Desierto de los Leones National Park, National park in southwestern Mexico City, Mexico
Desierto de los Leones National Park sits on the Sierra de las Cruces mountain range west of Mexico City and covers about 1,900 hectares of pine and fir forest. Narrow streams run through the terrain between the wooded hills and form small waterfalls here and there.
The government declared the area a forest reserve in 1876 to protect water sources for the growing capital. Four decades later it became the country's first national park in 1917.
The name "Desierto" comes from the colonial use of the word for a remote, silent place suited to contemplation, not from aridity; "Leones" refers to the León brothers, who owned the land and represented the Carmelites before the Spanish Crown. The monastery was declared a national monument in 1937.
Several marked trails wind through the forest and suit walking or mountain biking. Camping areas with basic facilities lie scattered across the park and allow overnight stays under the trees.
The name "Leones" refers to the surname of the original landowners, the León brothers, who represented the Carmelites before the Spanish Crown; another version attributes it to the puma, or American lion, that lived in the forest. The "desert" of the name is the colonial sense of a remote, sparsely populated place.
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