Copper Canyon Mexico or Will I come back alive?

Stage 2 Santa Ana to Sahuaripa. 244 miles.
Dead Bodies-0, Kidnapping attempts-0
Google Map of todays route http://g.co/maps/cu8a9

We arose early to the blast of a train horn, apparently trying to get the traffic off the crossing. Our usual time seems like its going to be to get up around 0600 and be packed by 0700 or 0730.

Fresh bandaid on finger. Had a cup of coffee and some mango in the parking lot and ready to go. Note: There are no Starbucks in the areas we’ve been. Seems to be mostly instant coffee, however the OXXO stores do have brewed coffee, or at least coffee syrup derived coffee. The unspoken word is sometimes the loudest. In our case, I was starting to understand the unspoken language of my fellow travellers. For example, whenever Burt started donning his Stars and Stripes dorag that was the signal to get prepared and mount up.

I had left the petcock on last night and bike seems to be flooded, small puddle of gas from airbox drain hose. I drained the float bowl (thanks for the screwdriver Mike) and cranked for a while and it starts up.

Traffic does not follow the same rules as stateside, although I would venture to say they are good or better drivers than at home and more patient. People will use their left turn signal to indicate that it is okay to pass, slower traffic stays in the slow lane - novel idea! Nice wide paved shoulders make the two lane highways four lanes. Slow traffic (60mph) drives on the shoulder and faster traffic in the lanes. Not sure what you do if you need to pull off for emergency, you really don’t want to stop on the hard shoulder as it would be just like stopping in the highway! Fortunately there are few cars.

These first three days are mainly just to get to Creel, our jumping off point to Copper Canyon. Today we traveled south on Highway 15 and do a little bypass of the Toll Road by turning and going through Pesqueria and then south skirting along the edge of Hermosillo.


IMGP0922 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


IMGP0923 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

We stop at the OXXO in Pesqueria for a snack. Meet a group of drunk guys, think they must have some moonshine or been huffing paint. Brad meets his new BFF.


IMG_0675 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

No restroom here so someone tell’s Mike the pissing place is over by the palm tree (hehehe). When Brad makes a move towards the Palm the lady in the OXXO gave him a stare that just kind of froze him in his footprints, at this point he realized that this was NOT the pissing place and that if he proceeded something very bad would happen to him!


IMGP0924 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

In Hermosillo we pass by a big coffee roasting factory, smells pretty good as I like to roast my own coffee at home. Stop at a Pemex and fill up both the bikes and our stomachs. More of Kay’s burritos (with nice hot sauce) and a Fanta. I don’t think we need refrigeration for the Burritos, they seem to be holding up rather well. We then turn east on Highway 20. The highway starts to climb and becomes pretty twistie with some sweepers. Cooler temps at elevation and just enjoying the ride.

Every town has a beer store at the edge of town. We stop here for a snack and a cold one. Kind of tired from all the twisties. I would again forget to turn off the petcock and have a hard time getting started. Hmmmm, I didn’t notice the advertising posters until I looked at this photo, guess my mind was elsewhere.


IMG_0677 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

Get in the groove while listening to tunes, you know the feeling when you're at one with the road, just kind of floating or flying along. This was another great day of riding. Seeing some pines trees and rivers. Did I mention the lack of traffic? The roads are ours!

I noticed something about Mike’s riding the last couple days. Every once in awhile he starts swerving violently, jumping up and down, and shaking his bike while slowing down. Turns out he has a fuel problem and the shaking seems to get it going again. Going to have to fix this before hitting the dirt. Now Burt, he is a riding machine. He just mounts up and goes! Don’t see him stand, squirm, stretch his legs, just ride ride ride. His hind end must be made of some kind of elephant skin or bizarre high strength leather. Some other words of wisdom from Burt “300 miles is a good day in Mexico”. He’s right about this. With the stops, checkpoints, towns you pass through you just don’t make the big miles.

Just some scenery shots. Of course the really neat areas you don’t get photos because it is too hard to stop and you're too busy riding.


IMG_0678 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

Somebody stopped at the beer store before crossing this bridge.

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Not many photos as I usually keep my camera on a lanyard and shoot while riding, but I had forgot my lanyard. Fever and finger were a bit bothersome but those problems seem to disappear while riding. Arrive Sahuaripa in late afternoon, get checked in to the El Molina Motel. Part of the motel was actually build over an old grain mill (molino) from the 1800’s. Not really a tourist town, seems to be agricultural area. Population about 5000, nice airstrip at edge of town.


