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words by Josiah Roe and Yoselyn Loza, images by Tommy Corey
Zelzin Aketzalli's story begins in Iztapalapa, México, in the heart of CDMX.
Her path has always been full of movement: from skateboarding and swimming to rowing with her high school team. She fell in love with mountain biking, testing her endurance and discovering a love for long journeys in nature, on one of these rides, she met two American cyclists: they spoke of the Pacific Crest Trail, 2,650 miles of wilderness and silence.
Something inside her shifted.
After more than a year of training, Zelzin became the first Mexican to walk the 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada.
Next came The Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails, and in 2019 she completed the Triple Crown of Hiking, the first Mexican person to do so.
Following this achievement, her focus turned south, to her own country and The Baja Peninsula.
She began exploring and mapping new routes, engaging with local communities, and planning a trail that stretches from Mexico’s northern border to the southern seas. Zelzin wants to ensure that visiting hikers treat communities along the trail with the utmost respect.
“Baja is so much more than the beaches; it has natural riches that are so diverse: it has snow-capped mountains, it has canyons, it has desert, it has so much nature and animal life that exists nowhere else.”
This New Baja Thruhiking Trail means more than hiking, it’s about sharing Mexico’s natural diversity, while bringing hikers close to Indigenous communities so they can benefit economically, and, through all of this, giving Mexicans the chance to experience long-distance trails without leaving their country.
“So many people say it’s impossible, we have to demostrate that it is possible. I want to see more Mexicans thru-hiking, I believe wholly that a trail changes lives. I want to change the history of Mexico.” - Zelzin Aketzalli
