El Sumidero, Chiapas, México: Part II, from the West Rim

December 12, 2014|Posted in: Nature

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As we’ve written about here on Traveleptics.com already, you can enjoy El Cañon del Sumidero, the giant canyon in Chiapas, Mexico, from one of two different angles – from inside the canyon itself by taking a small high-speed passenger boat from Chiapa de Corzo along the Grijalva river that flows through it, or from its west rim looking down into it (or along the length of it) from five different viewpoints (miradores) outside of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Here, as promised in our previous El Sumidero article, we discuss the perspective from the west rim of the canyon and the five different viewpoints available there.

If you’re in a hurry to read this or you’re about to arrive at the canyon and you don’t have much time to see it, we can tell you upfront that we weren’t wowed by all five viewpoints, so you should feel free to skip a couple in our opinion. We should also let you know that we found it a bit tricky at first to get to the park entrance. You can try these rough directions here but note (as of the date of this post) that Google’s directions are not that precise once you get to the edge of the park. No matter, they look like they should get you to the park entrance at least, and that’s the important part.

After paying the $28 MXN per person entrance fee, we entered the park and proceeded to the viewpoint furthest away from the entrance with the idea that on the way out, we would stop at each consecutive viewpoint along the way. This viewpoint, “Los Chiapa”, is also the most spectacular, complete with restrooms and a building with a deck that affords you an even taller and more wide-reaching view of this giant rift in the earth.

Backtracking from this viewpoint, the next one on the way back out of the park is “El Tepehuaje”. There are no restrooms here, just the viewpoint. Expect more spectacular views but the canyon does some winding so you get shorter views along the river in either direction. By the time you get to “El Roblar”, the next one out, there are restrooms again but even shorter views along the river. However this stop is worthwhile for the views of the canyon walls themselves, including the striations, rock layering, color variations, and so on. Continuing on, the “La Coyota” viewpoint is next. No restrooms, just views, and it is a good 700 meter walk from where you park, so keep that in mind. Here you can begin to see the canyon mellowing toward its mouth and beyond where Chiapa de Corzo is situated. Finally, before exiting the park, we come to “La Ceiba”, where the mouth of the canyon and the land beyond is even more evident and visible. It was here that we saw many birds of prey in flight.

You can probably skip “La Coyota” and maybe even “El Roblar”, but of course, it’s your call. If you’re an afficionado, mountain biking is permitted in the park. We saw a large group of mountain bikers at the “La Ceiba” viewpoint but inquire with the staff at the entrance regarding trails and access points. Finally, if you don’t have your own vehicle, you can utilize a taxi to see the canyon. We saw taxis carting people from viewpoint to viewpoint. We’re not sure about the cost but we know it’s a possibility.

{Last Visit: May 2014}