This year Ben was determined to see the Copper Canyon. And we did. We made an 8 day trip of it, and this long post reflects that time. Lots of photos in the gallery!

The Copper Canyon - Barrancas de Cobre - is a group of six deep canyons running through northern Sinaloa and western Chihuahua states, and is deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the Waimea Canyon on Kauai HI. It crosses the Sierra Madre Occidental. It was created by six rivers which run through the Sierra Tarahumara, merge into the Rio Fuerte, and flow to the Gulf of California.

It's tough to get across the Sierra Madre Occidental. There aren't many highways, and few roads. From Mazatlan to Durango, for example, it was an 8-9 hour drive on narrow Highway 40 over switchbacks called The Devil's Backbone.

From Los Mochis to Chihuahua there is a train: El Chepe. The last passenger train in Mexico. It's a wonderful way to tour the Copper Canyon and it is the only public transportation from Los Mochis to Tesoro, where the bus system operates to Chihuahua. It's a big tourist attraction too. The typical tour of the Copper Canyon begins at either end of the El Chepe route and includes several overnight stops with local excursions.

I followed the itinerary of another cruiser who "did it herself" rather than purchase an all-inclusive tour from an operator. I was grateful she'd shared her observations with me.

The first tip: Rent a car in Guaymas. We already had the Explorer in Mexico, but because we were in the "Zona Tourista" we did not need to import it. (The area west of Highway 15 within the state of Sonora to the Pacific Ocean, including the Baja Peninsula, is a free zone. Cars, trucks, RVs can travel across the border without importation.) Los Mochis is in the state of Sinaloa and driving there meant importing the Explorer. We found a great rental for 4,000 pesos for the week ($200). No need to import it either.

A Tip from Me: Get an old "Mexico" guidebook and tear out the pages for the Copper Canyon. It'll help keep the various names of places a little clearer. Nope, I didn't think of that.

Second tip: Get on El Chepe at the second station, El Fuerte. The train leaves Los Mochis at 6 AM, and leaves El Fuerte at 8:15 AM. Hmm. 2 hours sleep? No brainer! Especially as the drive from Guaymas was 4 hours to either destination. It's an easy drive on mostly well paved roads.

Third tip: Stay at Mansion Serano Hotel which has a locked parking lot across the street and won't charge overnight parking while we are gone on the train. We had a bit of trouble finding it as we hadn't noticed street names or house numbers. We relied on help from locals, as usual. It is a lovely hotel, classic with rooms lining a patio. A/C and Wi-Fi, some cable, 1100 pesos. The full breakfast was 100 pesos each, a little high but then it was cooked to order at 6:30 AM.

El Fuerte is a colonial town, similar to Old Town Mazatlan, and was a fun to drive through while we looked for provisions for the week: snacks, fruit, water and so on. We passed by a number of good-looking restaurants but decided on street tacos and hot churros for dinner. Yum.

Fourth tip: The taxis all charge a standard rate (150 pesos) for the trip to the station, and they will pick you up on your return. Excellent! We left at 7:30, plenty of time to get to the station in time to wait as busload after busload of tourist groups arrived
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A big surprise: Sometimes I just don't get it. Like the schedule for El Chepe. There is a First Class and Second Class train. First Class runs daily. The Second Class only runs 3 days a week. Going towards Chihuahua, the conductors sell tickets on the First Class train, but on the Los Mochis train they do not. The train schedules are shown on different pages on the El Chepe website, showing arrival times and prices. My surprise came in Creel when we wanted to get on the First Class Los Mochis train at the end of our trip: It's ONE train. Engines, Dining Car, First Class cars (5-6), Second Class cars (4-5). Doh! More on that later.

I spent the night in El Fuerte madly trying to book hotels. Going online I put together 4 nights at about $35 each, 2 including breakfasts. Whew. One less worry. I DO need to know where I'm going for the night. Not THAT spontaneous!

Fifth tip: Spend time in Posada Barrancas. It's just a place name on a map until you get there. But we were advised to spend time there and we did. It turns out that most of the canyons converge in this area so you see a lot of the area from one train stop. Worth every minute, too.

I booked Posadas Barrancas del Cobra for our first two nights. It's one of several Balderrama properties specifically catering to the tour groups. It is beautiful property nestled in the trees right next to the train station and it was completely EMPTY upon our arrival. Ben circled, I yelled across the courtyard. Music played in the hall, a coffee pot with instant and tea was set up...but not a soul was to be found.

As it turned out, our room included privileges at the Hotel Mirador on the edge of the canyon and one of the staff arrived to give us a room key and tell us the schedule: 4 PM Canyon's Edge Walk; 7 PM Dinner. He provided shuttle rides up and down the hill to the Mirador. The following day we could have breakfast at 8, go on the tour at 9, eat lunch at 12, and hang out until dinner, again at 7. The next day the train left at 11:30 for Creel, our next destination.

Wonderful! We completely enjoyed watching the sunset from the breathtaking canyon. And the fireplace kept off the chill of the high altitude. We weren't quite at the top...but it was certainly colder than Guaymas. And sure enough, frost covered the roof the next morning. Frost may have come into our guest room as well. We bundled under 3 blankets!

I really enjoyed the tourists we met at the Mirador. First were the four Canadians who were 6x6ers with a place at Lake Chapala. (6x6ers refer to Canadians who must live in Canada for 6 months of each year to be covered by health care.) And the two from Tuscon who regularly visited relatives in Mexico City. Then the three adventurers from LA: Nancy spent months in La Paz working in the orphanage where our friend Sylvia on SV Cinnabar helped out. Small world, right? Sharing life over meals was a great benefit of our stay in Barrancas and let me to overlook the tepid meals.

