Copper Canyon Trip Report - 2011
- Thread starter G_fresh
- Start date
G_fresh
Adventurer
Thanks. Sorry this takes me so long. I'm just a slow writer. I usually spend a few hours per posting writing the narrative in between the notes of the high points we took during the trip...
Anyway, I went back and added quite a few pictures to the original posts!
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 7 - Batopilas (11/11/11)
We decided to spend the day in and around Batopilas. We would check out the sights and try to find a guide for the next day's trip to Urique.
The Lost Mission or Mission Satevo was worth the 45 min drive down the Batopilas River's right bank.* The mission has been substantially restored in the last several years. It now looks like a Southern California stuccoed structure on the outside (pretty bright orange as you can see from the below picture).* The restorers did leave a portion of an old wall in the ruined state; the original bricks were left exposed and un-stuccoed.
A local girl/young woman asked if we wanted her to unlock the mission.* We took her up on the offer. The inside looked more like a typical church mission that we have seen in other parts of Mexico. It was not restored as nicely as the outside (a positive to us).
The town of Satevo seemed like a really poor town.* The people were really friendly, helpful, and courteous.* There were a*bunch of kids around attending school but on recess. We decided to give them one of the soccer balls we brought with us to use as gifts.
We decided to go back to Batopilas to see if we could find the only guy in town who could speak English, Rafael, who ran the museum. We wanted to see if he could recommend a guide to show us the way to Urique. It was not until late afternoon that the museum finally opened. Rafael was a big help. He gave us a guided tour of the museum and help broker a deal with Lino, the guide we met the previous day!
We were all set. Lino would meet us the next morning at our hotel after breakfast. He would guide us the 46 miles to Urique via the "new road" which would take us about 3 hours he thought. After we got to Urique, he would get a hotel and begin walking back to Batopilas over the next two days. When we heard this, we were immediately concerned about his safety being in the wilderness for a night. Rafael and Lino both told us this was no big deal and people do it all the time. We hoped this was true and that the $200 we agreed to pay him was not influencing him to take too big of risks. As it turned out, Lino knew many of the ranchers along the route and had some friends in Urique...
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the town and getting the our gear and the trucks ready for the trip the next day.
P.S. Here are a few more pictures of Batopilas that we took while walking around...
We decided to spend the day in and around Batopilas. We would check out the sights and try to find a guide for the next day's trip to Urique.
The Lost Mission or Mission Satevo was worth the 45 min drive down the Batopilas River's right bank.* The mission has been substantially restored in the last several years. It now looks like a Southern California stuccoed structure on the outside (pretty bright orange as you can see from the below picture).* The restorers did leave a portion of an old wall in the ruined state; the original bricks were left exposed and un-stuccoed.
A local girl/young woman asked if we wanted her to unlock the mission.* We took her up on the offer. The inside looked more like a typical church mission that we have seen in other parts of Mexico. It was not restored as nicely as the outside (a positive to us).
The town of Satevo seemed like a really poor town.* The people were really friendly, helpful, and courteous.* There were a*bunch of kids around attending school but on recess. We decided to give them one of the soccer balls we brought with us to use as gifts.
We decided to go back to Batopilas to see if we could find the only guy in town who could speak English, Rafael, who ran the museum. We wanted to see if he could recommend a guide to show us the way to Urique. It was not until late afternoon that the museum finally opened. Rafael was a big help. He gave us a guided tour of the museum and help broker a deal with Lino, the guide we met the previous day!
We were all set. Lino would meet us the next morning at our hotel after breakfast. He would guide us the 46 miles to Urique via the "new road" which would take us about 3 hours he thought. After we got to Urique, he would get a hotel and begin walking back to Batopilas over the next two days. When we heard this, we were immediately concerned about his safety being in the wilderness for a night. Rafael and Lino both told us this was no big deal and people do it all the time. We hoped this was true and that the $200 we agreed to pay him was not influencing him to take too big of risks. As it turned out, Lino knew many of the ranchers along the route and had some friends in Urique...
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the town and getting the our gear and the trucks ready for the trip the next day.
P.S. Here are a few more pictures of Batopilas that we took while walking around...
Overland Nomads
Expedition Trophy Winner
Great report so far Ryan! Batopilas looks lovely and I really like those rock formations you took photos of in Creel.
TurboChris
Adventurer
Great trip report!
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 8 - Batopilas to Urique (11/12/11)
We met our guide, Lino, in the restaurant of our hotel a little after 8am. We grabbed the of our gear and we were on the road by 8:15am.
We only drove about 3 miles out of town before we headed east and crossed the Batopilas River over an earthen bridge for lack of a better term. We immediately began heading up the mountain side. The climb was about 6000 feet in about 7-8 miles and took us a little under an hour!
Once we leveled out, we were able to take in the scenery a bit more. At the higher elevations, it again looked like the Eastern Sierras; there were many pines despite it being pretty dry and rocky. The mid-elevations reminded me of Northern Arizona's high elevations. Of course, the vistas of the canyons were spectacular.
This is also the point where we were glad we hired Lino. There were many small farms and ranches on the road. This meant there were about ten barbed wire and wooden post gates we had to open and close to continue down the road. If we had managed to navigate the route to this point, I'm not sure we would have wanted to start down what could have been a "gated driveway" for some marijuana farms for all we would have known. If I were to do this road again, I would just call up the GPS track and retrace our steps…
The road conditions were generally what you would expect for a 6 month old, minimally maintained dirt road. There were sections that had pretty loose, small rocks that made the road "soft". This would probably make getting up some of the tight switchbacks require a little bit of finesse if someone was in a two wheel drive, no locker vehicle, but probably still doable. If there had been heavy rains during or right before, I think a 4WD with lockers would even struggle at times. Fortunately, we did not have to worry about this. Again, I'm not an expert on Unimogs or Dual Sports but, I think in dry conditions with a skilled driver this road would be possible and even enjoyable. Oh, and of course the livestock...
About 2/3 of the way through our 46 mile journey, we came upon an awesome overlook into the Urique Canyon with view of switchbacks down to the river. And, this random, nice looking sign that didn't seem to fit given the road we were on...
The drive down was pretty uneventful. When we met up with the Urique River, we were at the town of Guapalayna (or Guapalaina on Google Maps). The river need to be crossed next. We did not even have to walk the river to see how deep it was. An older gentleman was just beginning to walk across it when we arrived! It was pretty apparent that there was less than a foot of water. We just followed his path. So, again, we had a pretty easy river crossing.
We had just four more miles to go down river (on a dirt road) until the town of Urique.
But first, we had to carry out our first vehicle recovery! A few kids, aged from 10 to 14, were driving their father's F150-like truck up the earthen ramp from the river bed up to the shelf road that was about 10 feet above them. We were on that road and saw that they had slipped their 2WD pick-up truck's rear wheel off the ramp and the other rear was against a rather large rock. They we going nowhere. But, they kept trying. Their tires were spinning so much literally burning the rubber off of them. In some places, the tread was down to the threads (or radial belts?). Our guide said it was impossible for us to help; there was nothing we could do.
We said we would help. They were not stuck that bad. Of course, their truck had no recovery points up front. We could not even find the transport tie down holes. Judging from the beat-up body and other damage to the truck, as well as the ongoing damage, I figured it was an acceptable risk to use their stock front bumper. It was held to the frame rail by two 1/8 inch steel brackets. We looped the tow strap around both. I told LeeWhay she was the "Safety Officer" and to keep everyone back. I told the 14 year old driver, through Lino, to go very slow and stay with me. This didn't happen. We got him out and his bumper was now four inches further out in front. He didn't care and was probably just glad his father wouldn't have to get involved (my guess).
