Sierra de Nanchititla

In the far south-west of the State of Mexico, where it meets Guerrero and Michoacán, the Sierra de Nanchititla drops from about 2,080 m to around 410 m at the edge of the Balsas depression. It was declared a Parque Natural de Recreación Popular on 10 December 1977, when it belonged to Tejupilco; since 2002 nearly all of it has fallen within the new municipality of Luvianos. The protected area is huge, 67,410 hectares, but the fenced section set up for visitors, the Parque Estatal Nanchititla, covers about 1,528. The name is usually translated as "place of the ombligón fruit".

The high ground is pine and oak forest, while the middle and lower slopes are tropical dry forest with copal, wild fig and pitahaya. Recorded wildlife includes puma, coyote, ringtail, armadillo, spiny-tailed iguana, the Mexican beaded lizard and birds such as the long-tailed wood partridge and the Balsas screech owl. Stone figurines, petroglyphs and pottery left by the region's pre-Hispanic peoples have been found in the range.

The main draw is El Salto, a waterfall of about 105 m (some sources say over 120) that drops between cliffs towards the Bejucos valley, near the community of Palos Prietos. There are three natural lookouts and rock towers such as the grey-walled Peñón de Torrecillas, plus the Cueva de los Santos and the Cañadas de Nanchititla reservoir. Paraglider pilots know the range well and launch from the Nanchititla and El Estanco take-off sites. The park has parking, an entrance post, toilets, palapa shelters, a campground and cabins, as well as an orchid garden, an interpretive trail and a birds-of-prey display. A large wildfire burned much of the forest some years ago, and reforestation has been bringing it back.