Volcán Paricutín II | Informal Campsite

Mexico

Details

Verified:
about 1 year ago
Altitude:
2596.9 masl
Website:
None

Amenities

Electricity:
No
Wifi:
No
Kitchen:
No
Restaurant:
No
Showers:
No
Water:
No
Toilets:
No
Big Rig Friendly:
No
Tent Friendly:
Yes
Pet Friendly:
Yes

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Description

January 2023: we did not succeed in driving to this point even though we have a 4x4 sprinter. We tried via Zacan and made it up to 3,5 km before the " finish flag". There are on that point a lot of possibilities to camp with a view of the vulcan.

This is not a duplicate of the place with the same name close by. We intended to go there but didn't find it.
The place described here is a large, almost level area with two palapas and pit toilets that seems to be used as a parking area for day visitors just 200 meters below the summit of the Volcán Paricutín.
To get there coming from Uruapan drive west to the village of San Juan Nuevo. At 19.419, -102.1326 turn right (north) and follow the signs to 'Las Ruinas de San Juan Viejo'. After 11 km turn left into a single lane rough road at 19.461533, -102.19908. Coming from north drive to the tiny village of Zacan, some 8 km west of Angahuan. Leave the paved road southbound at 19.565267, -102.28558 and find your way down to the ruins of the church. From there a rough road leads through the lava fields up to the point mentioned above. Turn right there.
After another 5 km you reach a gate where you have to pay the entrance fee of MEX$ 20 per person. Take a photo of the map at the gate to find your way up to the place another 5 km further on. See a map of the loop in the photo section below.
locals drive it with normal taxis when dry but a bit clearance helps. We drove up there during heavy rainfalls and had to cross some knee-deep puddles without having any problem.
P.S.: The next day we saw the place described in the other entry from above. You have to go left from here (not right as written there).

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I drove here from the town of Nuevo San Juan and camped two nights in blissful solitude. Just me and the Milky Way overhead and the coyotes howling at night. I was confused by the directions given, but in hindsight they are accurate enough. Once you leave Nuevo San Juan, there are only two important turns:

1. A “Y” in the road at the coordinate provided in the original post. Go LEFT to get here, to the volcano. Going RIGHT will take you to the San Juan Viejo church ruins. The signage at this point is reasonably helpful.

2. Shortly after you pass the gate where you (still) pay $20mx to the attendant for admission, there is a fork in the road - go right. There is a “Volcan” sign on a tree directing that way.

Other than these two choice points, just stay on the main, most well travelled track, and you’ll get there! There are a bunch of forestry roads branching off, but it’s clear they are secondary. And quite a few signs help keep you on track.

At some points, especially right near the end, the track has soft volcanic sand. Having gotten stuck in beach sand before, it concerned me, but this is not boggy like beach sand. It gave me no problems even driving a 4-ton 2wd Sprinter van.

The road is rough with a few washouts in places, but passable for most vehicles with decent traction and moderate ground clearance.

The “pit toilets” area described in the post is where I camped. The whole area was littered with trash and toilet paper. I removed two large garbage bags full. The toilets themselves are decrepit and wild critters have apparently gone after the waste. Don’t use the toilets, instead use either your onboard facilities or use good wilderness practices. And pack out your trash please. There’s a trash barrel but no one except the wild animals empties it.

The walking route up the volcano starts near the pit toilet area and is marked well by white paint.

It may be possible to drive beyond this point to the San Juan Viejo ruins and to Angahuan but I can’t speak from experience. I walked a bit of the road and some of the washouts and sand felt marginal for my vehicle so I went the long way around (back through the gate, and then taking the other way at the Y). It was probably a little longer, but was straightforward enough.

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We did not make it, the last 3,5 km were too bad. We have a 4x4 sprinter but do not want anything to be broken. We first tried via Santa Ana Zirosto and dus not succeed. And the next day via Zacan. Now we are in Angahuan and go by horse!