Lino was really impressed with the recovery gear. This was literally a $30, four inch, yellow, eBay tow strap (maybe rated at 20,000 lbs) and a $20, 5/8 inch D-shackle. I'm just relaying this point to give you a sense of how unprepared it seems people are down there for getting unstuck. So, make sure you are pretty self sufficient. Also, I said it was JUST $50 with of recovery gear. That $50 is a decent amount of money to most people in that area. (BTW, I had a much better kinetic recovery strap and larger/better D-shackles. I didn't want to risk cutting that strap on such an easy pull.)
So, we make it to Urique about 5 hours after leaving Batopilas. The plan was to eat lunch with Lino, part ways, and find Entre Amigos. Lino said he had never heard of it. We went to a restaurant that he knew the owners. We had a good lunch at Restaurant Paulina where we me the owners Mamma Tito and Jose. It had a really nice indoor/outdoor garden with these huge toads living within the plants. Of course, they had never heard of Entre Amigos either. But, they had this hotel we could stay at…
We decided to drink a few more beers with Lino since it was still mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, a white guy who was speaking much better Spanish than us came in and was eating a meal not too far from us. We didn't really talk to him much at first. While traveling in a foreign country, I always feel a little awkward seeing someone who is likely English speaking and just go up to them and start conversing in English. For all we knew, he was not an English speaker. After about half of an hour, we finally did hear him say something in English. So, we talked to him a little bit and found out he lived in town most of the year. Interesting… It turns out he was staying at and care taking for the owner of Entre Amigos while the owner was back in the US!
Now, we're in an awkward situation. We had already told Jose the restaurant owner that we would stay at his hotel, the Hotel Estrella del Rio (350MXN). Even though Jose knew we were originally looking for Entre Amigos, the caretaker agreed with us that it was probably a good idea to "spread the wealth" and stay one night at each place. As we were leaving, the guy said his name was “Caballo Blanco”!
Who is that? I would not have known. But, LeeWhay was reading “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen”. This is a (mostly) non-fiction book by Chistopher McDougall about the Tarahumara/Raramuri people of Copper Canyon and the race they run that is organized by Caballo Blanco.
The Book:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Supe...9189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326649133&sr=8-1
In a nutshell, Caballo Blanco is an American who lives in the Copper Canyon area a good part of the year. He organizes and fund raises for the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. He is an accomplished runner himself. See the below article for more info:
http://caballoblanco.com/SWEAT_Sep10_Feature.pdf
The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon:
http://www.coppercanyonultra.com/
Caballo Blanco's site:
http://www.caballoblanco.com/
Next, our experiences in Urique and our time spent with Caballo Blanco…
P.S. No suspension noises today!
We met our guide, Lino, in the restaurant of our hotel a little after 8am. We grabbed the of our gear and we were on the road by 8:15am.
We only drove about 3 miles out of town before we headed east and crossed the Batopilas River over an earthen bridge for lack of a better term. We immediately began heading up the mountain side. The climb was about 6000 feet in about 7-8 miles and took us a little under an hour!
Once we leveled out, we were able to take in the scenery a bit more. At the higher elevations, it again looked like the Eastern Sierras; there were many pines despite it being pretty dry and rocky. The mid-elevations reminded me of Northern Arizona's high elevations. Of course, the vistas of the canyons were spectacular.
This is also the point where we were glad we hired Lino. There were many small farms and ranches on the road. This meant there were about ten barbed wire and wooden post gates we had to open and close to continue down the road. If we had managed to navigate the route to this point, I'm not sure we would have wanted to start down what could have been a "gated driveway" for some marijuana farms for all we would have known. If I were to do this road again, I would just call up the GPS track and retrace our steps…
The road conditions were generally what you would expect for a 6 month old, minimally maintained dirt road. There were sections that had pretty loose, small rocks that made the road "soft". This would probably make getting up some of the tight switchbacks require a little bit of finesse if someone was in a two wheel drive, no locker vehicle, but probably still doable. If there had been heavy rains during or right before, I think a 4WD with lockers would even struggle at times. Fortunately, we did not have to worry about this. Again, I'm not an expert on Unimogs or Dual Sports but, I think in dry conditions with a skilled driver this road would be possible and even enjoyable. Oh, and of course the livestock...
About 2/3 of the way through our 46 mile journey, we came upon an awesome overlook into the Urique Canyon with view of switchbacks down to the river. And, this random, nice looking sign that didn't seem to fit given the road we were on...
The drive down was pretty uneventful. When we met up with the Urique River, we were at the town of Guapalayna (or Guapalaina on Google Maps). The river need to be crossed next. We did not even have to walk the river to see how deep it was. An older gentleman was just beginning to walk across it when we arrived! It was pretty apparent that there was less than a foot of water. We just followed his path. So, again, we had a pretty easy river crossing.
We had just four more miles to go down river (on a dirt road) until the town of Urique.
But first, we had to carry out our first vehicle recovery! A few kids, aged from 10 to 14, were driving their father's F150-like truck up the earthen ramp from the river bed up to the shelf road that was about 10 feet above them. We were on that road and saw that they had slipped their 2WD pick-up truck's rear wheel off the ramp and the other rear was against a rather large rock. They we going nowhere. But, they kept trying. Their tires were spinning so much literally burning the rubber off of them. In some places, the tread was down to the threads (or radial belts?). Our guide said it was impossible for us to help; there was nothing we could do.
We said we would help. They were not stuck that bad. Of course, their truck had no recovery points up front. We could not even find the transport tie down holes. Judging from the beat-up body and other damage to the truck, as well as the ongoing damage, I figured it was an acceptable risk to use their stock front bumper. It was held to the frame rail by two 1/8 inch steel brackets. We looped the tow strap around both. I told LeeWhay she was the "Safety Officer" and to keep everyone back. I told the 14 year old driver, through Lino, to go very slow and stay with me. This didn't happen. We got him out and his bumper was now four inches further out in front. He didn't care and was probably just glad his father wouldn't have to get involved (my guess).
Lino was really impressed with the recovery gear. This was literally a $30, four inch, yellow, eBay tow strap (maybe rated at 20,000 lbs) and a $20, 5/8 inch D-shackle. I'm just relaying this point to give you a sense of how unprepared it seems people are down there for getting unstuck. So, make sure you are pretty self sufficient. Also, I said it was JUST $50 with of recovery gear. That $50 is a decent amount of money to most people in that area. (BTW, I had a much better kinetic recovery strap and larger/better D-shackles. I didn't want to risk cutting that strap on such an easy pull.)
So, we make it to Urique about 5 hours after leaving Batopilas. The plan was to eat lunch with Lino, part ways, and find Entre Amigos. Lino said he had never heard of it. We went to a restaurant that he knew the owners. We had a good lunch at Restaurant Paulina where we me the owners Mamma Tito and Jose. It had a really nice indoor/outdoor garden with these huge toads living within the plants. Of course, they had never heard of Entre Amigos either. But, they had this hotel we could stay at…
We decided to drink a few more beers with Lino since it was still mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, a white guy who was speaking much better Spanish than us came in and was eating a meal not too far from us. We didn't really talk to him much at first. While traveling in a foreign country, I always feel a little awkward seeing someone who is likely English speaking and just go up to them and start conversing in English. For all we knew, he was not an English speaker. After about half of an hour, we finally did hear him say something in English. So, we talked to him a little bit and found out he lived in town most of the year. Interesting… It turns out he was staying at and care taking for the owner of Entre Amigos while the owner was back in the US!
