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Mexico/Los Mochis Active vacation 2005
Copper Canyon Country
Trip to Batopilas
We took the 12 hour train ride up from Los Mochas to Creel –about sea level to 7,000 feet up in the mountains. Hot and humid along the coast; cool to cold with frost in the mountains at night and early mornings. In Creel we met another couple Dan, Janell Lee and their son Alex (4) over dinner at Margareta’s Digs (room with breakfast and dinner included for $30). During discussions we explored what their plans were for the next few days. We decided to check out options for side trip down into the depths of the canyons to visit Batopilas, since that is what we all wanted to do. The next day we solidified plans to rent a Nissan pick up with extended cab (seats 5) and drive down.
The road to Batopilas starts out fine with good tarmac for the first 2 to 3 hours. Very scenic, through tall pines twisting up and down over ridges and down to the bottom of canyons. We were furnished a picnic lunch with tables, chairs, table cloths, napkins, drinks, fruit, veggies and sandwich makings, which we consumed in a canyon bottom surrounded by Raramura Indian dwellings and their live stock. One of the cave dwellings we visible from our table.
Further on the road branches off and turns to rock and dirt single tack for 65km. This road was a total experience: very narrow, rough with loose stone, rocks, and small boulders…first and second gears the majority of the way – twisting turning through the forests with no real line of sight. Glad Dan drove down and back. We dropped downi nto one canyon complex after another: 3 in all – each one more spectacular than the next. Larger than our Grand Canyon, deeper, broader with grand vistas, steep switch backs with thousands of feet of exposure. When two vehicles meet, there is little or no room to pass. One backs up until a place is found and at that the mirrors of the passing truck whack each other! Very scary! The loose rock surface is like stopping on ball bearings: tap the brakes, slide towards the edge, wooooh shit – that was close. We back up and try the turn again….this road is hairy!!
Many more than the five hours they said it would take, we arrive in the sleepy mine town at the very bottom of the canyon (like Phantom Ranch in the Grand). We drive down the narrow single lane streets, worming our way to the Central Plaza and start looking for a room the the night. We inspect Mary’s and found it not to our liking at $20 and ended up down the street at Juanita Hotel ($35) large, clean rooms with 2 huge beds and hot showers and overlooking the river. Our hostess, Juanita, loved Alex and was very accommodating to us. She directed us to Carolinas where we had a delicious late evening dinner.
Judee found a bar with live music so we went for a beer before dinner - loud, lively local musicians playing local music with more passion than talent. We were served our beers and before Judee could take a sip an elderly Raramura man in sandals, jeans, cowboy shirt and hat, with few teeth, swept her up to dance. Judee, being the only woman in an outdoor patio of men admirers all well oiled on Tacate, was quite a femfatal. Fun for all.
A good nights sleep after our long bumpy ride down was welcomed! Rooster and dogs woke us the next morning. We breakfasted at the same place we had dinner – very good hot cakes and a slice of ham in between.
The trip up and back out to Creel was just a rough and dusty as the trip down. The dust coats everything: clothes, hair, bags in the truck bed. The first thing you want to do is shower upon arrival. Akll the bags needed to be beaten and brushed off. Our front panniers are no longer black, bust dusty borwn! My two zippers worked open so I found piles of dust inside both pouches.
Having visited both canyons, Grand and Copper in the last four months provide us with an opportunity to compare. Both are vast – Copper was clear and crisp; Grand was smoky. Copper - green trees, shrubs and bushes, dotted with cacti, large granite walls and peaks. Grand – bands of colors with lots of layers of soil evident. Copper – dotted with Indian homesteads. We were in and out of the many canyons that make up the Sierra Madre Mountains. We only looked into the Grand from the rim overlooks.
10- 23 Mexico/ from Creel to Los Mochis Active >
Trip to Batopilas
We took the 12 hour train ride up from Los Mochas to Creel –about sea level to 7,000 feet up in the mountains. Hot and humid along the coast; cool to cold with frost in the mountains at night and early mornings. In Creel we met another couple Dan, Janell Lee and their son Alex (4) over dinner at Margareta’s Digs (room with breakfast and dinner included for $30). During discussions we explored what their plans were for the next few days. We decided to check out options for side trip down into the depths of the canyons to visit Batopilas, since that is what we all wanted to do. The next day we solidified plans to rent a Nissan pick up with extended cab (seats 5) and drive down.
The road to Batopilas starts out fine with good tarmac for the first 2 to 3 hours. Very scenic, through tall pines twisting up and down over ridges and down to the bottom of canyons. We were furnished a picnic lunch with tables, chairs, table cloths, napkins, drinks, fruit, veggies and sandwich makings, which we consumed in a canyon bottom surrounded by Raramura Indian dwellings and their live stock. One of the cave dwellings we visible from our table.
Further on the road branches off and turns to rock and dirt single tack for 65km. This road was a total experience: very narrow, rough with loose stone, rocks, and small boulders…first and second gears the majority of the way – twisting turning through the forests with no real line of sight. Glad Dan drove down and back. We dropped downi nto one canyon complex after another: 3 in all – each one more spectacular than the next. Larger than our Grand Canyon, deeper, broader with grand vistas, steep switch backs with thousands of feet of exposure. When two vehicles meet, there is little or no room to pass. One backs up until a place is found and at that the mirrors of the passing truck whack each other! Very scary! The loose rock surface is like stopping on ball bearings: tap the brakes, slide towards the edge, wooooh shit – that was close. We back up and try the turn again….this road is hairy!!
Many more than the five hours they said it would take, we arrive in the sleepy mine town at the very bottom of the canyon (like Phantom Ranch in the Grand). We drive down the narrow single lane streets, worming our way to the Central Plaza and start looking for a room the the night. We inspect Mary’s and found it not to our liking at $20 and ended up down the street at Juanita Hotel ($35) large, clean rooms with 2 huge beds and hot showers and overlooking the river. Our hostess, Juanita, loved Alex and was very accommodating to us. She directed us to Carolinas where we had a delicious late evening dinner.
Judee found a bar with live music so we went for a beer before dinner - loud, lively local musicians playing local music with more passion than talent. We were served our beers and before Judee could take a sip an elderly Raramura man in sandals, jeans, cowboy shirt and hat, with few teeth, swept her up to dance. Judee, being the only woman in an outdoor patio of men admirers all well oiled on Tacate, was quite a femfatal. Fun for all.
A good nights sleep after our long bumpy ride down was welcomed! Rooster and dogs woke us the next morning. We breakfasted at the same place we had dinner – very good hot cakes and a slice of ham in between.
The trip up and back out to Creel was just a rough and dusty as the trip down. The dust coats everything: clothes, hair, bags in the truck bed. The first thing you want to do is shower upon arrival. Akll the bags needed to be beaten and brushed off. Our front panniers are no longer black, bust dusty borwn! My two zippers worked open so I found piles of dust inside both pouches.
Having visited both canyons, Grand and Copper in the last four months provide us with an opportunity to compare. Both are vast – Copper was clear and crisp; Grand was smoky. Copper - green trees, shrubs and bushes, dotted with cacti, large granite walls and peaks. Grand – bands of colors with lots of layers of soil evident. Copper – dotted with Indian homesteads. We were in and out of the many canyons that make up the Sierra Madre Mountains. We only looked into the Grand from the rim overlooks.
