Advanced Copper Canyon Adventure Tour 2008 (ACOPPERCAT)

[bobhclark]

Early 2005 friend and fellow adventurer Greg Williams and I decided to do an adventure tour of Copper Canyon with Rosen’s Rides. Greg bought his KLR 650 right away since his Harley's were not suitable. We planned to go March 2006, but then in August 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast destroying Greg’s home. Fortunately, Greg had moved his motorcycles to safety before getting wiped out. Two years later, Greg was ready to do the ride. I had been there twice before with Rosen’s Rides and knew we could do it on our own, but decided to go again with Rosen’s Rides. We booked the Advanced Copper Canyon Adventure Tour for March 1 - 8, 2008.

I’ll keep the number of words to a minimum since the pictures pretty much tell the story.

http://bobhclark.smugmug.com/Motorcy...entures/478535

I loaded up my 04 KTM 950 (The Beast) onto a Uhaul trailer and departed Chapel Hill, NC Feb. 23 headed to Navarre Beach, FL to visit my daughters, then onward to Ocean Springs, MS to meet up with Greg and our friend Skip Baxter. We departed Ocean Springs, MS for El Paso, TX Feb 28 pulling the bikes in Greg’s trailer. We drove the 1200 miles straight through.

Feb. 29 we meet up with Pete Shepard (Rosen’s Rides), and fellow riders Mike & Dr. Mike (Vancouver Island), and Vern (Indiana). We rode over to the Santa Teresa, NM / San Jeronimo border crossing to get our permits and visas that night. Fellow rider Ron Williams, Greg’s Brother, arrived 3 AM. We put the trucks into storage and departed; Me, Greg and Ron riding; Pete, Ana (Pete’s wife), Skip, Mike, Dr. Mike & Vern riding in the Excursion.

March 1, El Paso to Creel, 400 road miles. Very nice road with lots of twisties. Greg got into the loose shoulder and hurt his ankle and ribs. The bike would not start so we loaded it up and rode on to Creel. The fall had fouled up the starter lockout on Greg’s bike & was no problem to fix that night. We met up with Paco (Support), and got the rental KLX 400’s ready for Skip, Mike & Dr. Mike.

March 2, Creel to San Isidro, 80 road/dirt miles. We took the low road through the canyon where Greg, Skip, and Ron got their first experience riding in the dirt. Skip got up close and personal with the dirt partially dislocating his shoulder. Dr. Mike, an orthopedic surgeon, helped Skip pop his shoulder back into joint.

March 3, San Isidro to Urique and back to San Isidro, 40 dirt miles. Nice ride in and out of Urique Canyon. Like a real dumb ass, I rolled the bike over while stopped for a picture on perfectly level ground. Our stay at the Wilderness Lodge was fantastic. Nobody there but our Group and Christina (Paco’s wife and outstanding cook). The night sky was incredible.

March 4, San Isidro to Alamos, oh shit day, 150 miles, dirt. We took the low road through the canyons to Chinipas, had lunch, continued over the mountains to Alamos. This was a 12 hour ass whipping day of very difficult dirt riding. Skip got reacquainted with the dirt and did a fine job of entertaining the locals in Chinipas while dusting himself off. Everyone did great.

March 5, Alamos to El Fuerte, 90 miles, dirt. A nice ride. Plenty of time for relaxation and walking around town. El Fuerte has the most vicious gnats whose bite is about like fire ants.

March 6, El Fuerte to Batopilas, 90 miles dirt. This was another ass whipping day with difficult roads, five crossings of the Urique river, and general mayhem. Ron got into a turn a little too fast and hit the dirt injuring his shoulder and wrung off his shifter. He rode the next ten miles in 1st gear. The river crossings, with knee high rushing water, were quite exciting. Greg’s bike took a bath & got water in the engine. Mike did yeoman's work riding three bikes across the most difficult crossing. I power walked the Beast across the tuff stuff with some help from my friends. We regrouped for repairs, lunch. Greg got new oil, Ron got a pair of vise grips for a shifter. The ride down into Batopilas was spectacular, arriving after sunset. This is a very creepy town. Later that night we heard several busts of gun fire that sounded to me like gun fights.

March 7, Batopilas to Creel, 80 miles, Dirt/road. Just outside of Batopilas some shit ass out of sight up the mountain was throwing rocks at us as we rode by. I was stunned when a rock hit me in the foot (Pete, I hope someday you catch this Cabron and feed him his testicles). Great ride! I got into a turn too fast and about lost it. All I can say is that the handling capabilities of the big KTM saved my ass in this white knuckles event.

March 8, Creel to El Paso 400 miles road. Some poor guy crashed his car at high speed with multiple flips and rolls on the opposite lanes as our group passed by. We tuned around to go help. Pete and Dr. Mike extricated the guy from the mangled wreckage. Although severely banged up, Dr. Mike thought he would be ok. We were amazed that he survived such a wicked crash. We rode on after the ambulance arrived.

March 8 - 9, El Paso to Ocean Springs 1200 miles road. Greg, Skip and I loaded up and drove straight through to Ocean Springs.

March 10, Ocean Springs to Chapel Hill 760 miles road. Loaded the Beast on the Uhaul and went home sweet home.

Summary - This is the best ride I have done! New friends, great camaraderie, possibly the best dual sport riding in the world, gorgeous scenery, outstanding service. Pete and his team (Ana & Paco) did a fantastic job of organizing and running the tour. Greg, Skip, Ron - You guys get high honors for doing so well on your first dual sport adventure. A big thank you to our entire group for a wonderful time!

I highly recommend Rosen's Rides and an adventure in Copper Canyon.

Bob http://s3.amazonaws.com/advrider/wings.gif

[pluric]

Love the river shots. I think that just made me make up
my mind on what bike to take next month.

Thanks for the info.

[Gadget Boy]

Looks like a great ride!! Thanks for the report and link to your pics