Now, we're in an awkward situation. We had already told Jose the restaurant owner that we would stay at his hotel, the Hotel Estrella del Rio (350MXN). Even though Jose knew we were originally looking for Entre Amigos, the caretaker agreed with us that it was probably a good idea to "spread the wealth" and stay one night at each place. As we were leaving, the guy said his name was “Caballo Blanco”!
Who is that? I would not have known. But, LeeWhay was reading “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen”. This is a (mostly) non-fiction book by Chistopher McDougall about the Tarahumara/Raramuri people of Copper Canyon and the race they run that is organized by Caballo Blanco.
The Book:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Supe...9189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326649133&sr=8-1
In a nutshell, Caballo Blanco is an American who lives in the Copper Canyon area a good part of the year. He organizes and fund raises for the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. He is an accomplished runner himself. See the below article for more info:
http://caballoblanco.com/SWEAT_Sep10_Feature.pdf
The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon:
http://www.coppercanyonultra.com/
Caballo Blanco's site:
http://www.caballoblanco.com/
Next, our experiences in Urique and our time spent with Caballo Blanco…
P.S. No suspension noises today!
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
Ok. Back on it. I had to take a month and a half long hiatus due a beginning Ham class that was unexpectedly offered locally and an LX450 "repair" that needed to be carried out sooner rather than later. *The result was LeeWhay and I now both have our Technician licenses (I got a General as well). *Also, a new steering box is now installed.
We'll be here in Park City for the next week trying to ski and ride. I suspect I'll have plenty of time to finish this in the evenings.
Now, on with the show...
We'll be here in Park City for the next week trying to ski and ride. I suspect I'll have plenty of time to finish this in the evenings.
Now, on with the show...
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 9 - Urique (11/13/11)
After we woke up and said our goodbyes, we moved to Entre Amigos.
We found Caballo in the main house when we got there. He explained no matter which lodging option we decided on, we would have free-run of the commons area of the property. This included the communal building which housed the kitchen, dining area, game room, and hostel bunk room, as well as the gardens, outhouses, shower house, and patio. LeeWhay and I decided to take the guest house (460MXN). It was pretty large, would sleep four, had a kitchenette with sink but no restroom. Adam took the private room (400MXN) which was pretty much a hotel room with no bathroom. (For completeness, the hostel rate was 180MXN.)
Communal building:
Guest House:
Just as we settled in around 10am, it began to rain on and off for the next day and a half. It was pretty light at first so, we went for a walk along the Urique River on the road and along the riverbank for a couple of hours.
We decided to eat a lunch of canned soup and crackers just as the rain intensified. Due to the dreariness, we sat in the communal building and played ping-pong, Trivial Pursuit (without the board), and read the Overland Journal.
We tried to stay warm (a fireplace would have helped) and had to provide our own lighting due to the sporadic electricity outages throughout the day (due to the storm we assumed). The wood fueled shower house had exceptionally hot water which helped fight the cold off.
When the rain let up, we would wander out and talk to Caballo about the region, the tourism drought, the drug issues, the Tarahumara people. He was an interesting person, had an interesting background, and an interesting outlook on life. We also learned about the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon (link in previous post) and his nonprofit organization whose mission is to "support and reinvigorate an ancient and unique running culture that has endured from long before the arrival of Europeans on their continent." The website is http://www.norawas.org/.
This was our day. It was a welcome change to our routine since we had basically spent the last eight days driving a large portion of each day.
As night rolled in, we decided we would leave early in the morning and see how far we would get. Time for bed. This is what Adam found:
"There was a dead, squished, shriveled, dried mouse in a pool of its own evaporated blood (and maybe guts) sandwiched in between the 'clean sheets'. All of that was alongside a half a dozen insect cocoons."
This, along with the entrapped, dead mouse we found on the oven, gave more support to our theory that no one had stayed here for quite a while. And, we were the only people at Entre Amigos for the 24 hours we were there...
After we woke up and said our goodbyes, we moved to Entre Amigos.
We found Caballo in the main house when we got there. He explained no matter which lodging option we decided on, we would have free-run of the commons area of the property. This included the communal building which housed the kitchen, dining area, game room, and hostel bunk room, as well as the gardens, outhouses, shower house, and patio. LeeWhay and I decided to take the guest house (460MXN). It was pretty large, would sleep four, had a kitchenette with sink but no restroom. Adam took the private room (400MXN) which was pretty much a hotel room with no bathroom. (For completeness, the hostel rate was 180MXN.)
Communal building:
Guest House:
Just as we settled in around 10am, it began to rain on and off for the next day and a half. It was pretty light at first so, we went for a walk along the Urique River on the road and along the riverbank for a couple of hours.
We decided to eat a lunch of canned soup and crackers just as the rain intensified. Due to the dreariness, we sat in the communal building and played ping-pong, Trivial Pursuit (without the board), and read the Overland Journal.
We tried to stay warm (a fireplace would have helped) and had to provide our own lighting due to the sporadic electricity outages throughout the day (due to the storm we assumed). The wood fueled shower house had exceptionally hot water which helped fight the cold off.When the rain let up, we would wander out and talk to Caballo about the region, the tourism drought, the drug issues, the Tarahumara people. He was an interesting person, had an interesting background, and an interesting outlook on life. We also learned about the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon (link in previous post) and his nonprofit organization whose mission is to "support and reinvigorate an ancient and unique running culture that has endured from long before the arrival of Europeans on their continent." The website is http://www.norawas.org/.
This was our day. It was a welcome change to our routine since we had basically spent the last eight days driving a large portion of each day.
As night rolled in, we decided we would leave early in the morning and see how far we would get. Time for bed. This is what Adam found:
"There was a dead, squished, shriveled, dried mouse in a pool of its own evaporated blood (and maybe guts) sandwiched in between the 'clean sheets'. All of that was alongside a half a dozen insect cocoons."
This, along with the entrapped, dead mouse we found on the oven, gave more support to our theory that no one had stayed here for quite a while. And, we were the only people at Entre Amigos for the 24 hours we were there...
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 10 - Urique to San Rafael (11/14/11)
I guess all of the mice infested rooms had been taking a serious toll on my psyche. I "woke up" in the middle of the night thinking LeeWhay had gotten up to go to the bathroom. I then saw a rat following her. I tried to warn her but couldn't will myself to speak at first. When I could speak, I told LeeWhay, "Turn on the lights. A tail is following you!". I really woke up once she turned on the lights...
This was odd since I rarely even remember my dreams and this was so vivid.
We woke up and were indecisive. So, we stayed in bed longer than we would have. It was pretty cold and, most of the night, the rainstorm sounded much more intense than it actually was. Of course, we didn't realize this until we stepped out of the tin roofed guest house - lesson learned.
Finding my brother awake, we discussed leaving for the next two hours. What was the condition of the dirt road we had to take out of the steep canyon? Would there be washouts? If not, would we have enough traction on the inevitable mud surface?
We talked to Caballo Blanco. He was unsure about the road conditions. But, since he was heading to town for breakfast, he would ask around. When he came back an hour later, it seemed pretty clear we could make it since the daily bus made it in.
We loaded up and were off by around 10am. We happened upon Lino who decided to stay an extra day due to the rains. We said our good byes again.
The steepest part of the road that climbed out was fine. It was more like wet, rocky dirt than mud. Neither of the vehicles had any problems until we got to the top of the canyon where the terrain flattened out...
At this point the road got muddy. The red mud was particularly clingy. (Possibly due to clay?) I guess this makes sense since the silt can collect and build up on the more level terrain versus the steep sections where it gets washed down into the river.