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Nicely appointed room (before we messed it up), again about $12.

IMGP0932 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


I go to rest while Mike strips his bike down. He is now thinking electrical problem. Earlier today we flooded his ignition switch with WD-40, seemed to help some. So now he is taking all the connectors apart and soaking them with WT-400, the Mexican equivalent of WD-40 only 10 times better! And I bet it killed any weeds growing under the KLR.


IMG_0679 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

Being a Friday night the kids are out cruising up and down the main street with radios blaring. At 2100 the radios went silent. Must be some strict sheriff in town with a noise curfew. I am not used to going to bed so early (2000 California time). Still have not seen any bullet ridden bodies or been the victim of a kidnapping. Seems like all the people that warned me of the dangers of Mexico had never been to Mexico, but had seen the atrocities on CNN or FOX and that I would certainly be targeted as soon as I crossed the border. Sorry to disappoint, but I feel safer here than I do in Santa Barbara! No graffiti, no gangs, no goofing baggy pants, people friendly, curious, polite, and helpful. I’m sure it’s different along the border and in the bigger cities. Not to downplay the tragedy of the drug war here, but we really saw no signs of it.

This is BEFORE the kids came out.


IMGP0939 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

IMGP0940 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

We walk around trying to find a place to eat. Getting directions from people seems to be a challenge. They don’t know, they don’t understand us, their perception of time and space is totally different than ours, there must be some explanation, this is will the norm when asking directions. See an open door and some tables inside, no signs, must be a restaurant. Burt speaks the best spanish of the group and we get some food ordered. No menus in these small restaurants. I am feeling the effects of the fever and don’t really eat, only down a couple Fanta’s.

This is the night the devil left by body.

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Fall asleep at 2100 and wake in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. YES! The fever finally broke. Go outside at 0300 to cool off and work on ride report. Beautiful clear sky with tons of stars, an owl hooting back and forth with another owl, this is the real beginning of the trip for me!

Finger is starting to look a little funny, getting infected and red and there is this weird little piece of meat, looks like raw chicken or oyster, sticking out of the edge of my fingernail. Must have herniated or pulled the cuticle out, not sure. Finger hasn&#8217;t had a chance to dry out either, always with gloves and bandaid. I didn&#8217;t take a picture of it so I searched on Google for an image of an infected finger. My advise is DON&#8217;T look at those pictures. I was going to post one here, but decided against it to spare those with weak stomachs. I found this picture to post instead.




I think this is better, don&#8217;t you? Well, okay, maybe not as good as the weather girl.

Great writing style ..here's a cuppla stars for ya...

I was looking at your ride report. First the question. No you will not come back alive. No one ever does. I did go to Copper Canyon two times, some years ago, but I only came back alive because we had a special dispensation from the Pope or something. Cardinal Mahoney vouched for us, or something.
You should know these things from watching the relieable news sources.
I did look at your pictures but did not read the words. I thought you had too many words, and not enough photos. And you had some very bad photos, etc., and some good ones. Could you stick to the good ones in the future?
Thank you.
I leave for a ride to Cabo thru' Baja tomorrow myself. And I will not come back alive. There is no question but what the narco traficantes will chop off my head.
That's all there is in Mexico.
dc

where you are from says it all

Thanks for looking at my report David13.
Just skip the reading part, its not required. (It would explain why my pictures aren't too good.....yet)
Hope to have more and better pictures as I go along.

Have a good trip to Cabo, sounds like fun. I see you are doing a report ( http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=777451) and I look forward to hearing about your adventure.

Thanks HKVol, glad your enjoying it, it should only get better.....

This is a great report... even if it's directly from MSNBC.... lol... give us more posters...weather girls and puppy's.. life is Damn fine ...

K

Stage 3 Sahuripa to Creel, 258 miles.
Google Map of todays route http://g.co/maps/8skc2


Woke up this morning feeling alive again. Had some coffee and fruit and get a good start. Mike&#8217;s interested to see if the WT-400 fix is going to work. I have a hard time starting as usual. I have the proverbial &#8220;Puking Fuel Syndrome&#8221;. I had replaced my needle valves, o-rings and seats just 9 months ago with new (new old stock?) Suzuki parts as preventative maintenance. Maybe the o-rings were old and brittle to start with, maybe something in or not in the Mexican gas caused them to fail?

