Camping In Sierra de Organos, Zacatecas

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

As you can see from the pictures, this is truly a beautiful place for a long stay.  The temperatures range from 25C during the day to 8C at night during the summer months.  

There is a visitor's center and a person who is on guard day and night.  The fee is 40 pesos per person so it's 80 per couple per night no exceptions.  For a two-week period, it is 1120 pesos or at the current exchange rate, or roughly 62 dollars.  Great camping.  What do you get for that?  Pit toilets, picnic tables and BBQ.  The areas are open and there is enough room, depending on the area you choose, to get a large motorhome into a comfortable place.  

Excellent roads. Very few rough spots.  A large Class A can make it to most of the camping sites.  We stopped several times and walked ahead and then, depending on the conditions, contined with the rv.   Today before leaving we found several large parking areas with camping facilities further up into the hills with even better views.   We only saw two cars.  I think most are locals who come for the day.   I think we had a bear around our site last night based on the grunts that a bear makes.

A beautiful fungus.  Another area to study and investigate.

There are plenty of hiking trails and they are paved with laja or flat rock.  The rules state clearly that you have to stay on the paths.  I will tell you right now, there isn't a map per se of the trails.  They are clearly marked with the distance.  This is still a national park in the rough and there is still much to do.  

Total amount of trash collected in a seven kilometer hike.  Most located in the same spot mostly by kids based on the wrappers.  Not bad for Mexico or a national park. 

The amount of litter is almost not existent.   Here is a picture of what we collected on a 5 km (one way).  It is minimal and they have limited resources.  I asked the person in charge if they invited schools from the area.  There are small towns with secondary and high schools.   He said that only university students come once in a great while to do research.  I had meant to say that teachers should be bringing their students to do community service; cleaning, hiking and picking up litter, cleaning out drainage ditches, etc.   It has caused me to write an editorial piece for the newspaper in Sombrerete, Zac. that I hope to submit this month.

Typical camping area.  There are four that are this size and all off the main road.  No issues.

I ran across several types of lichen while I was in San Miguel de Allende.  I did a little research and ran across an article about a guy who had been home schooled and wanted to get a degree.  He ran away from home, got his degree and did his post-graduate studies with a emphasis on lichen.  After the original discovery in the 1800s this guy found that lichen are made up of two algaes and one fungus.  The different combinations create the colors, shapes and sizes.  Some brown or rust colors are confused with iron ores in rocks.

It is truly the beginning of what we consider in the U.S. a national park and it has all the makings.  It's just a matter of getting involved.   

On our way home, too much work to do now that Juan has been accepted as a consultant and we will be traveling in different directions starting next week until the 20th of the month.