We were leading my brother through this flat, forested section at around 30mph. I know the LX450 had good traction since I "brake checked" every few minutes on a straight section. We did not skid or actuate the ABS at all.
Adam in his 4Runner, however, did lose traction. He slid off onto the side of the road trying to keep up. It was not a big deal, he was just stuck in the soft shoulder mud. He probably would have been able to self-extract had he known the factory rear diff lock on his '97 4Runner (my old truck) only engages if in 4LO, not 4HI. When I asked him if he engaged the diff lock, he said yes. I was a little surprised he could not get out since the driver's side was on the road still.
It was easy for me to tow him out. Again, I engaged both lockers, put the LX in low and basically idled him out. Recovery number two completed!
When we were pulled safely off to the side of the road a bit further on, we had a careful look at our tires. (Just as a reminder from post #2, he was running BFG A/T with about 2/3 left on the tread and I was on BFG M/T KM2's.) It was really apparent now what had happened; his treads were caked with mud. In fact, the mud even extended beyond the outside of the A/T treads by a half inch. My tires were not caked at all!
I guess this would be basic knowledge for people who deal with mud in their region. We don't often encounter it in southern California. The dramatic difference in mud shedding of the two tire types was unexpected by the three of us...
We continued on at a slower pace.
Right before we pulled into the town of Cerocahui, the "suspension" noise came back. When we pulled into town, I looked under the front for about ten minutes while Adam and LeeWhay bounced on the front bumper. We could not reproduce the noise. I saw nothing that was loose or parts that were hitting each other.It still sounded to me that dirt or mud was getting into something like the spring perches. There was nothing that could be done about that. At that point, I decided if it was a problem with the internals of the axle rebuild done by TLC4X4 before we left, there was nothing I was going to be able to do about that either. I definitely was not going to tear into the front axle to find there was nothing wrong. We decided it was better to continue on and get closer to home.
Our lunch was our most expensive meal of the whole trip in Cerocahui. The Hotel Mission, where we ate, was the nicest we had seen to that point. This is likely due to the fact that the small town of Cerocahui is about 8 miles from Bahuichivo - one of the tourist train stops. So, some tourists make a day of going to Cerocahui. It is a very pleasant town with a picturesque setting near the edge of Urique canyon. We enjoyed walking around a bit before we pushed on. (For reference, there was gasoline for sale privately but no Pemex.)
Towards the end of the dirt road, it became another construction zone with heavy equipment all around. The mud got more water logged and puddles began to appear. They were not particularly difficult to navigate around or through with the right amount of momentum. It was noteworthy, again, that more pavement is being laid in the region. We were told by many locals the reason was to facilitate the mining industry. We also saw a fair amount of 4X4 mining trucks*with international sounding names attached to them.
About 5 miles before our destination for the night, San Rafael, we were once again on tarmac after five days. We spent another night in a really cold, mouse-infested room (Hotel Magnolia - 350MXN). Nothing else warrants mention about San Rafael…
I guess all of the mice infested rooms had been taking a serious toll on my psyche. I "woke up" in the middle of the night thinking LeeWhay had gotten up to go to the bathroom. I then saw a rat following her. I tried to warn her but couldn't will myself to speak at first. When I could speak, I told LeeWhay, "Turn on the lights. A tail is following you!". I really woke up once she turned on the lights...
This was odd since I rarely even remember my dreams and this was so vivid.
We woke up and were indecisive. So, we stayed in bed longer than we would have. It was pretty cold and, most of the night, the rainstorm sounded much more intense than it actually was. Of course, we didn't realize this until we stepped out of the tin roofed guest house - lesson learned.
Finding my brother awake, we discussed leaving for the next two hours. What was the condition of the dirt road we had to take out of the steep canyon? Would there be washouts? If not, would we have enough traction on the inevitable mud surface?
We talked to Caballo Blanco. He was unsure about the road conditions. But, since he was heading to town for breakfast, he would ask around. When he came back an hour later, it seemed pretty clear we could make it since the daily bus made it in.
We loaded up and were off by around 10am. We happened upon Lino who decided to stay an extra day due to the rains. We said our good byes again.
The steepest part of the road that climbed out was fine. It was more like wet, rocky dirt than mud. Neither of the vehicles had any problems until we got to the top of the canyon where the terrain flattened out...
At this point the road got muddy. The red mud was particularly clingy. (Possibly due to clay?) I guess this makes sense since the silt can collect and build up on the more level terrain versus the steep sections where it gets washed down into the river.
We were leading my brother through this flat, forested section at around 30mph. I know the LX450 had good traction since I "brake checked" every few minutes on a straight section. We did not skid or actuate the ABS at all.
Adam in his 4Runner, however, did lose traction. He slid off onto the side of the road trying to keep up. It was not a big deal, he was just stuck in the soft shoulder mud. He probably would have been able to self-extract had he known the factory rear diff lock on his '97 4Runner (my old truck) only engages if in 4LO, not 4HI. When I asked him if he engaged the diff lock, he said yes. I was a little surprised he could not get out since the driver's side was on the road still.
It was easy for me to tow him out. Again, I engaged both lockers, put the LX in low and basically idled him out. Recovery number two completed!
When we were pulled safely off to the side of the road a bit further on, we had a careful look at our tires. (Just as a reminder from post #2, he was running BFG A/T with about 2/3 left on the tread and I was on BFG M/T KM2's.) It was really apparent now what had happened; his treads were caked with mud. In fact, the mud even extended beyond the outside of the A/T treads by a half inch. My tires were not caked at all!
I guess this would be basic knowledge for people who deal with mud in their region. We don't often encounter it in southern California. The dramatic difference in mud shedding of the two tire types was unexpected by the three of us...
We continued on at a slower pace.
Right before we pulled into the town of Cerocahui, the "suspension" noise came back. When we pulled into town, I looked under the front for about ten minutes while Adam and LeeWhay bounced on the front bumper. We could not reproduce the noise. I saw nothing that was loose or parts that were hitting each other.It still sounded to me that dirt or mud was getting into something like the spring perches. There was nothing that could be done about that. At that point, I decided if it was a problem with the internals of the axle rebuild done by TLC4X4 before we left, there was nothing I was going to be able to do about that either. I definitely was not going to tear into the front axle to find there was nothing wrong. We decided it was better to continue on and get closer to home.
Our lunch was our most expensive meal of the whole trip in Cerocahui. The Hotel Mission, where we ate, was the nicest we had seen to that point. This is likely due to the fact that the small town of Cerocahui is about 8 miles from Bahuichivo - one of the tourist train stops. So, some tourists make a day of going to Cerocahui. It is a very pleasant town with a picturesque setting near the edge of Urique canyon. We enjoyed walking around a bit before we pushed on. (For reference, there was gasoline for sale privately but no Pemex.)
Towards the end of the dirt road, it became another construction zone with heavy equipment all around. The mud got more water logged and puddles began to appear. They were not particularly difficult to navigate around or through with the right amount of momentum. It was noteworthy, again, that more pavement is being laid in the region. We were told by many locals the reason was to facilitate the mining industry. We also saw a fair amount of 4X4 mining trucks*with international sounding names attached to them.
About 5 miles before our destination for the night, San Rafael, we were once again on tarmac after five days. We spent another night in a really cold, mouse-infested room (Hotel Magnolia - 350MXN). Nothing else warrants mention about San Rafael…
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 11 - San Rafael to Creel to Chinipas (11/15/11)
This day would prove to be our longest day of the trip.
Since we had been "out in the bush" for five days, traveling for 220 miles, and depleting our pesos, we decided to go back to Creel via Divisadero. Divisadero, which we wanted to see anyway, was only about 30 miles from Creel. So, the most we would be potentially be "wasting" was about 60 miles.