Our morning tour included the nearby Adventure Park with its Ziplines and Gondola ride. Apparently the Zipline is the way to go, though the Gondola suited me just fine. Those were the "adventures". The remainder of the park included a big souvenir shop, a snack bar, and a long walkway along the rims. Oh, and lots of Tarahumari selling the baskets they are famous for, along with jewelry, weaving, pottery and wood carvings. Why yes, I did buy a few things!

In the 1800's Spanish colonialist explorers discovered copper, silver and gold in the canyons. They named the Indians living there after the word they used for their men: Raramuri. They are known as runners with incredible endurance, as they race between canyons from village to village. Very special! These runs can be at very high altitudes.
A Tip from Me: Take the bus when you can.

The second morning we enjoyed breakfast, good company and breathtaking views at the Mirador but by 9 AM we were done. We didn't relish the thought of waiting 2 hours for the train in our cold room. We had also learned that the trip to Creel was about 2 ½ hours on the train but a mere 1 hour by bus. Finally: 400 pesos train, 50 pesos for us old folks on the bus.

That settled it. We raced to pack and settled into our seats for the ride to Creel. (I can be spontaneous. But I did have a hotel room booked.)

By taking the bus we arrived in Creel just as the Revolution of 1910 Parade began at the Plaza. Oh my good golly, what an amazing experience. Six or seven blocks long, groups of dancers in traditional costumes were followed by children performing acrobatic tricks or drum bands, then more dancers. The sidewalks were thick with festive viewers. The music, blasting from the trunks of the lead vehicles for each group of performers, was loud and continuous. Such fun, and we felt blessed that we'd taken the bus!

Our two nights in Creel were rough. Our room at the Villa de Santa Cruz (800 pesos) was like an ice box. Again, we felt alone as we were led from the main block of hotel rooms to a miserable three story building across the street. Carrying our backpacks and bags from the Plaza, we felt miles away from civilization. We begged a ride back in and, what do you know, it wasn't more than 15 minutes walking.

I'd booked an all day tour for the next day through the Cascada Inn, 1500 pesos for two. We'd see almost everything: Cusarare Falls, the manmade Lake Arareco, the Monks, the Elephants, the Frogs, San Ignacio Arareko church, and the Tarahumara village and home. Phew. You can read up about each of these on TripAdvisor or by googling

A Tip from Me: Arrange a tour at the Plaza in Creel when you arrive.

It was a great tour, mostly because of our tour guide, Gilbert. His family was in Creel but he left to live in LA where he served in the Coast Guard and worked long enough raise his kids. He came home when his dad became ill and stayed with his elderly mom; his kids followed. Gilbert works as a weekend tour guide usually out of his own Cadillac Escalade and gets business while parked at the Plaza. His day job is in heavy equipment construction for the gas company. (I noticed lots of heavy machinery and trucks with the gas company logo at our hotel. Something's up!)

I learned that our hotel did offer both dinner (for $10 each) and breakfast (included!) and after riding in a minivan all day we were ready to simply cross the street for plain Mexican food. My o my, that was the best posole! There were a lot of other things in the buffet, but that really hit the spot. And though it looked to me that the hotel was empty while we were gone it filled up with families. Amazing. And wonderful. Breakfast the next morning was equally good, with chiliquiles.

It was then our trip slid downhill. Though we'd been told on the train to Posada Barrancas that we could purchase tickets on Sunday to return, the First Class Only Sunday train conductors would not sell tickets. No, no, No! We were stuck in Creel to catch the Second Class train on Monday.

Or were we? The train left and we sat, knowing that under no circumstances did we want to spend another night in the ice box we'd just left. We looked at the empty tracks. We looked at the traffic. We saw the bus!

And thinking what comes up...must go down...we crossed the street to the bus station and asked about tickets to Bachuivo/Cerocachui, the last train stop before El Fuerte. (Nancy from Mirador, the gal who worked at the orphanage in La Paz, had mentioned to me that she and her friends stopped here to visit the schools and that it was wonderful. I wasn't doing this completely blindly.)

So, extra night five found us nestled in the Urique valley town of Cerocachui overnighting in another wonderful Balderrama hotel, Hotel Mision. $100 including 3 meals, and a wood stove! It was a good thing that I'd made a reservation too because the bus stop was across the river from Bachuivo and there was no way to call a taxi. It was a 45 minute ride to Cerocachui! At this point we'd descended quite a bit from the canyon rim. We weren't at the floor, but we still had a sense of being 'in' the valley.

We took yet another tour, this one to Cerro del Gallego overlook. A 3 hour tour: 1 hour 15 minutes each way, 30 minutes at the overlook. Spectacular. Dizzying. Breathtaking. The newly-built overlook was substantial: cement outcrops, a hanging bridge, flushing toilets and a look into the Urique Canyon which overwhelmed all that we'd seen. The river, the trees, the villages, the distances. Just Wow. Best view, and we saw it on a cloudy day.

After lunch, we rushed to check out for the shuttle and sat...and sat. I asked about the delay. The train was 45 minutes late. No reason for us to stand in the cold waiting. We enjoyed napping in front of the lobby fireplace instead.

At last, our trip drew to a close. Shuttle to Train, Train to El Fuerte (Oh! I remembered to call the hotel for a room, and ask to have a taxi sent but not until we were on the train!), Rental to Guaymas.

Another tip from me: Even though the hotels had reservations for us, they were not always paid. The transactions online did not go through. Luckily we carried extra pesos so we were able to cover our room charges.

We'll do this again. I think next time we can simply go to Divisadero, with its lovely hotel and outlook. From there we can take the bus back to Bachuivo/Cerocachui. I felt the views much more intimate. The train ride between El Fuerte and Bachuivo is the most dramatic.