Hormigas
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| | Raps:4, max ↨138ft
Red Tape: Shuttle:Optional 30 min Vehicle:4WD - High Clearance | |||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 12 Apr 2024
"Descended this in a large group. Copious poison oak on approach and exit. The stream had a small flow at the start, then went underground a short ways |
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25.2150, -100.1298
25.2216, -100.1321
25.2224, -100.1243
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Introduction
Hormigas canyon is a scenic canyon in the vicinity of the more well known canyons by Potrero Redondo. It is about a 45 min drive by truck on a very rough 4wd road to the tiny hamlet of La Trinidad from Potrero Redondo, and then another 40-60 min approach hike. The canyon has 4 nice rappels and then from the base of the last waterfall you can exit on canyon left for a 30min hike up an old overgrown road back up to the modern road. If you are staying long enough in Potrero Redondo it is well worth doing. Beware of copious poison oak on the approach and exit.
Fyi, the word 'hormigas' means 'ants' in Spanish so the canyon is sometimes called that in English.
Approach
From the parking coordinate, travel cross country, passing a couple barbed wire fences, and down a steep wide gully to a meadow. From the meadow you can follow the track upstream a short ways and cross over a ridge, dropping back down to the final drainage on the other side.
Alternatively from the meadow, there is a road heading downstream. From Google Earth this road appears to curve to the right around the hillside and lead you to a point right above the canyon start. We did not follow this road in the 2024 descent because it appeared to be going in the wrong direction, but afterward looking on Google Earth it seems this would be the preferred standard approach. If so, the .kml should be updated to reflect this.
Descent
There is a small cave worth poking your head into on DCL at the top of the 4th rappel.
After the 4th rappel, you've reached the end of the canyon.
Exit
From the pool at the base of the 4th rappel, there is an overgrown road on DCL heading up toward the shuttle waypoint. This route is on the Wikiloc track. However in 2024 we were greeted by a wall of poison oak there, so we downclimbed a few more dry drops, and found a better clearing DCL and a different overgrown road that lead down. This different road is shown on the current Ropewiki .kml. After following the road for a few minutes, it starts to turn away from the destination, and an established use trail with switchbacks heads up the hillside. The Trail Junction waypoint marks where this intersection is.
Alternatively, the overgrown road continues downward and intersects with the primary road to La Trinidad at some point. One person in our group said that she took this with a guide when doing Hormigas a few years before, and they left a shuttle vehicle at the intersection. Looking at Google Earth, it seems that this road may junction with an additional descent of -700ft, so it would not be worth walking down this without having a shuttle vehicle.
Once you reach the shuttle waypoint, if you don't have a shuttle vehicle it's a little under 30 min to walk back to the start.
Red tape
The town of La Trinidad charged us 50 pesos per person just to drive through the town in 2024. A man ran after our truck to flag us down. Sad that this is happening all over Mexico now, being charged by Ejidal people to be in their communities even though they have no legal right to do so.
Beta sites
Trip reports and media
Wikiloc.com : Cañón Hormigas (Agua grande)