Creel is the only place we knew we could find an ATM and a Pemex. We knew there were none behind us. Given that San Rafael had no ATMs or Pemex's while being the biggest town on our maps going forward for a couple more days, we thought going back to Creel was our only option. Of course, we were wrong.
In retrospect, there was a Pemex about 30 miles going forward from San Rafael. And, we began burning many fewer pesos from here on out since we stopped staying in hotels after all of our cold, mousey experiences. Even if we needed to spend more pesos than we had, we always stash several hundred dollars in relatively hard to find places within our trucks. Although, we try to reserve that as "emergency" money.
We woke before dawn, packed up in about 15 minutes and were out. It had finally stopped raining at some point during the night. So, our trucks had a thin layer of ice on them. We thawed out and aired up since we would be on pavement again for several hours. Divisadro was about 10 miles up the road. We stopped for only a few minutes due to the fog obscuring the view of the valley. On to Creel.
Creel was reached with about an hour to go before the bank (hence the ATM) was open. We took the opportunity to gas up, reprovision our water/snacks, and eat a leisurely breakfast at Restaurant Tio Molcas. While doing this, we ran into Gary and ???, the dual sport riders, again. Gary was in dire need of some antibiotics to treat his traveller's diarrhea, so we gave him one of our doses of Cipro.
On the way back down to Divisadero, the weather began to cooperate! Here is the view:
Soon after we passed back through San Rafael, the pavement ended. About 30 miles on, we reached the town of Temoris which has two Pemexes. (It seems as if gas stations are distributed by distance rather than population in the Copper Canyon area since Temoris seemed smaller than San Rafael.) Around 2pm, we came across an authentic Baja fish taco stand as we entered town. I write authentic because the proprietor told us we lived and worked in Ensenada for many years and gets frozen fish brought in just to make the tacos. They were yummy!
We did not get a a good vibe from this town. Maybe it was the stares we got, maybe it was the helicopters that were hovering around the area. We had been told previously that the government used helicopters to located the marijuana fields. That was our only theory why they were there. Who knows. Regardless, we did not stop anywhere else in town after we first entered and ate the fish tacos.
After Temoris, things really slowed down. The road had not seemed to be graded for quite some time. Ruts, puddles, and small stream crossings were the norm. It was hilly but were gradually heading down into the Chinipas River valley. We went from around 5000 feet to about 500 feet. Even though Chinipas was only about 30 miles away, we didn't get there until around 4:30pm.
Chinipas was another small town. (Maybe on the order of Temoris?) The setting was amazing. It was situated right on the Chinipas River and surrounded by low-slung hills. The river was the largest we had seen to date. I had read stories and seen pictures of people making the crossing - I was not looking forward to this. We would have to figure it out tomorrow since the light was getting low...
When we arrived, we drove right through the entire town on its narrow streets hoping to find an RV lot or campground. We got a good vibe from the town itself. There was an organized youth soccer match going on right in the center of town. It seems as if about half of the town was there. We had to weave our way through the crowd to continue on. Well, no stealthy arrival, everyone knew we were there. This has pluses and minuses of course.
As I said before, we were done with hotels. There were some available if we could not find a suitable place to camp. We found the church; it looked like an option. The downside is that it had residences lining the narrow streets on all sides of the church. Just beyond, we heard the river call to us. We drove over to check out the riverbank. It was a shallow bank strewn with rocks that were marble to bowling ball sized. Some large 2-8 foot tall shrubs gave some privacy from the edge of the town which was several hundred yards away.
We drove back towards town as the crowd from the soccer match was breaking up. LeeWhay got out of the truck and asked a group of older men if it was ok to camp on the riverbank. That was all we needed to hear.
The evening was the warmest we had encountered since Nuevo Casas Grande due to the much lower elevation we suspected. We set up camp about 100 yards from the river at twilight. Since we did not have official permission to stay on the bank, we were a little on edge. We did get some curious gazes as a few people walked and drove by on the edge of town. But, nothing like the stares we got in Temoris. As we listened to the goings on of the town: cows mooing, muffled music, and people laughing, our tension subsided. But, the river's constant din reminded us that we needed to get across it, somehow, tomorrow…
We ate a quick dinner and drank a few beers. The sky was so dark in this area that we saw many shooting stars that night.
P.S. Same intermittent suspension noise. But remember, our plan was to do nothing since we couldn't identify anything...
P.P.S. In Chinipas, there were no Pemex's but private gas was available.
This day would prove to be our longest day of the trip.
Since we had been "out in the bush" for five days, traveling for 220 miles, and depleting our pesos, we decided to go back to Creel via Divisadero. Divisadero, which we wanted to see anyway, was only about 30 miles from Creel. So, the most we would be potentially be "wasting" was about 60 miles.
Creel is the only place we knew we could find an ATM and a Pemex. We knew there were none behind us. Given that San Rafael had no ATMs or Pemex's while being the biggest town on our maps going forward for a couple more days, we thought going back to Creel was our only option. Of course, we were wrong.
In retrospect, there was a Pemex about 30 miles going forward from San Rafael. And, we began burning many fewer pesos from here on out since we stopped staying in hotels after all of our cold, mousey experiences. Even if we needed to spend more pesos than we had, we always stash several hundred dollars in relatively hard to find places within our trucks. Although, we try to reserve that as "emergency" money.
We woke before dawn, packed up in about 15 minutes and were out. It had finally stopped raining at some point during the night. So, our trucks had a thin layer of ice on them. We thawed out and aired up since we would be on pavement again for several hours. Divisadro was about 10 miles up the road. We stopped for only a few minutes due to the fog obscuring the view of the valley. On to Creel.
Creel was reached with about an hour to go before the bank (hence the ATM) was open. We took the opportunity to gas up, reprovision our water/snacks, and eat a leisurely breakfast at Restaurant Tio Molcas. While doing this, we ran into Gary and ???, the dual sport riders, again. Gary was in dire need of some antibiotics to treat his traveller's diarrhea, so we gave him one of our doses of Cipro.
On the way back down to Divisadero, the weather began to cooperate! Here is the view:
Soon after we passed back through San Rafael, the pavement ended. About 30 miles on, we reached the town of Temoris which has two Pemexes. (It seems as if gas stations are distributed by distance rather than population in the Copper Canyon area since Temoris seemed smaller than San Rafael.) Around 2pm, we came across an authentic Baja fish taco stand as we entered town. I write authentic because the proprietor told us we lived and worked in Ensenada for many years and gets frozen fish brought in just to make the tacos. They were yummy!
We did not get a a good vibe from this town. Maybe it was the stares we got, maybe it was the helicopters that were hovering around the area. We had been told previously that the government used helicopters to located the marijuana fields. That was our only theory why they were there. Who knows. Regardless, we did not stop anywhere else in town after we first entered and ate the fish tacos.
After Temoris, things really slowed down. The road had not seemed to be graded for quite some time. Ruts, puddles, and small stream crossings were the norm. It was hilly but were gradually heading down into the Chinipas River valley. We went from around 5000 feet to about 500 feet. Even though Chinipas was only about 30 miles away, we didn't get there until around 4:30pm.
Chinipas was another small town. (Maybe on the order of Temoris?) The setting was amazing. It was situated right on the Chinipas River and surrounded by low-slung hills. The river was the largest we had seen to date. I had read stories and seen pictures of people making the crossing - I was not looking forward to this. We would have to figure it out tomorrow since the light was getting low...
