After landing in Mexico City, we bought the cheapest geared bikes we could find and pedaled first to 18,491 foot Pico de Orizaba (North America’s 3rd highest summit behind Denali and Logan), summited the volcano, then pedaled three days more to the put-in of the Rio Barranca Grande, gifted the bikes to coffee farmers, packrafted jungle whitewater to the Gulf of Mexico, and finally hitchhiked and bussed back to Mexico City. Two weeks of international travel plus airfare cost less than $1000.
Luc Mehl and Steve Fassbinder shopping for bicycles
Luc Mehl, a local, and the hounds all look towards Orizaba as we pedal through Aljojuca, Mexico
Bike tire and sheep tracks in the powdery volcanic moon dust on the road to Orizaba
Hike-a-bike to the refugio with Orizaba looming ~5000 ft above
Mehl, Tumolo and Fassbinder strap on crampons while lights still twinkle in the town below.
Luc Mehl and Steve Fassbinder hike up Orizaba’s glacier as the volcano casts a shadow across the high plains 10,000 ft below
Luc Mehl said he hadnt hula-hooped since gradeschool but was supiciously good. Whatever you say, Luc.
Luc Mehl’s BMX racing roots reemerge on dusty corners.
Todd Tumolo hikes his bike down to the Rio Antigua and our packrafting put-in
Todd Tumolo digs into the the most delicious pineapple any of us had tasted
Todd Tumolo paddles his Alpacka Raft down the Barranca Grande
Mehl, Tumolo and Fassbinder paddle the Rio Antigua
Cacti, tents, and pastic flotsam at sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico near Veracruz