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still 20 pesos per person. locals drive it with normal taxis. A man came on our second day and said we have to pay 20 pesos to him for parking. We refuced and he got a little angry telling us, that there is so much basura on his land and he is collecting it. We never saw him collecting anything and pointed out that we take all our thrash with us. after that he got frindly again and ask for a voluntary tip. we gave 5 Pesos and he was more than happy.

Very quite here just a few tourists during the day.
stable Telcel connection but not very fast.

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We also did not drive all the way to these coordinates. About 1km before you get to the coordinates, you drive in a flat grassland/farmland area and just before the road turns back into volcanic sand there is a flat and grassy pullout on the right. We slept there for a night.

We walked the rest of the way to check out the Paricutin II icon and it gets pretty sandy up there.

We ‘probably’ could have done it in our Ford Transit, but I’m pretty paranoid after getting stuck on the beaches of Baja.

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What a wonderful place!! You don t exactly have to drive to the coordinates. You can camp anywhere. A lot of beautiful spots. Very friendly people. Only some locals. The walk up and down the crater is marvellous!

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Plenty of camping spots at the base of the volcano, gatekeeper confirmed we can just park anywhere. Great night, great hike, exhilarating descent in the dust.
1h30 drive from San Juan Nuevo, after the first 1/2 hour it's just a track, sometimes a bit steep but no difficulty (8m long, 2.5m wide, 3.75m high class A with normal clearance, rainy weather). Someone posted a gps recording on wikiloc: wikiloc.com/offroading-trails/camino-al-paricutin-soybcm-44752290

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Beautiful spot and a peaceful night stop. Lots of great, fun 4x4 trail driving in the area, in deep/soft volcanic ash. We loved it here.

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Nice place at the base of the volcano. From the first palapa (the one with full roof) make a left and then keep right to reach the other pin, they sell snacks and drinks there. From either place you can find trails to the top of the volcano, some harder than others. It took us hour and a half round trip we went down running on the sand slope (you'll see). Also from here if you take the left and then keep left you'll end up on the ruins in 30 mins (otherwise take 1.5 hours.

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Spot as described. We came from Zacan it was about 30km. No 4wd needed, high clearance would be useful, puddles of water were ok. Our guy at the gate didn't speak English. Night was calm, we were the only ones there. Local dogs were guarding us.

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Very nice place to sleep at the bottom of trail for Paricutin Volcano. From San Juan Nuevo follow the callejon del sierra and follow the sighs for volcano, centro ecotoristic or Ruina de San Juan. At the gate for the volcano there is a guy that speak english and he come to see at the evening around 10pm for a safety check. I did with a Off Roadtrek camper 2wd with good level clearance.

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This is not a duplicate of the place with the same name close by. We intended to go there but didn't find it.
The place described here is a large, almost level area with two palapas and pit toilets that seems to be used as a parking area for day visitors just 200 meters below the summit of the Volcán Paricutín.
To get there coming from Uruapan drive west to the village of San Juan Nuevo. At 19.419, -102.1326 turn right (north) and follow the signs to 'Las Ruinas de San Juan Viejo'. After 11 km turn left into a single lane rough road at 19.461533, -102.19908. Coming from north drive to the tiny village of Zacan, some 8 km west of Angahuan. Leave the paved road southbound at 19.565267, -102.28558 and find your way down to the ruins of the church. From there a rough road leads through the lava fields up to the point mentioned above. Turn right there.
After another 5 km you reach a gate where you have to pay the entrance fee of MEX$ 20 per person. Take a photo of the map at the gate to find your way up to the place another 5 km further on. See a map of the loop in the photo section below.
You need a rugged vehicle with a decent ground clearance to get up there, 4X4 is not necessary. We drove up there during heavy rainfalls and had to cross some knee-deep puddles without having any problem.
P.S.: The next day we saw the place described in the other entry from above. You have to go left from here (not right as written there). The coordinates of that place are wrong (they map a point just 50 m away from the summit).

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