When we arrived, we drove right through the entire town on its narrow streets hoping to find an RV lot or campground. We got a good vibe from the town itself. There was an organized youth soccer match going on right in the center of town. It seems as if about half of the town was there. We had to weave our way through the crowd to continue on. Well, no stealthy arrival, everyone knew we were there. This has pluses and minuses of course.
As I said before, we were done with hotels. There were some available if we could not find a suitable place to camp. We found the church; it looked like an option. The downside is that it had residences lining the narrow streets on all sides of the church. Just beyond, we heard the river call to us. We drove over to check out the riverbank. It was a shallow bank strewn with rocks that were marble to bowling ball sized. Some large 2-8 foot tall shrubs gave some privacy from the edge of the town which was several hundred yards away.
We drove back towards town as the crowd from the soccer match was breaking up. LeeWhay got out of the truck and asked a group of older men if it was ok to camp on the riverbank. That was all we needed to hear.
The evening was the warmest we had encountered since Nuevo Casas Grande due to the much lower elevation we suspected. We set up camp about 100 yards from the river at twilight. Since we did not have official permission to stay on the bank, we were a little on edge. We did get some curious gazes as a few people walked and drove by on the edge of town. But, nothing like the stares we got in Temoris. As we listened to the goings on of the town: cows mooing, muffled music, and people laughing, our tension subsided. But, the river's constant din reminded us that we needed to get across it, somehow, tomorrow…
We ate a quick dinner and drank a few beers. The sky was so dark in this area that we saw many shooting stars that night.
P.S. Same intermittent suspension noise. But remember, our plan was to do nothing since we couldn't identify anything...
P.P.S. In Chinipas, there were no Pemex's but private gas was available.
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 12 - Chinipas to Alamos (11/16/11)
After packing up, the first thing we had to deal with was the mighty Chinipas River. It was about 100 feet wide, flowing fast, and deeper than I wanted.
From our campsite, we saw where a dirt path ended into the river on our bank and reemerged on the other. I guessed that meant it could be done. Since we've never had to cross anything flowing nearly that fast or greater than about a foot in depth, we choose to seek another option.
Driving back towards town, we came upon another group of people. We asked the way to Alamos. They said to follow one of them in their truck. We were glad when they set out away from the river crossing near our campsite. In only about a mile, we came up to a view of this huge, tall bridge that crossed the Chinipas!
For the first half hour, we followed the lowland river valley. This meant mud, puddles, and ground fog through the farming area. The suspension noise started up again. The evidence of a correlation with mud increased.
Next, we encountered the toughest road conditions of our trip. The rugged climb ultimately took us up to 6000 feet from about 1000 feet. The steepest stretch involved a 4000 foot elevation gain in several miles (about a half hour). These were the views going up:
In the picture above, a view of the town of Chinipas through the trees shows the Chinipas River running to the left and below the town; that is where we camped.
This portion of the road was the only part that I consider "off roading" due to the steepness and loose surface. It didn't require lockers. I bet 2WD with a low gear would be capable of making it in the right hands.
I'll post some video of us tackling the road conditions in a later post...
At the top of he climb, the suspension noise seemed to be getting worse. Instead of a creaking sound, we thought we started to hear a metallic clunk/ping. I checked out the front end again and found nothing. Then it subsided. It came back after a half hour. At this point, I wanted Adam to drive it to see what he thought. So, we swapped vehicles for a while.
[4Runner vs. Land Cruiser aside: It had been a while since I had been in Adam's 4Runner (my old vehicle). It definitely felt much smaller, more nimble but less stable, and less solid. Similarly equipped, I think the 4Runner would probably be more capable due it it's smaller size and weight on very technical terrain. But, for extended, multi-country overlanding, I'm glad we went with the larger (hence more comfortable), more stout Land Cruiser (LX450). When we swapped back, Adam commented on the greater low-end torque and much larger physical size and feel of the LX450.]
After driving for 15 minutes, Adam observed the noise sounded like that which was made by his M3's polyurethane bushings. I was like, "I got poly bushings." They were the ARB, caster correction, eccentric bushings that came with the 2.5" ARB lift. I had them pressed in at TLC4X4 when they did the axle service. We checked the bushings. They did not seem to be moving within the leading arm, or disintegrating, or caking with mud, or anything else bad. We went back to our own vehicles to continue on...
After leaving the Chinipas town area to this point, we had seen virtually no one on the road. We had stopped for a couple of minutes for LeeWhay to adjust something in the cargo area and I was checking the MotionX map on the iPad. When I looked up, I saw three soldiers with M16's walking by my window and behind me towards Adam. LeeWhay noticed them about the same time. I looked forward and saw about 20 guys in total exiting with a bit of haste from their Humvee.
What seemed to be the second in command was talking to LeeWhay trying to figure out what we were doing here, where we were coming from, and where we were going. LeeWhay did a good job with where we were coming and going. I was trying to listen and figure out what else he wanted to know. It seemed as if he wanted to know why we were here so I said the word “vacaciones”. That seemed to appease him somewhat.
At this point I notice more soldiers were around Adam and his vehicle than LeeWhay and I – curious.
The situation continued with them searching both our trucks. Not super thoroughly but enough to see if we were running large quantities of guns, drugs, or whatever they cared about. After about ten minutes, we were allowed to continue on.
Another 10 – 20 minutes down the road, we came across the military's camp/checkpoint at a small stream crossing. We were flagged down, told to get out of our trucks, and turn them off. I was thinking, “This is going to be a long search.” So, I tried to preemptively explain we just came across their comrades on the road and that we were searched. Who knows if that had any effect but, about five or so minutes later, we were told we could go.
During this check, we talked to Adam. It turns out that the reason the Humvee patrol soldiers were more interested in Adam is that as soon as he saw them coming around the switchback, he tried to reverse to let them have room to get around. I had stopped on the outside of a pretty tight switchback. I'm not sure if the Humvee or any other large truck could have made the turn without Adam and I backing up. Adam's actions probably made sense if it were just another local guy in his truck. But, Adam thinks the soldiers thought he might have been trying to flee. Adam knows the least amount of Spanish of the three of us. But, he thinks they told him to get out of his 4Runner and put his hands on the hood.
I am not an excitable person. I do know that the Mexican military is one of the last organizations you need to worry about in Mexico. So, I was not very concerned during this episode. Had this been a technical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle)) with masked gunmen, I would have been sh!tting myself! Even if they had been the Federales, I would have been much more concerned (from an economic shakedown standpoint).
I guess my advice (in hindsight) should a similar situation happen to you, just sit there with your hands on the steering wheel and wait for directions. Just like you should do if pulled over by the cops in the US.
We continued on for a while. Until, I couldn't stand the mysterious suspension noise anymore. Since it seemed to be getting worse, I stopped, determined to get to the bottom of this. I called an "all hands on deck" to figure this out. The plan was to take the right front wheel off and investigate that area since we were pretty sure it was coming from that side. Got the tool roll out, both bottle jacks (one for lifting and one as a safety stand), and some trash cardboard to lie on. It was on!
Well, it took about five minutes after the wheel was off to figure out it was one of the poly bushing's bolts that was loose. I tightened it field spec torque, marked the new bolt position with a white paint marker, put the wheel back on, lowered the truck with the jack, and put everything away. No more noises for the rest of the trip!
I fully intended to check all of the bolt torques of everything that was touched during the axle rebuild and other service/modifications before we left. Due to circumstances beyond my control, we did not get the LX back until several days before we had to leave. (It should have been a couple of months.) At that late point, I had to trust that the work was done properly and attended to more pressing concerns.
The next leg of the journey we were deviating from the GPS tracks we had been using the last two days. It was not by choice. The mountain road simply did not follow them anymore. But, it was obvious we were going in the right direction. We soon figured out the reason. We were entering into a huge mining area – this was a new road.
