Mexico's Copper Canyon Country "Las Barrancas del Cobre" in Español is a land of objective superlatives. Located in Chihuahua State about 400 miles south of the U.S. border, Copper Canyon, which covers about 10,000 square miles in the heart of the rugged and remote Sierra Madre Occidental, is the largest system of canyons in the world. It consists of seven separate canyon complexes, with three of those "Sinforosa, Urique and Batopilas" being deeper than the Grand Canyon.
This area is also home to some subjective superlatives. Though it is difficult to quantify overt beauty, Copper Canyon is visually stunning on every level. The rim of the canyon system lies at about 7,000 feet, which means it is home to thick pine and oak forests. (On the biodiversity front, there are more species of pines in and around Copper Canyon than anywhere else in the world.) Up high, there are also many areas dominated by scenic and climbable rock formations that are only now being discovered by rock jocks.
As you make your way down into the canyons, you quickly enter some seriously arid territory. Even within sight of the rim, the cactuses start growing thick. By the time you reach the bottom of any of these canyons, you are in the tropics, replete with fig trees and deep blue swimming holes.
Copper Canyon is also home to the world-famous, long-distance-running Tarahumara Indians, whose endurance-oriented athletic fetes have dazzled outsiders for centuries. (Most palpably, the Tarahumaras swept the first three places in the Leadville 100 three summers ago, the only year they competed full-force.)
The Tarahumaras are amazing people on numerous fronts. That they are without peers when it comes to running is common knowledge and almost blase. The reason they have developed their endurance skills is that they live in the middle of some of the harshest territory in the world. Tarahumaras often have to descend 3,000 feet to the closest stream just to get drinking water. And they herd goats through territory usually reserved for serious climbers who don't mind getting their legs ripped to shreds by cactus.
Moreover, and seemingly ironically, the Tarahumaras are among the most serious partiers on the planet. According to noted ethnographer Bernard Fontana, of the University of Arizona, the average Tarahumara stays plowed for more than 100 days a year, which beats even your average frat boy. The beverage of choice for Tarahumaras is a disgusting, though effective, liquid called tesguino. In the most flattering terms, this is a home-made corn beer that is transformed in a mere three days from kernel to keg. The Tarahumaras make tesguino - which seems like a tantalizing mix of grass clippings, mud and diarrhea to me-in 55-gallon drums. It spoils (though how something that skanky can spoil- I don't know) in 48 hours, so, once a batch is made, it has to be consumed immediately.
I first visited the Copper Canyon area in 1984. My wife and I stopped off for a few days, almost as an afterthought, on our way overland to Central America. I had no idea at that point how much my decision to visit Copper Canyon would change my life. Since 1984, I have made more than 30 trips down there. I have hiked more than 2,000 miles in and around Copper Canyon, and I am still being amazed by all the area has to offer a backcountry aficionado with more than a passing interest in cultural anthropology.
My interest has remained piqued by Copper Canyon for a combination of reasons. I like canyon country. I like rural Mexico. And I like the Tarahumaras, who seem to live a dream life in the eyes of many people: they party a lot, and, yet, they can still run the socks off of all but a handful of elite-class runners in the world.
I have become close amigos with several Tarahumaras who accompany me on every backcountry foray I take in Copper Canyon. Not only do these Tarahumaras know the local terrain like I know the inside of my favorite bar, but they bring a high degree of partying-type levity to every journey. Though I like beer about as well as a person can like anything, I never carry suds with me into the backcountry, as I avoid excess weight in my pack like the plague.
But my Tarahumara compadres do not have such concerns, as they do not seem to notice extra weight upon their backs. They always bring cases of Tecate (which I, of course, pay for) with them on the trail. All told, I figure me and my chums average somewhere around 10 beers a day EACH while we're on the trail. I have yet to ascertain whether this is a good or as bad thing, as backpacking through rough territory when it's 100 degrees is bad enough without a hangover that's been fermenting for a week. But, when in Rome, do as the Romanians ...
For the Copper Canyon neophyte, here are several recommended hikes. The first thing you should know is that 90 percent of all visitors to the area arrive via the famed Chihuahua-Pacifico Railroad, which connects Chihuahua City and Los Mochis, located near the Sea of Cortez. This railroad line is considered a bonafide engineering marvel by train aficionados, passing as it does through the middle of the Sierra Madre for almost 1,000 kilometers.
Six hours by train from Chihuahua City and about 12 from Los Mochis is the village of Creel-the main jumping off point into the Copper Canyon area.
Though the backcountry opportunities directly out of Creel are limited, here's where you catch the bus to the amazing and amazingly isolated town of Batopilas, about 10 rough bus hours away. From Batopilas, a tropical town located at an elevation of 1,500 feet at the bottom of its namesake canyon, there are several splendid hikes. If you have only a day or two, hike along the well-coiffed trail to Munerachi, a genuine Tarahumara Village about six hours from Batopilas. If you have three or four days, plan a bike ride to the town of Urique, from where you can take a bus back up to the train line.
There are plenty of people in Batopilas who can guide you or give you directions to either of these places.
Contrary to popular belief, the Chihuahua-Pacific train does not pass into Copper Canyon. As a matter of fact, at only one point, El Divisadero, is there even a view of the canyon system from the train.
One of the most popular hikes in the area begins right from the hotel at Divisadero. Ask someone to point you to the trail down to the river. Be forewarned, though, that, while the river seems fairly close to the rim as you're standing there ogling at the vista, the hike down takes almost a full day, and it's dry the entire way. So, since the train arrives in Divisadero in early afternoon, you should head off into the woods to camp for the night, getting an early start the next morning.
Another great hike is the five-day route from Cusarare, 12 miles south of Creel on the road to Batopilas, to Divisadero. This route is called the "Canyon Crossing," and several of the Tarahumaras who live near the hotel in Cusarare (mainly my buddies Sahuaripa and Reyes) will be happy to guide you along it. You,ll have to buy the beer though. They'll carry it. You should figure on about 10 cans a day, just to keep your strength up.
For more information about hiking in Copper Canyon, there's a delightful little book out, called "Mexico's Copper Canyon Country" (Johnson Books), written by an insightful and witty author named, well, me. It should be noted that Copper Canyon is fast becoming as popular with mountain bikers as it is with hikers. There's a bike shop in Creel right next to Margarita's Guest House, where you can learn all about it.
M. John Fayhee, a long-time contributing editor at Backpacker, is the author of "Along the Colorado Trail," "Along Colorado,s Continental Divide Trail" and "Up at Altitude: A Celebration of Life in the High Country." His next two books, "A Colorado Winter" and "Along the Arizona Trail," will be published by Westcliffe in September. Fayhee is the editor of Summit Outdoors and lives in Breckenridge, Colorado. |