We drove south on Highway 20 and connected to Highway 16. 200 miles of twisties today and no traffic. This was ideal day, feeling good, great roads and scenery. Mike&#8217;s electrical problem seems to be resolved. Here is today&#8217;s theme song.

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Have to keep your eyes open for livestock

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This could be in Wyoming. High plains, crisp air, smell of pine and sage.

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Finally, a straight section of road, wrist is getting tired.

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Stopped to see what this was. Talked to a guy working here and he told us it was a house an attorney was building. It was at the summit of the road and would be a good tourist spot. The road behind leads to a small village and new airport. Seem to be seeing a lot of brand new roofs on little adobe houses, new airstrips, new shiny SUV&#8217;s. I guess the alfalfa crop was good this year. Didn&#8217;t take photos of the airstrips, SUV&#8217;s or people. Didn&#8217;t want to piss off the wrong people!

IMGP0957 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


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Made a stop at the waterfall, can you see it?

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Here&#8217;s a closer look.


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Weather has been excellent. Not too hot, not too cold, sunny and dry. A bit crisp in the morning, used the heated grips in the higher elevations, even saw a small patch of snow.

Start to notice the lack of any wild animals. Saw some road kill and livestock. But no critters. I think they have been hunted to extinction in this area. Food is more important to these people than protecting a frog or rare bird. And of the livestock I saw, the cattle didn&#8217;t have much meat on them, ribs sticking out pretty good. Goats seem to fare better, they can probably eat the scrub brush the cattle can&#8217;t.

Pulled into Creel this afternoon. This is a tourist town and we are the only tourists (well maybe a few others) in town! This makes us fair game for all the kids looking for handouts. A couple of the little guys found our hiding place behind the Motel Los Pinos and did their thing. Have you ever wondered why all these kids have runny noses? Well, I think there is some school for street kids where they learn the trade and the snot is just makeup??? Not sure, but thats my theory. The Tarahumara indians are stationed up by the train depot where the tourist train comes in. Have their goods spread out on blankets and all are brightly dressed. I notice the afternoon train pulling in and see more porters in vests, caps and white shirts then there are passengers. Tourism is way down.


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The ATV rental place was next door.

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We are here on Saturday night, pretty quiet, buts its still early.

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We went to dinner, I had a great milanese, and a guy comes in and starts singing and playing his guitar so loud we can&#8217;t visit with each other, one other family in the restaurant. He moves closer to us and turns up the volume, sure seems like a long song, I think he&#8217;s adlibbing just to prolong the agony. At any rate he finishes and comes up to the table for his tip. Me, not be familiar with the exchange rate, what the different coins are, etc, must have under tipped! He gave me a disgusted sneer and moved on. Have I marked myself as a target? There are some dark alleys and doorways on the way back to the hotel.....

Tonight I have a TV and can catch up with the world. What I really want to watch is the weather, seems like it could be better than a soap opera (thanks for the insight Brad). Well, go figure, TV not working. Guess I will have to get a weather update from Brad tomorrow.

Tried my international calling card. All it would say is that the phone number does not exist. Then I call the Mexican support number....... this phone number does not exist, rats. Wifi not working either, have been out of touch for a while now. I do send a SPOT update every night but there is no way for anyone to reach me if they need to. Will have to find an internet cafe tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a day of rest and maintanence before descending into the canyon!

Now those are some good photos. And I have started to read your text. As I thought, good writing, and good reporting.
Ah, you know, these Mexicans speak Spanish. I feel right at home. Porque, como tu sabes, en Los Angeles, todo el mundo habla espanol.
dc

I think the choke is just getting pushed in.

Heading for the "Hunger Games" soon......

Looks like the Gunns are taking you into some pretty "dangerous" areas

You are in good hands.

Hey, stayed at that same hotel in Creel in Febuary, same room too!