Soon we began seeing huge earth moving vehicles, large pickup trucks, and industrial/mining buildings and shacks. I was just waiting to get squished. Or, more likely, stopped and told we couldn't be here and that the turn-off for the public road was five miles behind us. None of this occurred; we were on the right path.
After driving in the mining area for about an hour, we had exited the mountains. It now felt like we were in Baja. Nice, soft, flat, sandy tracks were the new road surface. We were able to drive faster than 30mph for the first time in over a week, 50mph felt like 70-80mph.
Our Copper Canyon adventure was over!
You can see the last of the mountains that contained the Copper Canyon area behind the dilapidated building in the picture above...
I could end it here… but I won't. There are still a few more interesting stories to tell…
After another half hour or so, we came upon a four lane interstate looking road that was being constructed. We were able to drive on this for a short while into Alamos.
We headed for the city center and asked around for directions to any of the few RV/campgrounds that we heard about from a few sources within the US. We were told by a few locals that only one was still operational (no surprise at this point in our trip). After gassing up at one of the many Pemex's in town, we headed to the RV/campground. The reason it seems that this RV/campground was still operational is that they were mostly a higher-end bed and breakfast.
We think the name of this place was called Ocostco and that it was ran by a Maria. The campsites were 10USD each; we got two. Each site had picnic tables and electricity. Water was available within the bathroom facility building (maybe elsewhere on site for RV's as well?). The showers were not very warm but the toilets did flush!
At the campground, we had only our second contact with Americans since we entered the canyons. A couple from Alaska had a winter “residence” at the RV site. We swapped stories with them for a couple of hours over a sundowner.
Since the town center was within walking distance, we strolled into town to eat a late dinner near the Zocalo. More on Alamos next…
After packing up, the first thing we had to deal with was the mighty Chinipas River. It was about 100 feet wide, flowing fast, and deeper than I wanted.
From our campsite, we saw where a dirt path ended into the river on our bank and reemerged on the other. I guessed that meant it could be done. Since we've never had to cross anything flowing nearly that fast or greater than about a foot in depth, we choose to seek another option.
Driving back towards town, we came upon another group of people. We asked the way to Alamos. They said to follow one of them in their truck. We were glad when they set out away from the river crossing near our campsite. In only about a mile, we came up to a view of this huge, tall bridge that crossed the Chinipas!
For the first half hour, we followed the lowland river valley. This meant mud, puddles, and ground fog through the farming area. The suspension noise started up again. The evidence of a correlation with mud increased.
Next, we encountered the toughest road conditions of our trip. The rugged climb ultimately took us up to 6000 feet from about 1000 feet. The steepest stretch involved a 4000 foot elevation gain in several miles (about a half hour). These were the views going up:
In the picture above, a view of the town of Chinipas through the trees shows the Chinipas River running to the left and below the town; that is where we camped.
This portion of the road was the only part that I consider "off roading" due to the steepness and loose surface. It didn't require lockers. I bet 2WD with a low gear would be capable of making it in the right hands.
I'll post some video of us tackling the road conditions in a later post...
At the top of he climb, the suspension noise seemed to be getting worse. Instead of a creaking sound, we thought we started to hear a metallic clunk/ping. I checked out the front end again and found nothing. Then it subsided. It came back after a half hour. At this point, I wanted Adam to drive it to see what he thought. So, we swapped vehicles for a while.
[4Runner vs. Land Cruiser aside: It had been a while since I had been in Adam's 4Runner (my old vehicle). It definitely felt much smaller, more nimble but less stable, and less solid. Similarly equipped, I think the 4Runner would probably be more capable due it it's smaller size and weight on very technical terrain. But, for extended, multi-country overlanding, I'm glad we went with the larger (hence more comfortable), more stout Land Cruiser (LX450). When we swapped back, Adam commented on the greater low-end torque and much larger physical size and feel of the LX450.]
After driving for 15 minutes, Adam observed the noise sounded like that which was made by his M3's polyurethane bushings. I was like, "I got poly bushings." They were the ARB, caster correction, eccentric bushings that came with the 2.5" ARB lift. I had them pressed in at TLC4X4 when they did the axle service. We checked the bushings. They did not seem to be moving within the leading arm, or disintegrating, or caking with mud, or anything else bad. We went back to our own vehicles to continue on...
After leaving the Chinipas town area to this point, we had seen virtually no one on the road. We had stopped for a couple of minutes for LeeWhay to adjust something in the cargo area and I was checking the MotionX map on the iPad. When I looked up, I saw three soldiers with M16's walking by my window and behind me towards Adam. LeeWhay noticed them about the same time. I looked forward and saw about 20 guys in total exiting with a bit of haste from their Humvee.
What seemed to be the second in command was talking to LeeWhay trying to figure out what we were doing here, where we were coming from, and where we were going. LeeWhay did a good job with where we were coming and going. I was trying to listen and figure out what else he wanted to know. It seemed as if he wanted to know why we were here so I said the word “vacaciones”. That seemed to appease him somewhat.
At this point I notice more soldiers were around Adam and his vehicle than LeeWhay and I – curious.
The situation continued with them searching both our trucks. Not super thoroughly but enough to see if we were running large quantities of guns, drugs, or whatever they cared about. After about ten minutes, we were allowed to continue on.
Another 10 – 20 minutes down the road, we came across the military's camp/checkpoint at a small stream crossing. We were flagged down, told to get out of our trucks, and turn them off. I was thinking, “This is going to be a long search.” So, I tried to preemptively explain we just came across their comrades on the road and that we were searched. Who knows if that had any effect but, about five or so minutes later, we were told we could go.
During this check, we talked to Adam. It turns out that the reason the Humvee patrol soldiers were more interested in Adam is that as soon as he saw them coming around the switchback, he tried to reverse to let them have room to get around. I had stopped on the outside of a pretty tight switchback. I'm not sure if the Humvee or any other large truck could have made the turn without Adam and I backing up. Adam's actions probably made sense if it were just another local guy in his truck. But, Adam thinks the soldiers thought he might have been trying to flee. Adam knows the least amount of Spanish of the three of us. But, he thinks they told him to get out of his 4Runner and put his hands on the hood.
I am not an excitable person. I do know that the Mexican military is one of the last organizations you need to worry about in Mexico. So, I was not very concerned during this episode. Had this been a technical (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle)) with masked gunmen, I would have been sh!tting myself! Even if they had been the Federales, I would have been much more concerned (from an economic shakedown standpoint).
I guess my advice (in hindsight) should a similar situation happen to you, just sit there with your hands on the steering wheel and wait for directions. Just like you should do if pulled over by the cops in the US.
We continued on for a while. Until, I couldn't stand the mysterious suspension noise anymore. Since it seemed to be getting worse, I stopped, determined to get to the bottom of this. I called an "all hands on deck" to figure this out. The plan was to take the right front wheel off and investigate that area since we were pretty sure it was coming from that side. Got the tool roll out, both bottle jacks (one for lifting and one as a safety stand), and some trash cardboard to lie on. It was on!
Well, it took about five minutes after the wheel was off to figure out it was one of the poly bushing's bolts that was loose. I tightened it field spec torque
, marked the new bolt position with a white paint marker, put the wheel back on, lowered the truck with the jack, and put everything away. No more noises for the rest of the trip!I fully intended to check all of the bolt torques of everything that was touched during the axle rebuild and other service/modifications before we left. Due to circumstances beyond my control, we did not get the LX back until several days before we had to leave. (It should have been a couple of months.) At that late point, I had to trust that the work was done properly and attended to more pressing concerns.
