretty decent to eat – a giant mixed grill shared between us. Back into town and we sampled the local ice-cream, something of a surprise in the middle of such an arid place.

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