Grutas de Cacahuamilpa National Park
Encyclopedia
The Grutas de Cacahuamilpa National Park in Guerrero
, Mexico
, is best known for the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa Caverns, which are one of the largest cave systems in the world. It is also home to the Grutas of Carlos Pacheco, a smaller system, as well as two subterranean rivers which have carved out tunnels in the rock. The park has extreme sports attractions such as rappelling, and rock climbing
in Limontitla Canyon. as well as the two underground rivers to explore. It also has a small botanical garden
, a pool and places to camp.
, primarily in the northeast part of Guerrero
state. This section of the Sierra Madre del Sur is made of rock, mostly limestone
, that was formed under oceans millions of years ago. The caverns extend through the municipalities of Pilcaya
, Tetipac
and Taxco
of Guerrero state, and extend into Morelos state
in the municipality of Coatlán del Río
. The parks extends over 2,700 hectares of land, and is located southeast of Mexico City
, near the silversmithing town of Taxco
.
This is the best-known cave system in Mexico, and the most popular for spelunking. The park is visited by about 350,000 people annually, generating an income of about 8 million pesos each year.
still filters down into it, and that the formations there are still growing. Inside the cavern system are ninety large "salons" separated by large natural rock walls and connected to one another via a central gallery. However, only about twenty of these are fully explored and open to the public. Most of these salons are located under the Cerro de la Corona, a limestone mountain ridge. borehole
openings. These salons average about forty meters wide, and vary in height from twenty to 81 meters. Most have names which reflect the major formations found in them such as the Goat Salon, the Throne Salon and the Cathedral Salon. All the openings numerous rock formations growing from both the ceiling and the floor. One of the drier salons has been dubbed the “Auditorium”. It has a large flat floor and has been outfitted with seats. It is rented out for events, and has been the site for a number of concerts including one in 2007 by Miguel Bosé
and one by the Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009.
Tours of the open cave system run every hour and last about two hours. On the walkway to the entrance there are a couple of amate trees (Ficus insipida
) with their roots wound around the rocky walls of Limontitla Canyon. The entrance is a large arch about forty meters wide and twelve meters tall. From the entrance, one descends about twenty meters to the level of the caverns. The path has a mostly level cement walkway, and there is artificial illumination on both the path and parts of the salons. However, since it is a live cave, the high humidity can make the trek uncomfortable for some people.
At least parts of the cave system have been known for centuries, and parts have been occupied since pre-Hispanic times. Excavations in the caverns have produced fragments of pottery. This area was home to the Olmec
people, and later the Chontal
tribe. Both peoples used the caves for ceremonial purposes. The original name of the caves was “Salachi.” The current name, “Cacahuamilpa,” comes from a location near the cave entrance and means “peanut field.”
After the Conquest, the existence of the caves was kept hidden from the Spaniards by the indigenous peoples. Credit for the “discovery” of the caves is given to Manuel Sainz de la Peña Miranda, who used the caves in 1834 to hide from Spanish authorities, which prompted a thorough search of the area. In 1866, Dominik Bilimek and Maximiliano von Habsburg made the first biospeleological visit to the cave. F. Bonet surveyed and mapped the cave up to 1,380 meters in 1922 and it was opened to the public during that decade. The first scientific expedition to the caves was organized by the Secretary of the French Legation in 1935, and the national park was established in 1936 by President Lázaro Cárdenas
. Guided tours began in 1969, and a second survey in 1987 established the cave system’s length at between four and five kilometers.
In one of the salons is a gravesite. The story behind this grave is that an Englishman got lost exploring the cave and eventually died of starvation. He was accompanied by a dog, which he sent to get aid. However, no one on the outside paid any attention to the dog, so it returned to the cave to die along with its master. When the remains were found, they were buried there with rock and a simple cross.
. Just beyond the entrance the cave divides into two branches. The infiltration of water into these caverns is minimal and parts are entirely dry. For this reason, this is considered to be a fossilized cave. The stalagmites and stalactites here stopped forming hundreds of years ago. However, a number of these formation are very uncommon and some seem to defy gravity. These caves can be visited by arranging a tour separate from the tour of the Cacahuamilpa Caverns.
. The walls of the cavity in which it flows are up to eighty meters high. It is possible for visitors to explore this river, which requires about seven hours to do so; however, it is the easier of the two to explore as it is more level. The waters of the Chontalcoatlán originate from the Nevado de Toluca
. Its descent underground has carved out an entrance fifty meters high. It is also possible to visit this natural tunnel although it is necessary to get to the entrance by vehicle. It is relatively easy to travel to a point called La Caraboya or La Ventana. However, after this point, the river descends steeply and those not in good physical condition are not advised to continue. Just after the two rivers reemerge above ground, they join to form the Amacuazac River, which is a tributary of the Balsas River
.