The next leg of the journey we were deviating from the GPS tracks we had been using the last two days. It was not by choice. The mountain road simply did not follow them anymore. But, it was obvious we were going in the right direction. We soon figured out the reason. We were entering into a huge mining area – this was a new road.
Soon we began seeing huge earth moving vehicles, large pickup trucks, and industrial/mining buildings and shacks. I was just waiting to get squished. Or, more likely, stopped and told we couldn't be here and that the turn-off for the public road was five miles behind us. None of this occurred; we were on the right path.
After driving in the mining area for about an hour, we had exited the mountains. It now felt like we were in Baja. Nice, soft, flat, sandy tracks were the new road surface. We were able to drive faster than 30mph for the first time in over a week, 50mph felt like 70-80mph.
Our Copper Canyon adventure was over!
You can see the last of the mountains that contained the Copper Canyon area behind the dilapidated building in the picture above...
I could end it here… but I won't. There are still a few more interesting stories to tell…
After another half hour or so, we came upon a four lane interstate looking road that was being constructed. We were able to drive on this for a short while into Alamos.
We headed for the city center and asked around for directions to any of the few RV/campgrounds that we heard about from a few sources within the US. We were told by a few locals that only one was still operational (no surprise at this point in our trip). After gassing up at one of the many Pemex's in town, we headed to the RV/campground. The reason it seems that this RV/campground was still operational is that they were mostly a higher-end bed and breakfast.
We think the name of this place was called Ocostco and that it was ran by a Maria. The campsites were 10USD each; we got two. Each site had picnic tables and electricity. Water was available within the bathroom facility building (maybe elsewhere on site for RV's as well?). The showers were not very warm but the toilets did flush!
At the campground, we had only our second contact with Americans since we entered the canyons. A couple from Alaska had a winter “residence” at the RV site. We swapped stories with them for a couple of hours over a sundowner.
Since the town center was within walking distance, we strolled into town to eat a late dinner near the Zocalo. More on Alamos next…
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 13 - Alamos to San Carlos (11/17/11)
Alamos was an interesting town. It had a vibe that was a mix of modern-day and yesteryear mining gateway town, artist community, old-money residences, and somewhat of a tourist town. It is definitely worth a day or two stop if you are in the area. I’'ll let several of the below pictures do the “talking” for me. It was a very colorful, photogenic town. Most of these pictures were taken from a few hundred foot tall hill near the edge of town that is called the Mirador (I think).
We spent the morning walking around and taking pictures before we headed to San Carlos. The drive up MEX15 was pretty standard Mexico driving. We were able to travel around 60mph+ for long stretches on the smooth pavement. Pemex's were readily available within Alamos and for the rest of the trip.
Instead of going straight to San Carlos, we decided to eat an early dinner and drive through Guaymas. I’m not sure if it was really worth it, but they did have a Papa John’s so I was happy. (We don’t have any in Santa Barbara so this was a rare treat!)
We kept driving past one or two rather uninspiring RV parks that consisted of densely packed sites on a field of dirt. The upside was that they were a minute or two walk from the Sea of Cortez. When we felt like we were far enough outside of the commercial area, we came across an sign for the El Mirador RV park. The place was deserted. Perfect, we thought…
It turns out the American owner was there trying to clean it up and get it somewhat operational again or to sell it. (Anyone got a few million dollars?) He was saying the tourism bust took it toll on the place and they closed it a year or two back. The park was still officially closed. He said we could stay the night if we wanted for free if we tipped the care taker – deal!
The owner gave us a tour of the place, described how it was in its heyday, and told us he would let the police know that he had people staying there. What a great guy!
There were no hook-ups (what did we care?), the toilet facility was marginally working (fine with us), and the grounds had road apples all over (ok). But, it was a five minute walk to a fairly secluded beach. So, we thanked him, picked the best sites in the whole place, and took a walk down to the beach to catch the sunset over the sea.
On the beach, we carried out our final vehicle recovery of the trip. A local guy was with his wife/girlfriend. He got their small 2WD pickup stuck in the loose-ish sand. He was spinning his tires while his wife watched from outside the car. We told him we’d give him a push. He asked if one of us would drive so he could help push. LeeWhay decided she'’d be better in the truck so us three men could push.
LeeWhay got in and wanted to get a feel for the gas and auto transmission before we pushed. She put the tranny in “L”, put her foot on the brake, gave it some gas, and drove right out of the hole! (A skill she learned at the Overland Rally in California.) It was pretty comical…
Alamos was an interesting town. It had a vibe that was a mix of modern-day and yesteryear mining gateway town, artist community, old-money residences, and somewhat of a tourist town. It is definitely worth a day or two stop if you are in the area. I’'ll let several of the below pictures do the “talking” for me. It was a very colorful, photogenic town. Most of these pictures were taken from a few hundred foot tall hill near the edge of town that is called the Mirador (I think).
We spent the morning walking around and taking pictures before we headed to San Carlos. The drive up MEX15 was pretty standard Mexico driving. We were able to travel around 60mph+ for long stretches on the smooth pavement. Pemex's were readily available within Alamos and for the rest of the trip.
Instead of going straight to San Carlos, we decided to eat an early dinner and drive through Guaymas. I’m not sure if it was really worth it, but they did have a Papa John’s so I was happy. (We don’t have any in Santa Barbara so this was a rare treat!)
We kept driving past one or two rather uninspiring RV parks that consisted of densely packed sites on a field of dirt. The upside was that they were a minute or two walk from the Sea of Cortez. When we felt like we were far enough outside of the commercial area, we came across an sign for the El Mirador RV park. The place was deserted. Perfect, we thought…
It turns out the American owner was there trying to clean it up and get it somewhat operational again or to sell it. (Anyone got a few million dollars?) He was saying the tourism bust took it toll on the place and they closed it a year or two back. The park was still officially closed. He said we could stay the night if we wanted for free if we tipped the care taker – deal!
The owner gave us a tour of the place, described how it was in its heyday, and told us he would let the police know that he had people staying there. What a great guy!
There were no hook-ups (what did we care?), the toilet facility was marginally working (fine with us), and the grounds had road apples all over (ok). But, it was a five minute walk to a fairly secluded beach. So, we thanked him, picked the best sites in the whole place, and took a walk down to the beach to catch the sunset over the sea.
On the beach, we carried out our final vehicle recovery of the trip. A local guy was with his wife/girlfriend. He got their small 2WD pickup stuck in the loose-ish sand. He was spinning his tires while his wife watched from outside the car. We told him we’d give him a push. He asked if one of us would drive so he could help push. LeeWhay decided she'’d be better in the truck so us three men could push.
LeeWhay got in and wanted to get a feel for the gas and auto transmission before we pushed. She put the tranny in “L”, put her foot on the brake, gave it some gas, and drove right out of the hole! (A skill she learned at the Overland Rally in California.) It was pretty comical…
Last edited:
G_fresh
Adventurer
DAY 14 - San Carlos to Phoenix (11/18/11)
Not much to say about this day. We continued up MEX15...
Don't forget to "check out" your vehicle at KM 21 (21km before Nogales).
The border crossing took an hour and a half. We watched some TV shows on our iPad which was on the dash while we inched forward. Normally, I would not recommend this...
We stopped in a hotel in Phoenix that night.
Not much to say about this day. We continued up MEX15...
Don't forget to "check out" your vehicle at KM 21 (21km before Nogales).
The border crossing took an hour and a half. We watched some TV shows on our iPad which was on the dash while we inched forward. Normally, I would not recommend this...
We stopped in a hotel in Phoenix that night.