Expedition Portal: BMW GS Expedition, Copper Canyon Mexico Part 1

...Continued from part one

After a good night’s rest, we wander over to the Tecora market and pick up a quick breakfast consisting of some boxed juices and fresh flour tortillas (always a Mexico favorite...nice and hot in the mornings). While packing my bike, it gets pushed off the centerstand, cracking the windshield in two. O’ well, I never really liked the large "CHiPs" look anyway, and some black duct tape can cure just about anything. By 8:30 a.m. we’re on the road, with the gateway to Copper Canyon, the town of Creel, our destination.

We’re back on Mexico 16 heading East and the weather is perfect, last night’s storm having blown over. The roadway, which winds through pine forests and mesas, reminds me of Southern Colorado or Northern New Mexico. Now that we can actually see where we are going, we make good time, enjoying the curves and only occasionally having to dodge a boulder, poultry, or the like.

At the town of Basaeachic we stop for lunch, and discuss our next route. We can continue on Mexico 16 to Minaca and then South to Creel on pavement, or cut Southeast to San Juanito on Mexico 23 for fifty miles of dirt.... Really, there is only one choice on a GS...dirt!

Mexico 23 turns out to be a nice, wide gravel road, commonly used by locals in everything from a VW Beetle to large commercial trucks. Unfortunately, many times this means that they’re traveling at speeds that border on the brink of control; fishtailing around corners with little regard for motorcyclists who may be sharing the roadway. Additionally, the road turns out to be one of the dustiest of our trip, with billowing silt turning our bikes, gear and exposed skin white.

As we are passing up and over numerous canyons, switchbacks are common. Rounding a tight turn, Mel is surprised to see a tire bouncing down the middle of the roadway, headed straight for him! The tire hits a rock and takes a fortunate bounce to the left, careening off the road into a ditch. Only then does Mel see the source of the tire, a Geo Tracker, skidding to a stop about twenty yards ahead, its rear brake drum plowing a ditch in the roadway.

Mel, the best Spanish speaker in the group, stops to help the unfortunate travelers who had lost their lug nuts. By the time the rest of us arrive and dismount, a boy in his late teens, along with a teenage girl and middle aged woman, exit the Tracker. A bottle jack is produced, with a small screwdriver for a handle. No way is that jack going to fit under the vehicle. After chocking the tires, we demonstrate our gringo prowess with a feat of strength by lifting the rear of the Tracker enough to fit the jack under it. Fifteen minutes later the family is back on the road...one less lug nut on each of the very bald tires. I’d be amazed if they didn’t have a flat around the next corner. Such is the condition of many vehicles in Mexico.

We finally arrive in Creel relatively early, and find a nice cheap hotel for the night, with secure parking for the bikes. While we had planned to camp most nights, as this is a budget basement excursion, many times we found that basic lodging is cheap, between $25 and $40 per night for all four of us; taking turns crashing on the floor in sleeping bags. Of course, you can find pricier digs, but for a nice, clean room with a shower you don’t have to spend a bunch. After a long, dusty day a hot shower is darn nice!

That evening, we end up in a restaurant by the hotel called Veronicas. I suppose we were drawn in by the raging mariachis, but we picked the right place, as a group of fellow riders out of Tucson; having just gotten back from Batopilas, were enjoying the good food. We were able to pick their brains about the famed route we were about to take: fifty five miles of gravel and silt switchbacks, descending into an area the size of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, five thousand vertical feet below Creel.

Creel, Chihuahua. The gateway to Copper Canyon

The next morning we again met up the Tucson group, who were nice enough to let us use a very nice tire plug kit and compressor, Tony’s rear tire having developed a leak. Of course, we left some drool marks on their bikes, which were all nice late model KTMs and BMW 1150s and 1200s. It’s always great to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow riders.

That afternoon we would begin the five hour ride into Batopilas Canyon, one of the six major canyons in the Barranca del Cobre or Copper Canyon, which is actually a series of several canyons carved into the Sierra Madre mountain range, covering a total of 25,000 square miles of terrain. At 5904 feet deep, Batopilas Canyon is second only to Urique Canyon at 6136 feet deep.

The largest indigenous group in the Mexican State of Chihuahua occupies this region. The Tarahumara, who vary in number from 50,000 to 75,000 members, live mostly secluded lives, farming beans and corn and tending some livestock. The men, who are smaller in stature with strong muscular builds, are world renowned for being long distance runners. From what I’ve seen, these guys can pound out a 100 mile ultra-marathon like it was a weekend jaunt to the grocery store...in sandals, by the way!


Batopilas Road	Highway to Batopilas turn-off	Switchbacks	Batopilas Canyon