Rock climbing in this park is highly recommended by the Squamishrock rock climbing club. They describe it as having “collapse followed by several long, full of tufa
s, stalactites and Chorreras ... (Route 7 Mala Fama has long run the vast bovedon's Chanchullo ...) “ There are 45 rock climbing routes with grades from 10b to 13d of. Route types are desplome and techo and the rocks are mostly limestone with stalactites.
The Limontitla Botanical Garden exists to demonstrate the native flora that exists in this subtropical
, mostly deciduous forest. Tours of the garden can be done alone or with a guide to explain the species on display here. The best time to visit the garden is during the rainy season (approx. June to October) when everything is green and in bloom.
The park also has a large swimming pool located in a point that overlooks the place where the San Jeronimo and Chontalcoatlán Rivers meet to form the Amacuazac.
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, is best known for the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa Caverns, which are one of the largest cave systems in the world. It is also home to the Grutas of Carlos Pacheco, a smaller system, as well as two subterranean rivers which have carved out tunnels in the rock. The park has extreme sports attractions such as rappelling, and rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
in Limontitla Canyon. as well as the two underground rivers to explore. It also has a small botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
, a pool and places to camp.
Geography
The park in located in the Sierra Madre del SurSierra Madre del Sur
The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Istmo de Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca.-Geography:...
, primarily in the northeast part of Guerrero
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
state. This section of the Sierra Madre del Sur is made of rock, mostly limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, that was formed under oceans millions of years ago. The caverns extend through the municipalities of Pilcaya
Pilcaya
Pilcaya is a town and municipality of State of Guerrero, Mexico located 153 kilometers from Mexico City, 105 from Cuernavaca, 84 from Toluca, 68 from Taxco and 5 from Ixtapan de la Sal. Pilcaya, of Náhuatl origin, is from the Náhuatl word pilcacyan, place of a hanging object.-The Town:Pilcaya is...
, Tetipac
Tetipac (municipality)
Tetipac is one of the 81 municipalities of Guerrero, in south-western Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Tetipac. The municipality covers an area of 269.3 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 12,702....
and Taxco
Taxco de Alarcón (municipality)
Taxco de Alarcón is one of the 81 municipalities of Guerrero, in south-western Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Taxco de Alarcón. The municipality covers an area of 347 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 98,854....
of Guerrero state, and extend into Morelos state
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....
in the municipality of Coatlán del Río
Coatlán del Río
Coatlán del Río is a city in the Mexican state of Morelos.It stands at ,at a mean height of 1,010 metres above sea level.Coatlán is a name of Nahuatl origin, meaning "place of abundant snakes"....
. The parks extends over 2,700 hectares of land, and is located southeast of Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, near the silversmithing town of Taxco
Taxco
Taxco de Alarcón is a small city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The name Taxco is most likely derived from the Nahuatl word tlacheco, which means “place of the ballgame.” However, one interpretation has the name coming from the word tatzco which means “where the father...
.
This is the best-known cave system in Mexico, and the most popular for spelunking. The park is visited by about 350,000 people annually, generating an income of about 8 million pesos each year.
Grutas de Cacahuamilpa
Cacahuamilpa is one of the largest cave systems in the world. It is a "live" cave system, meaning that groundwaterGroundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
still filters down into it, and that the formations there are still growing. Inside the cavern system are ninety large "salons" separated by large natural rock walls and connected to one another via a central gallery. However, only about twenty of these are fully explored and open to the public. Most of these salons are located under the Cerro de la Corona, a limestone mountain ridge. borehole
Borehole
A borehole is the generalized term for any narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water or other liquid or gases , as part of a geotechnical investigation, environmental site...
openings. These salons average about forty meters wide, and vary in height from twenty to 81 meters. Most have names which reflect the major formations found in them such as the Goat Salon, the Throne Salon and the Cathedral Salon. All the openings numerous rock formations growing from both the ceiling and the floor. One of the drier salons has been dubbed the “Auditorium”. It has a large flat floor and has been outfitted with seats. It is rented out for events, and has been the site for a number of concerts including one in 2007 by Miguel Bosé
Miguel Bosé
Miguel Dominguín Bosé is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor.-Early life:Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of the famous Italian actress Lucia Bosé and the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin of Carmen...
and one by the Acapulco Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009.
Tours of the open cave system run every hour and last about two hours. On the walkway to the entrance there are a couple of amate trees (Ficus insipida
Ficus insipida
Ficus insipida is a tropical tree in the fig genus of the family Moraceae. It ranges from Mexico to South America, and is commonly found in cloud forest above 1,550 meters ASL.-Description and ecology:...
) with their roots wound around the rocky walls of Limontitla Canyon. The entrance is a large arch about forty meters wide and twelve meters tall. From the entrance, one descends about twenty meters to the level of the caverns. The path has a mostly level cement walkway, and there is artificial illumination on both the path and parts of the salons. However, since it is a live cave, the high humidity can make the trek uncomfortable for some people.
