Nevado de Toluca National Park

In Mesoamerican times, Nevado de Toluca was a spiritual center by the Aztecs and their forebears. The earliest Spanish colonists also found the mountain to be a source of spiritual power.

The area was decreed to be a national park by President Lazaro Cardenas in 1936 when the need for environmental preservation was recognized. The government wanted to preserve the dense pine forests and also recognized the need to protect the mountain as an important water source for recharging underground aquifers.

Unfortunately, Mexico City and the entire surrounding State of Mexico grew into a burgeoning megalopolis and the population of nearby Toluca expanded four-fold, exceeding more than a million inhabitants as industry was developed in the city. The growing population puts pressure on nearby rural lands and the biggest threat to the park has become illegal logging which damages the forest in multiple ways and endangers native plant and animal populations.

Barren, windswept rocks dominate the landscape at the upper reaches of the mountain while pine forests have historically been the dominant terrain at lower elevations. Illegal logging over several decades has decimated the pine forests and as mature trees have been cut, firs and other species frequently take their place, resulting in a different kind of forest landscape and one that changes the mix of species that make it their home.

Nevado de Toluca is a stratovolcano that last erupted more than 10,000 years ago. It is now considered an inactive volcano due to a vent plug called el ombligo (the belly button).

Different ecosystems are found at different elevations. The lowest level of the park is a moist forest with fir trees as the dominant vegetation. At the lower elevations of the mountain is a piedmont area with broadleaf trees. On the slopes are large swaths of pine trees in dense forests. Above the treeline are grassland meadows.

Mammal species in the park include coyotes, raccoons, rabbits, ring-tails, squirrels, skunks, and opossums.

Several amphibian species live in the park's springs and streams and a handful of reptile species are known to live in the park. Some of the reptiles and amphibians you might see include mountain tree frogs, Michoacan stream salamanders, graphic spiny lizards, and bunchgrass lizards. Innocuous snakes like garter snakes are common, but so too are venomous snakes like the dusky rattlesnake.

Bird watchers will find several raptors soaring overhead, including peregrine falcons and red-tail hawks as well as the ubiquitous turkey vultures. As you walk through the forest, you'll hear the tapping of woodpeckers even if you don't always see them, and if you keep your eyes sharp, you may see some colorful woodland dwelling species like the western bluebird or the yellow rump warbler.

Nevado de Toluca was a ceremonial center used by Aztecs and ancient Mexican peoples and frequent archaeological studies have found numerous artifacts at 18 locations within the park dating back as far as 900 AD. Many finds were in the bottoms of both crater lakes.

In the lakes, explorers often find copal, which is incompletely mineralized pre-amber that can be burned as an incense. Anthropologists surmise that the Aztecs set the copal ablaze atop pieces of wood that they would set adrift on the lakes.

Other archaeological finds have been on the crater walls and on the mountain peaks. Obsidian blades and colorful ceramics were found at a named site called Xicotepec atop the Cerro de Ombligo. Ceramics were also found on Pico Sahagun and Pico Noreste. There's also a cave called Cerro Prieto Cave where the Spanish colonists built a shrine to the archangel Michael.

The weather may be warm and sunny in Toluca, but as you approach and climb the mountain, conditions change rapidly. Fog is always possible on the mountain, and temperatures at the top can be very cold (so bring appropriate clothing). Alpine conditions should be expected at the summit where freezing temperatures occur even at the peak of summer. Average temperatures in the Nevado de Toluca are highs of 7 to 10 °C and lows of -3 to 0 °C. Precipitation is highest during the summer (May-September) with November-March being the driest months. Precipitation is typically rain at lower elevations and snow at the upper elevations.