South of Tapalpa is the largest waterfall in the state of Jalisco, the Salto del Nogal. We drove 40 minutes on mediocre roads before reaching the remote parking area. A cattle rancher with three cows and a horse appeared out of nowhere, told us it was an hour hike to the falls, and disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. We had imagined a calm, meandering hike through some woods to reach the waterfall and we were very wrong. Instead it was a somewhat intense hike down a steep, rocky path into a canyon where it was hot and shade was little. We considered turning back multiple times but our stubbornness prevailed and we’re glad it did. The end result was AWESOME. It will be one of my top three memories of our time in Mexico.
The waterfall is 345 feet high and unfortunately was way more impressive in person than the pictures portray. We’ll be excited to visit again next time we’re in Mexico. Making it even better was that we had the whole place to ourselves and it was pristine. We relaxed, iola took the most scenic potty break she’s ever had, and I took a dip in the cold water as a refresher before starting the climb back out of the canyon. We left after about an hour in order to get back to Carl the car in plenty of time before sunset. We did, albeit soaked in sweat from the hike.
-Ryan
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