At least parts of the cave system have been known for centuries, and parts have been occupied since pre-Hispanic times. Excavations in the caverns have produced fragments of pottery. This area was home to the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
people, and later the Chontal
Chontal
The Chontal Maya are an indigenous people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. "Chontal", from the Nahuatl word for chontalli, which means "foreigner", has been applied to various ethnic groups in Mexico...
tribe. Both peoples used the caves for ceremonial purposes. The original name of the caves was “Salachi.” The current name, “Cacahuamilpa,” comes from a location near the cave entrance and means “peanut field.”
After the Conquest, the existence of the caves was kept hidden from the Spaniards by the indigenous peoples. Credit for the “discovery” of the caves is given to Manuel Sainz de la Peña Miranda, who used the caves in 1834 to hide from Spanish authorities, which prompted a thorough search of the area. In 1866, Dominik Bilimek and Maximiliano von Habsburg made the first biospeleological visit to the cave. F. Bonet surveyed and mapped the cave up to 1,380 meters in 1922 and it was opened to the public during that decade. The first scientific expedition to the caves was organized by the Secretary of the French Legation in 1935, and the national park was established in 1936 by President Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
. Guided tours began in 1969, and a second survey in 1987 established the cave system’s length at between four and five kilometers.
In one of the salons is a gravesite. The story behind this grave is that an Englishman got lost exploring the cave and eventually died of starvation. He was accompanied by a dog, which he sent to get aid. However, no one on the outside paid any attention to the dog, so it returned to the cave to die along with its master. When the remains were found, they were buried there with rock and a simple cross.
Grutas de Carlos Pacheco
The Grutas de Carlos Pacheco are located 400 meters to the south of the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa. They were named after Mexican General Carlos Pacheco, who fought against the French Intervention in MexicoFrench intervention in Mexico
The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
. Just beyond the entrance the cave divides into two branches. The infiltration of water into these caverns is minimal and parts are entirely dry. For this reason, this is considered to be a fossilized cave. The stalagmites and stalactites here stopped forming hundreds of years ago. However, a number of these formation are very uncommon and some seem to defy gravity. These caves can be visited by arranging a tour separate from the tour of the Cacahuamilpa Caverns.
Other features of the park
The park has two underground rivers called the Chontalcoatlán, which is eight km long, and the San Jeronimo, which is 12 km long. The tunnels that have been formed by these rivers are still completely active, as the water continues to cut away little by little at the rock. Both have areas with rocks and sandy beaches on each side and the darkness is complete in much of the tunnels’ lengths. The San Jeronimo River has its origins in natural springs that lie in San Pedro Zictepec, Mexico StateTenango del Valle
The municipality of Tenango del Valle and its seat, Tenango de Arista, are located in the southern portion of the Valley of Toluca in Mexico State, about 72 km southwest of Mexico City and 25 km south of Toluca. While the seat is officially named Tenango de Arista, it is more commonly...
. The walls of the cavity in which it flows are up to eighty meters high. It is possible for visitors to explore this river, which requires about seven hours to do so; however, it is the easier of the two to explore as it is more level. The waters of the Chontalcoatlán originate from the Nevado de Toluca
Nevado de Toluca
Nevado de Toluca is a large stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is generally cited as the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, although by some measurements, Sierra Negra is slightly...
. Its descent underground has carved out an entrance fifty meters high. It is also possible to visit this natural tunnel although it is necessary to get to the entrance by vehicle. It is relatively easy to travel to a point called La Caraboya or La Ventana. However, after this point, the river descends steeply and those not in good physical condition are not advised to continue. Just after the two rivers reemerge above ground, they join to form the Amacuazac River, which is a tributary of the Balsas River
Balsas River
The Balsas River is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Mexico. The river empties into the Pacific Ocean at Mangrove Point, adjacent to the city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán...
.
Rock climbing in this park is highly recommended by the Squamishrock rock climbing club. They describe it as having “collapse followed by several long, full of tufa
Tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...
s, stalactites and Chorreras ... (Route 7 Mala Fama has long run the vast bovedon's Chanchullo ...) “ There are 45 rock climbing routes with grades from 10b to 13d of. Route types are desplome and techo and the rocks are mostly limestone with stalactites.
The Limontitla Botanical Garden exists to demonstrate the native flora that exists in this subtropical
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
, mostly deciduous forest. Tours of the garden can be done alone or with a guide to explain the species on display here. The best time to visit the garden is during the rainy season (approx. June to October) when everything is green and in bloom.
The park also has a large swimming pool located in a point that overlooks the place where the San Jeronimo and Chontalcoatlán Rivers meet to form the Amacuazac.