May 5, 2021

The adventure today was something we had been looking forward to since we heard of Copper Canyon. El Chepe is one of the most famous train rides in the world. The Chihuahua to Pacific railroad traverses some of the most rugged and scenic country in North America. The tracks run from Chihuahua to the Sea of Cortez near Los Moochis, but the most exciting and beautiful part is from Creel to El Fuerte. This section descends from 8000’ elevation at Creel to near sea level at El Fuerte. The railway clings to the sides of sheer cliffs and descends in gigantic loops and tunnels as it plunges from one canyon wall to the next. The total railway had 37 principle bridges and 87 tunnels between Chihuahua and the sea, with most in the 170 miles section that we rode. This is over 11 miles of tunnel and 2.25 miles of bridge. The railway took 90 years to build and was finished in 1961.

Our adventure would span over two days as we rode El Chepe from Creel to El Fuerte and back. We left Creel at 11 am for the 9 hour ride. We rode the regional train that had many stops at both large towns and small villages. The train would even stop for a single person standing alongside the tracks. We even had to stop for cows on the tracks.

The train’s interior was not in great shape, but not too bad. At least the air conditioning worked well as the temperature rose as we descended the mountains. The train had several vendors selling food and at least 3-4 armed guards (sidearms and AR-15) to protect us from the banditos (drug cartels). There was also a guy that would go from car to car singing a song about El Chepe.

During much of the ride many of us stood on the platforms between the cars. This was the most exciting spot to stand and hang your head out the window to look at the train and the scenery. You had to be careful and watch for limbs and branches that hung close to the train. The rock cliffs and tunnel walls were also only a few feet away as we sped by. A few of the tunnels were over a mile long and we were in total darkness for a few minutes. 

We had a 20 minutes stop at Divisadero where there was a mad rush from the train to the vendor area to get lunch. There were several vendors selling gorditas (small pita sandwiches made from different colored corn tortillas). They cooked the food on 55 gallon barrels with a fire underneath. We hurried to get the food and ate fast, as we didn’t want to miss the train. We worried too much, as there was plenty of time before the whistle blew and the train left the station.

The section of tracks before Temoris was the most fun as the train steeply descended the canyon walls passing through many tunnels and winding through switchbacks to get to the canyon floor where you crossed the river on a sweeping curved bridge.

The final section was a little flatter as we finished the ride into El Fuerte, arriving around 8 pm. Frenchie, Eva and I rode in a taxi, driven by a wanna-be race car driver. I felt lucky that we made it to the hotel alive as he sped the 6 kilometers to town. We stayed at the El Fuerte Hotel, a very nice hotel that appeared to be an old hacienda that had been remodeled into a hotel. The hotel was filled with antiques and had several courtyards with many balconies. We ate dinner at another nice restaurant and since it was such a nice warm evening, we took a walk around the town square before returning to the hotel. 

May 6, 2021

We thought the hotel was great, until we tried to take a shower in the morning. The water temperature was 1-2 steps cooler than lukewarm. I was surprised that Eva went ahead and showered, but it was much shorter that her normal shower. After getting dressed, Eva and I took another walk around the square before taking the same taxi back to the train station. This drive was even quicker, as there was less traffic at 7:30 am.

While waiting for the train we witnessed a cattle drive of about 40-50 head past the train station. We were also being eaten alive by the mosquitoes and no-see-ums. Fortunately the train was only a few minutes late and we quickly boarded for the ride back to Creel.

The return ride was a little calmer as we mostly stayed in the cabin and rested. It was still a 9 hour ride, but it was nice to see the scenery again.

After returning to Creel we picked up our laundry and visited the Tarahumara museum before getting some ice cream at the town square. We later returned to camp to clean things up and relax for the night.

April 30, 2021

Our morning adventure was to visit Cueva Grande (The Grand Cave). We were camped about 1/2 mile from the trailhead and it was a short hike down into the canyon where the cave was set into a cliff wall. This cave had several different rooms and extended deep into the cliff. The cave was in a deep shady canyon that had a nice view over the river valley.

