We arrive in Batopilas in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve after two and half days of walking and set about finding ourselves a cheap hotel. The originally named Hotel Batopilas boasts a view over the river but it’s not the classiest accommodation I’ve ever stayed in.
Once we are settled in to our less than [...]
Jeff and I decide to walk from Urique to Batopilas for New Year’s Eve. This means walking out of the deepest canyon in North America over the mountain tops and down into the second deepest canyon in North America on a network of unmarked footpaths that have been used by local people for hundreds of [...]
Tagged camping, copper canyon, mexico, off cycle, walkingUrique Canyon is a magic place, sheltered and warm, and as I descend towards the bottom the notion of a white Christmas suddenly recedes. Entre Amigos offers a range of accommodation options, guest houses, a dormitory and camp sites. Initially, 90 pesos a night to camp seems steep, especially as normally I pay nothing for [...]
Tagged a place to stay, copper canyon, food, magic, mexicoI imagine, now that I am on the road to Urique, that it won’t be long before I get there but over fifty kilometres of steep unsurfaced road prove slow to negotiate. I spend the day climbing up and down steep hills, passing through a series of villages. After a particularly long steep climb I [...]
Tagged copper canyon, dirt roads, mexico, snow and ice, winterLeaving Recowata, Jeff and Jason and I head in opposite directions. The boys make their way back to Creel while I set off towards Urique, 160 kilometres away. I camp alone, for the first time in over a month, near the highway and, in the morning, set off into a cold grey day. The weather [...]
Tagged mexico, mountains, people, snow and ice, winterI decide to leave Creel and head for Urique. Cass and Jeff also intend to arrive in Urique by Christmas and have a vague plan to catch the train from there to the coast to celebrate New Year and return later to pick up their bikes and continue.
In the meantime, Jason and Jeff decide to [...]
The trouble with mountains in winter, even in Mexico, is that they are cold. We are heading for Creel, which sits at an elevation of around 7500 feet and it has been a very long time since any of us have been below about 5000 feet.
The nights are pretty chilly and it is very hard [...]
We leave Ejido el Largo and have more climbing to do on slick icy roads to reach Quarenta Casas, another archaeological site, which we plan to investigate. The site is, apparently, closed to the public for reasons which are not entirely clear but Jeff, the Spanish speaker of our group, manages to persuade the two [...]
Tagged dirtbag gang, mexico, mountains, ruinsLeaving Nueves Casas Grandes we ride towards the mountains again – trying to flee the traffic on the busy highways linking the major towns. We pass Paquime, the site of the ruins of an ancient settlement and spend an hour wandering around before setting off again in the dusk to find a camp site.
Our next [...]