Not great, but not bad for $300p per night. ​

Did you happen to see any of these around? Tagged our room and a few other places.​

Continuting to enjoy your report!​

Got curious about all the airstrips I saw today and checked it out on Google maps. This is what I came up with. I know I saw a couple new ones that didn't appear on Google and I probably missed a few. Some of these are only 3 or 4 miles apart.


airstrip Sahuaripa by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Santo Tomas by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Bamori by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Arivechi by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Tacupeto by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


private airstrip by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Guisamopa by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Yecora by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip Maycoba by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


Airstrip Middle of Nowhere by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


airstrip San Juanito by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr


Construction of creel airport kicks off this month
Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry (SCT) will invest 312 million pesos in the construction of the Barrancas del Cobre airport in Creel, Chihuahua, starting this month.

The project will seek to attract 613,000 tourists per year, or about 1 billion pesos, develop hotel infrastructure and create 4,000 jobs.

During the first three years of operation, the airport will only allow landing of small aircrafts of up to 70 passangers each, connecting with cities like Hermosillo, Culiacan, San Jose del Cabo, La Paz, Durango, Torreon, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Monterrey, Nogales, Tucson and El Paso.

Starting the fifth year of operation, the Creel airport will be able to welcome flights from Guadalajara, Mexico City, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

The new terminal will give economic support to the Tarahumara region, where the Chihuahua government is launching a touristic project that will link to the rail system connecting Chihuahua with the Sea of Cortez.


airstrip Creel underconstruction by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

Funny thing is, I didn't see one airplane the whole time. I wonder how many of these show up on the aviation maps?

Day Off in Creel, 10 miles.
Google map for Todays ride.

Quiet Sunday morning in Creel.

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Today was a leisurely day spent doing errands and maintenance. Burt and Mike were going to have the tire guy mount the new knobbies, but he was closed so they did it the old fashioned way.

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Remember, you are responsible for safety, do not touch!

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Brad and I hit the internet cafe near the train depot. Through a series of grunts, groans, and a few spanish words thrown in for good measure we got online and a coffee. The girl showed us two paper coffee cups and asked which one we wanted, they were the same size, just different decoration on them. We both picked the same one and it turned out to be some kind of flavored coffee drink, Creel&#8217;s version of Starbucks. It was actually pretty good. Caught up on email, purged a lot of junk mail and headed back to hotel. Mike was finishing up his tire and then we took off on a little local ride to Lake Arareco, Valley of the Mushrooms (Valle de los Hongo), and the old mission in San Ignacio de lo Yola. Seems like wherever you stop kids just kind of start appearing, even out in the middle of nowhere. A large group of young Tarahumara girls approached us at the lake selling their baskets and bracelets. Mike had a handful of coins and systematically handed them out so that it was fair for all of them.

Elephant Rock, see the kids appearing out of the forest?

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They were having Mass at the church so we didn&#8217;t look inside.


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My bike was running crappy the whole time. Wouldn&#8217;t idle, would bog down if not at highway speed, puking fuel problem was getting worse. Decided I better pull the carbs and take a look. The o-rings that hold the float carrier were not completely seated so I slathered them with Brylcreem (contains mineral oil, I think I will keep some in my tool kit!) and they slid right into place. The o-rings holding the needle seat in-place were the real culprits and there was nothing I could do for them. It is Sunday and none of the parts stores are open and if they were, not sure they would have the correct o-ring. Put it all back together and figure I will just deal with it.

Burt told us about leaving $400 at some restaurant or hotel a few years ago somewhere in Mexico. The next time he was in the area he stopped by not expecting to have anybody remember about it (it was 3 years after he had left the money). Well the guy disappeared for a minute and handed the money over to Burt, he&#8217;d been waiting for him to return! You think that would happen here at a Motel 6? Mike is in high hopes because he lost a cell phone the year before at El Tanque, a small town we will pass through later.

Tomorrow we descend into the depths of the Canyon. Destination Batopilas.

Thanks for the report and pics. Looks like a great trip in the making.
Copper canyon has always been on my short list of dream rides.

Burt told us about leaving $400 at some restaurant or hotel a few years ago somewhere in Mexico. The next time he was in the area he stopped by not expecting to have anybody remember about it (it was 3 years after he had left the money). Well the guy disappeared for a minute and handed the money over to Burt, he’d been waiting for him to return! You think that would happen here at a Motel 6? Mike is in high hopes because he lost a cell phone the year before at El Tanque, a small town we will pass through later.

Tomorrow we descend into the depths of the Canyon. Destination Batopilas. [/QUOTE]


Motel 6? I don't think this would happen anywhere! Just goes to show the sincerity and honesty of most of the people and culture . Such a Shame about the rep they get from the media.