From Cueva Grande we drove back down to the river and crossed the creaky old suspension bridge. We took some time for pictures and a video of us crossing, high above the river.

We had a steep climb out of the canyon to another cliff area where there were several more caves. We hiked to the overlooks for Mirador (Lookout) and Nido del Aguila (Eagles Nest). These dwellings were in caves, high on the cliff face with no access.

Our final hike was to Cueva de la Serpiente (Snake Cave). The trail included a semi difficult climb down a crack in the cliff. Eva was hesitant to try it, but in the end she climbed down and back up without a problem. This cave dwelling was my favorite to explore. It was in very good shape and extended through the cliff face to a narrow canyon. This gave the dwelling a back balcony with another fantastic view. The cave is named after the serpentine carving in the floor that winds through the many rooms. It was difficult to see in pictures, but was an interesting feature to the cave. This was my favorite dwelling to explore. It was nice to be in these area, by ourselves, without other tourists.

The hike back wasn’t too bad and after a quick lunch we were back on the dirt trail climbing over mountains and driving through valleys heading towards Madera. As we got closer to town the road was really dusty and was crawling with log trucks traveling to the sawmill.

We found a hotel in town and we were all able to get rooms for $400 pesos (about $22 USD). I was the first to take a shower and ended up with a cold drizzling shower. I later found out that they just turned on the boiler when they saw us pull into the courtyard. Eva waited an hour and had a much warmer drizzling shower. 

We had dinner at a local restaurant as a group. After dinner, Eva and I decide that the beds and linens in the room left a little to be desired, so we raised the top on the van and slept in our own bed. This was a good choice and we had a great night sleep. It was not too cold, and pretty quiet, given that we were in town.

May 1, 2021

We left Madera around 9 am for a day of driving. The highway to Cascada de Bassaseachic was paved, but it climbed up the Sierra Madre mountains and across the plateaus. The road was very winding and we were continually climbing or descending. The portion of the road through the mountains was 81 kilometers, but only ~20 km as a crow flies. The drive from Madera took about 5 hours, but we did stop for lunch on the banks of a small river.

Cascada de Bassaechic is Mexico’s second highest waterfall at 890 ft. The falls define the north end of Barrancas Del Cobre (Copper Canyon). During the high water season, the falls are majestic and there are clouds of mists that fill the valley as the water falls. However, we were here during the dry season, and it had been a very dry winter in this part of Mexico. The falls were just a single strand that seemed to break up and evaporate in the wind. When the wind was calm, the falls reached about halfway down the cliff.

Waterfall during the wet season.

Waterfall that we saw.

Zoom up on waterfall.

Even though the waterfall was small, the views of the canyons were awesome. Eva and I hiked down to a lower viewpoint that put us near the level of the falls and gave us a better look.

After visiting the falls, we drove back down the canyon about a mile to the campground at Rancho San Lorenzo. This is a beautiful ranch in the woods and rocks owned by Fernado. Frenchie has been camping here for years and knows Fernando quite well. Fernando stopped by and told us stories of owning this ranch and about the area. He was very happy to have us there and mentioned that tourism is picking up slowly, after being stopped by the pandemic. Rancho Lorenzo is a little expensive at $20 USD/night, they do have a nice camping area with bathrooms and showers. 

We plan to stay two nights at this campground and have a day off for Sunday. 

May 2, 2021

We all slept in late and had a leisure morning eating breakfast and sitting around camp. Several of us took a short hike from the campground to the Arroyo del Durazno (Peach River). Later in the day we all took showers. They have a continuous hot water system so there was enough hot water for everyone, except me. About halfway through my shower, the heater ran out of propane and I ended my shower with a cold rinse.

April 28, 2021

After we ate breakfast we spent some time talking to Lupe and Dora in their rustic cabin. The morning was stormy and alternated between rain/hail/snow and wind. Around 9:30 am Lupe offered to take us to see the 4 arches on the mountains just north of El Willy. He rode in the van with Eva and I and guided us through the ranchos to a gate. This gate took us to a rancho that was owned by a guy from Chicago, but managed by a local rancher. From the gate it was 2-3 miles of rough narrow road with a couple of difficult spots, but we were able to make it through without too much difficulty. We were able to park at the old ranch headquarters.

