Chipinque~Beauty from Above

We went to Chipinque Park over the weekend & were amazed by the cooler temperatures, pristine beauty & changing landscape the higher we drove up the mountain. Chipinque is a natural park above Monterrey, on the northern face of the Sierra Madre Mountain range. We arrived when the views were still cloudy & fog shrouded the top of the mountain peaks but the sun burned through the haze by the end of our visit. Monterrey spreads out below Chipinque but there are spectacular views once you arrive near the top. The park sustained heavy tree loss in 1998 when a forest fire destroyed many of the heavy Pine forests. In 2002 the forestry service planted 100,000 pine trees & they can be seen taking over the areas where the fire once marked the mountainside.

The entrance to the park has rather comical, gigantic insect sculptures which greet the visitors. The wildlife in the park though far exceeds mere insects, though. There are over 87 species of butterflies, countless reptiles & mammels in the 3200 acre park.