I am enjoying the hell out of your report and the pics are wonderful. Hopefully I will see for myself soon.

Thanks for the time and eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Roy

Glad your enjoying the report. And yes, reports are good, but being here in person is better! So far what I have seen has nothing to do with what you see on the news.

Your welcome! I spent a lot of time 'thinking' about the trip. Finally just said 'do it', Glad I did!....

Great report. been following from the beginning.

You stated in the beginning of the report that you bought insurance on your drivers license and Medivac insurance.

Can you elaborate on what you bought and from whom? I am making a similar trip.

Stage 4 Creel to Batopilas, 86 miles, 5.5 hours.
Google Map. If you zoom in you can really see some twisties as we get closer to Batopilas.





Some cruising music to listen to while you check out todays update

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Road leaving Creel is pretty new asphalt. Actually the road all the way to maybe 20 miles outside of Batopilas is paved. Then we hit the construction area. A little bypass to the old road, not very good. Loose pockets of gravel and rocks, not so bad but I did have my first get-off here. Double track area and I chose the track closest to the hillside, the other track was kind of close to a big drop off. Big drop off meaning something you could easily base jump off of. The hillside track was in worse condition and I hit a bunch of loose gravel. Brad was there pretty quick and we got her stood up again. Cleared the carbs and continued down. Its like we are descending into a different era or time. Civilization is melting away. Anytime we pass a small village or group of kids everybody waves and smiles. We have some sort of celebrity status down here. I also imagine that we are being eyeballed by the local lookouts just to make sure we don&#8217;t wander into areas they prefer we not see. Seems like word is passed down the canyon that there is a group of motos on the road, just some crazy gringos.

Here some of the scenery.


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Freshly oiled

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One of the typical road hazards

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Resturant, but it was closed. Had a picture of a marijuana leaf painted on the wall next to the front door, must have been for buena suerte (good luck).

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Could this be our breakfast? Lots of goat on the menu here.

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Familiar bridge to all that have been down here

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A rest stop at a small kiosko in the middle of nowhere. Actually, everything is in the middle of nowhere from here on.

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Mike enjoying a cold one with his new BFF. The dude didn&#8217;t move the whole time we were there but we knew he was alive because you could hear him weezing. If he could have talked he probably would have told us about his days with Pancho Villa and how he got his hand shot off in some far off battle.

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Entering Juanita&#8217;s Hotel in Batopilas, courtyard parking is available

cc 2012 053 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

cc 2012 054 by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

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View from the terrace. The black pipe up in the air is the water supply pumped from the river with a sump pump. The pump is placed where the people bath and wash their clothes. Also saw some cows using the river as a toilet. Water level very low.

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Laundry Day. Mike and I pay Juanita to do our laundry. I think it is like $3. Worth it!

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(Juanita has an actual washing machine)

Bath day for others

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Burt knows where every beer vendor is and the most direct route to get there in this part of Mexico.

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Got to have Fanta in Mexico, sugar, not corn syrup.

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We found the internet cafe. About six people using computers, mostly kids, and us. Brad and I want to check our mail and I wanted to see if the SPOT track was working. I think I brought the system to its knees when I clicked on SPOT. You see, I think all the computers were using one dialup 2400 baud modem! I got out of SPOT and went to gmail, waited a few minutes to read one or two emails and then cut my losses and got out of there. I think we are spoiled with all our cable and DSL, but I imagine this is a real link to the outside world for these kids.

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The swinging pedestrian bridge

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We watched a guy push a propane tank across on a dolly (to the far side), hoist the tank over his shoulder and hike UP the hill with it! Very impressive seeing as how these tanks weigh about 70 pounds and hold 100 pounds of propane when full (170 pounds!) Don&#8217;t think he would be carrying an empty tank!

See, I told you, cow poo + water = well, just don&#8217;t drink the water, remember your safety responsibilies.

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Here&#8217;s the phone number if you want to call Juanita

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Some BONUS pictures by the other guys...

lots of elevation changes by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

beer,pop stop by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

great view from these roads by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

You really don't want to miss a corner on this road! I suppose you would have enough time to confess most if not all of your sins on the way down

yeah we were down there by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

dinner ordered by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

a little local art by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

BG going down hill by DDMcGinnis, on Flickr

Hope that's not too many photos. Figure its better to have more than less, and when I read reports I like looking at the pictures.