Lupe said it was a short walk to see the arches and he was correct. We walked a quarter mile to the pastures where we could see the arches across the river and up high on the mountain ridgeline. We took a few pictures and Lupe crossed the fence and started walking across the fields to the river. He convinced us all that we should hike to the arches. He had never been this way, but climbed to the arch by taking horses through the river from El Willy.

About halfway across the field the wind kicked up and the rain came down. No one was prepared because we were expecting a short walk to view the arches. We ran back to a tree to huddle under while storm alternated between rain and hail.

It only lasted 10 minutes, and we were all standing there debating to whether to forget the hike and get back to the cars before it rained again. But Lupe continued across the field towards the arch. He turned and said “When will you ever be on this trail again?” We all agreed that we would never be back so we continued on the hike. 

The next obstacle was crossing the river. It was only ankle deep, but 20-25’ across. Most of us took off our shoes and waded across. The rest tried to get across on a log and rocks, but in the end, everyone got wet. Once we crossed the river it was a climb up the mountain. We were looking for a path to see the arches and also it look like a few caves in the cliff. It was quite a climb up the mountain that was covered with slick shale and loose dirt. It took us 1-1/2 hours to work our way up the hillside and around a cliff until we were below the arches. It was close enough for us and we took pictures and enjoyed the view of the four arches and the valley below. It was a quicker hike back down and across the river. The entire trip took about 2 hours 45 minutes. We were all glad we listened to Lupe.

Once back to El Willy, we left town and drove south a few miles to the “Valley of the Caves”. It cost $150 pesos ($8 usd) to enter, but only another $50 pesos ($2.14) to camp. It was a tight and winding road down to the valley, but once we entered the river valley, there was a broad grassy area next to the river to camp. We set up camp and ate a late lunch.

This valley contains several caves that were formed in the compressed ash layers left by volcanic action. The oldest caves have shown occupation from back to 5500 BC. Other caves were dated back to 950-1060 AD. From the valley you could see several caves a couple of hundred feet up the cliff.

Later in the day we walked to the Cueva de la Golondrina (Swallow Cave). This cave had several ruins of the rooms and walls that were built in the cave. This was a large cave that could have housed several family groups.

After exploring Swallow Cave, Jeff, Wendy and I crossed the river and climbed up the cliffs to the other 5 caves that were high above the river valley. These were the older dwellings that were difficult to get to, but had beautiful views of the valley. One interesting cave had a keyhole entrance that made it unique.

April 29, 2021

First thing in the morning we drove to the main cave of the park. Cueva de la Olla is unique due to a large olla (pot) shaped grainary that dominates the entrance of the cave. The cave also includes many rooms and walls that made up the ancient dwellings. The cave was high on the cliff, but the walk up the rocks was not too difficult.

We stayed in the park until 10 am, when the gates were opened and we could exit. We spent a full day of driving south from the El Willy area, south to Madera, mostly on dirt roads. The dirt road took us through thick forests as we crossed several mountain ranges. There was very little traffic between El Willy and El Largo. We stopped at a small town named Colonia Hernandez and visited a tienda, which are small stores that people usually run out of a room in their house. We like to spend some money in these small towns. Covid has taken a large toll on these small towns and people have been glad to see us come through. It took about 3-1/2 hours to reach El Largo where we had lunch at a local restaurant. 

In El Largo we were able to get phone reception, so Eva called the kids to make sure they were all okay. After eating lunch we continued south towards Madera. The road was paved all the way, so it was an easy 45 mile drive. Our plan was to spend the night at the hot springs, about 20 miles outside of Madera. Before leaving town we learned that the hot springs were closed, but we could camp on the river near the springs. They have overflow pipes from the pools that feed the river and it would be nice to soak under those pipes. There were also several caves in the area that we could explore.

