Mexico Trip 2: Copper Canyon and Baja California
Copper Canyon
Photos from the Copper Canyon area:
Day 7
The next morning we continued on towards the canyon. A view of the road from Creel to Divisadero Station.
A lookout area at Divisadero.
Our first good view of Copper Canyon.
Of course, a lookout needs a shopping area.
While we were there the train from the coast, El Chepe, pulled into the station.
We arrived at our hotel in time for lunch (for a change). The name means Canyon Lookout Lodge (for good reason).
Each room has a balcony overlooking the canyon.
Richard and David checking out the view.
A view from our balcony. There are Tarahumara families living below the rocks on the left as well as far down in the canyon along the river (probably the Rio Urique).
Day 8
Near our hotel was the Copper Canyon adventure park. Wayne and Richard decided to go on a zipline and bridge expedition. Here they are harnessed up for the adventure. All three of us are actually in the photo, as David is a small dot on one of the balconies at the top of the canyon.
Wayne coming in for a landing.
Richard crossing a suspension bridge above the canyon.
David decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the canyon views and the sound of the wind from the balcony.
Later, we headed for Urique. The road turned to dirt just before Bahuichivo.
Much to our surprise, there was a new stretch of pavement after Bahuichivo to Cerocahui.
Eventually the road became a very pleasant dirt road through the forest.
We reached the turnoff to Urique without incident.
The road got more difficult, but well-suited to goats.
We got a view of Urique far below us.
The road got progressively steeper, more windy, and more rock-strewn.
Here we must resort to narrative for the rest of the day's trip: A very large truck came up the mountain and couldn't slow down, but we could not get fully off the road; it grazed David's bike and left a crease in his saddlebag. Later, David slipped in some loose rock on a curve and dropped his bike, injuring only his vanity. Soon after, Richard fell hard and lost his windshield, and right-hand mirror and turn signal. He fell again soon after, though with no more damage. David decided to go slowly in front of him and in the process overheated his rear brake, which failed and caused him to fall again; this time he lost his windshield. The very bottom of the road was under massive construction, and piles of rock and loose dirt had to be crossed, though thankfully with no more mishaps. Eventually we made it to a hotel as dusk fell, battered but not yet beaten.
Day 9
Our hotel in Urique the next morning.
A view of the street outside our hotel.
We walked around the town and down to the river.
This turned out to be a very busy intersection, with cattle,
burros,
and Jorge (who we had met briefly earlier in the day, and about whom much more later) on his horse. Urique is low in the canyon and has a very warm climate; we spent the hottest part of the afternoon sitting with a cold beer in the shade outside our hotel rooms, much like the locals.
Day 10
We left at 7;00 a.m. to traverse the worst part of the road and to try to make the top of the canyon by 9:00. This was not to be; Richard fell in the road construction debris immediately as we left town, and injured his ankle. Some local men helped Richard, and we rounded the next curve only to face another problem. A large truck full of cattle was blocking the road in front of us, unable to drive through the loose rock piled up by the road construction. The driver moved over to the right, and Wayne took the bikes one-by-one through the rock and beyond the construction zone (only a couple of hundred yards). In the mean time, other vehicles had piled up behind the cattle truck, and Richard had decided his ankle was bad enough that he couldn't take the bike up the mountainside.
After far too many interactions to detail here, Jorge (of the horse) came up in his truck and said he was on his way to Creel and would take Richard and the bike there. (The fact that he had to evict a local schoolteacher and her ATV from the truck turned out not to be a problem, as she was not going far and could continue on her own.) Jorge told us he would stop with Richard in Cerocahui to have his ankle X-Rayed, and we could meet them there. (Jorge is the Chichuhua state government representative to the Urique area, and is known for helping out anyone in need.) The hospital was closed, so after lunch courtesy of one of Jorge's huge collection of friends we continued towards Creel.
Loading the bike into Jorge's truck. Jorge is at the top.
¡Adios, Jorge, Ricardo, y moto!
David and Wayne continued up the road alone. Looking back down on Urique from the road.
Taking a rest in the shade on the way up.
A lookout (mirador) at the top of the canyon.
A view of the road we had come up and the town below.
Part of the mirador and more of the road.
Richard being treadted by Dr. Gina (a pediatrician) in the Clinica Santa Teresita in Creel. This was the third hospital stop, and there still was no one to take an X-Ray. (Total cost for treatment: $6 US)
Ending the day in the cantina back at our hotel in Creel, with Jorge. Despite the day's trials, everyone was in good spirits. While in the cantina we ran into a good friend of Jorge's, Rita. Rita works for the Chihuahua government board of tourism.
Day 11
Jorge stayed the night at our hotel, and the next morning at 7:00 he picked up Richard for their second trip to San Juanito to try to get an X-Ray. They returned successful at about 10:00, and the verdict was two hairline fractures near the bottom of Richard's tibia.
We all went down to breakfast, then Jorge and Richard headed back to the clinic to see if they had a cane Richard could use. (The cook at our hotel had lent him a crutch, but that was impractical to carry on the bike, and was only a loan).
Rita took David and Wayne to meet Ivan, the owner of 3 Amigos Adventures (and a friend, of course). While talking with Ivan, David learned that there is a newly paved road "all the way" to Batopilas (the phrase "all the way" being somewhat open to interpretation). The three of them then walked over to meet Jorge and Richard.
Rita, David, and Wayne in the back of Jorge's truck, ready to head back to the hotel. Dr. Gina is talking to Richard.
The Mother Superior of the adjacent convent came by; of course, Jorge is her nephew.
Jorge headed back to Urique, while Rita worked with some French travel writers who were in town (and were her reason for being in Creel). We discussed our plans.
Our original plan had been to visit both Batopilas and Urique in the canyons, then take the ferry and continue on to drive Baja California. After reaching Creel behind schedule and discovering the supposed difficulty of the road, we decide to skip Batopilas. However, Richard's injury killed any hope we had of getting to the ferry (across many miles of difficult, unpaved roads), and we had ended up back in Creel. Now we were told that the road to Batopilas was paved, so we began to consider going there after all. We decided to talk with Ivan again the next moring and choose how to proceed, and then spent the rest of the day quietly in Creel.
Day 12
When David went to Ivan's in the morning he was surprised to meet Elizabether and Klaus there. They are Germans who studied in the U.S., live in Mexico, and speak all three languages fluently. When we were trying to find a ride up the mountainside from Urique for Richard, Elizabeth, who had been riding in a white minivan bus headed up but stuck behind the cattle truck, translated for us; Klaus and the minivan can be seen in the photo of us lifting Richard's bike into the truck.
A photo with Ivan, who told us we shouldn't miss the experience of traveling to Batopilas by motorcycle. (So we decided not to.)
David covering Richard's cast to keep road dirt and water off.
Scenery along the road from Creel to Batopilas.
A bridge over the Rio Urique (which runs through much of the canyon).
Ivan had tols us that the new road was built hastily and with too much dynamite. The mountainside is collapsing onto it.
Though it is a two-lane road, much of the time there was only one passable lane, and sometimes the entire roadway was covered.
Looking down at the switchbacks below (ahead of) us.
The paved road ended at the site of a new bridge project. We were directed to use the old bridge!
Wayne and David crossing the bridge.
The road was sometimes paved, sometimes not, from the bridge to the town.
Crossing a second, but much less scary, bridge.
We eventually arrived safely at our hotel in Batopilas.
It had a beautiful courtyard,
which we quickly took advantage of.
Day 13
The only chihuahua we saw in Chihuahua guarded a well-stocked "variety" store across the street.
Elizabeth and Klaus arrived on the morning "bus" and we all visited the local museum, where Rafael told us much about the history of the town, the silver mine, and the area.
Houses along the main street in Batopilas.
Rafael also took us to tour the Riverside Lodge, a restored 19th century mansion. We were joined by two other guests of our hotel: Eduardo (at the piano), and (Dr.) Arturo.
Resting in the shade and breeze on the patio of the Riverside Lodge with Elizabeth and Klaus.
A group of Tarahumaras visiting the town (probably for supplies).
Dr. Arturo looking at Richard's X-Rays.
David had been having problems with his tail light, and he worked on it with help from Wayne. (It turned out a part of the foot brake pedal had been bent by a rock on the rough roads.) Another BMW rider, Marco, came by to ask if he could ride with us towards Creel the next day.
Day 14
A photo with our host, Martin, in front of our hotel.
At breakfast with Marco.
The view on the road out of town.
It turned out we didn't have to use the old bridges again, but could take the shortcut down one side of the river bank
and up the other. (If you look carefully you can see Wayne riding down in the center of first photo.) It was a bit trecherous, but cut a lot of time off our route.
(Richard walked with help from Marco, while David ferried his bike.)
A view of the road.
We had asked the restaurant where we breakfasted to make us some burritos for the road for lunch. Here we are enjoying them.
We met up with 3 motorcyclists from British Columbia who were about to tour the area, and gave them some advice based on our experience. There were now 7 bikes riding the road to Creel.
After bidding farewell to Marco in Creel, we continued on towards San Juanito, where we began to retrace our route back towards the coast for the return trip.
Continue to next section =>