The drive from Madera was a bumpy dirt road with many switchbacks going up one side of the mountain and down the other side. It took 2 hours to drive the 20 miles to the hot springs. We arrived and found the gate was locked that kept us from reaching the river and a good camping spot. We all waited while Frenchie explored further up the canyon towards Cueva Grande. After a half hour he radioed back that he had found a spot near the cave parking area, so we all drove a few more miles to a very nice spot in the woods. To get to the cave we had to cross an old suspension bridge. It’s carries the logging trucks so we assumed it was safe, but it made a lot of noise as we crossed it. It was a warm and quiet night.

April 26, 2021

Eva and I woke up early to get our last shower in the US. Since there is no daylight savings time in Arizona, the sun comes up early so the group was ready to head to the border at 7:30 am. We crossed the border from Douglas, AZ to Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

The border crossing was interesting as Frenchie, our group leader, was able to drive right through, but the rest of us were pulled aside for secondary inspection. The custom agents spent the most time on our van as they had me open all my tool bags in the rear bumper box.

After the inspection we spent about an hour getting everyone through the visa and TIP (temporary import permit) for the vehicles. We were the only group in the office, but there is a lot of paperwork to bring a vehicle into Mexico. You essentially leave a $500 deposit that is returned when you take your vehicle out of the country. Last year when we traveled to Baja, the TIP was not required, so it was a little easier. 

Once we were done with the paperwork, we loaded up and drove through Agua Prieta to the #2 highway and headed south-east through the Mexico desert with our plan to reach Nuevo Casas Grandes by lunch to meet with our final traveling companion.

The #2 highway paralleled the border as we crossed northern Sonora until we hit the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. At that point we climbed the mountain pass and crossed the continental divide into the state of Chihuahua. Highway #2 is like many Mexican highways. There were smooth wide sections and there were other paved spots were the pavement was broken and as rough as cobblestones. The edge of the pavement also ended at the white line on the side, with no shoulder except a 3 foot drop off. There were also many sections of dirt and rock roads where the highway was still being built. This variety of road surfaces could all occur within 2-3 miles of each other.

After crossing the continental divide we descended into the Chihuahua desert. I believe the road improved in Chihuahua and the towns and farms appeared more prosperous. Due to Covid many restaurants were closed or for take-out only, but we found a small burger place near the Casas Grands town square and ate lunch in the park.

 We continued towards Mata Ortiz where we planned to spend the night, however, we took a small detour to Colonia Juarez to drive through this Mormon colony and see the temple that was built several years ago. It was interesting to see the US/Utah influence on the town layout and architecture. It looks more like a small town in Utah, than Chihuahua Mexico.

We arrived in Mata Ortiz around 4 pm and stopped at the Adobe Hotel. Everyone else got rooms in the hotel, but we slept in the van in the parking area. It was very windy when we arrived, and the wind continued through the rest of the evening. It was too windy and dusty to do much, so we sat at the hotel and talked. Mata Ortiz is famous for a style of handmade pottery and several vendors brought the pottery by for us to look at. It was pretty expensive, but very intricate and beautiful.

Later we had a simple but good dinner at the hotel and the winds calmed a bit, so we hope to have a calm night sleeping in the van. 

April 22, 2021

We left home around 9:30 am and drove south through Utah and camped in the desert near Lake Powell.

We camped near some rocks and the next morning Eva released the theme song and dance for this trip.

On our way south from Lake Powell we stopped and hiked to the Horseshoe Bend overlook. It was a 1-1/2 mile roundtrip hike to the canyon edge overlooking the Colorado River. It was a nice morning hike and I was surprised how small the crowd was at the overlook.

After the hike we drove through Flagstaff to Phoenix and spent the night at Hilda’s house.

The next morning we drove the 4 hours to Douglas, AZ. This is the border town were we will cross into Mexico. We were able to exchange some dollars into pesos and fill up the gas tank. Later we met the rest of the group at the parking lot of the Motel 6. I say the parking lot because the Motel 6 internet was down so they would not check us into the room.

Finally, around 4:30 we were able to check in. Later in the evening we had a group kick off dinner at the Avenue Bed & Breakfast. It was an 19th century old hotel in downtown Douglas.

At the dinner we talked about the trip and what to expect as we travel through this part of Mexico. It sound like we will have an adventure.