[coppercanyon] copper canyon itinerary - updated march 17

[Danodemotoman]

Ok I go on vacation and the list moves, anything else I ought to know? :+) Thanks for the tip Arne.

On Danodemotoman wrote: > Good intentions on writing the travel report on the Mex Copper Canyon trip Mar 27-Apr 2, 2000. Just too damned busy trying to catch up at home and work. So here goes a short version. > I shipped the bike a Y2K KLR to Phoenix and back from the Puget Sound in WA state. I flew in to Phoenix on Mar 23, 2000. Vacation time is limited as most of you already know. I would have liked to spend another week riding it out and back.. but not in the cards this time. I was able to visit relatives in the Phoenix/Arizona City area and do some riding thru the mountains east up to Globe and down to Benson thru Reddington. The dirt/sand road was major fun especially thru the dippy sand washes... yahoo! On south to Tombstone wher I stopped to get a pic of boot hiil and the OK Corral on hwy 80 and looping NE thru Douglas and Apache country. Rode by the area that Geronomo surrenderd as the sign stated. Got to Deming NM Mar 25 late, where I was to meet 11 others in the group including the leader Mr Bill Haycock webmaster of dualsport.org. > That was a 550 mile ride to get to Deming. After a short night sleep I got up and met the Atlanta group of four for breakfast and we made plans to ride that day as we would not depart till tomorrow the 27 for the border. So much for a day of rest prior to the main event. Another 500 mile plus day. Never thought I could do that on the KLR but there it was two days in a row. We had a great ride up hwy 160 to Silver City, down HWY 191 (666) was really awesome as that road seemed to follow the mountain tops for we had snow along the road for many miles. Pavement was dry tho. Then hwy 7 to I-10 and back to Deming at dark:30 I had a Kenda 270 rear semi knobby installed for the trip and this pavement ride let me know that it was not designed for severe lean angles. Can you say drift! A good tire for the adventure minded tho if you are looking at needing traction in the loose dirt. Mud too tho we did not encounter much of that. It is a 3-4 k mile tire. > Mon Mar 27th we headed for the border the dozen of us and after a couple of hours due to some paperwork procedural problems (remember to ALWAYS turn in your vehicle sticker when leaving Mex as you may be riding another machine in next time.. thay can assume you sold the prior machine in Mex if you don't) > On to Nuevo Casa Grande for a short first day. We stayed at the fine hotel Hacienda. > Next day we headed for the Casa Grande ruins dated as peaked 1000-1300 AD. From there we soon started the first dirt d/s part of the ride. The KLR performed great. Just remember it is not a dirt bike. (IMHO) > The Ortleib Dry Bags from Aerostich were the ticket along with the cycoactive map case, glovebox and a CoverCraft (JC Whitney) tail bag but others would work fine too. I was wearing a HJC Cirotech jacket and pants. The jacket is very good, never did I find it wanting, the pants are more cold weather and get a bit warm, also you have to remove the boots to put the pants on and off, don't they know to make the zippers up past the knee?. No armor tho in either. But dense foam at the usual required places. > No casualty of machine or my 49 yr old body. Went over a rocky two track over the continental divide from near Casa Grande to Madera. That was full day of mostly the dirt and a some pavement at the beginning and end. I lost one screw for the header pipe heatshield early on and noticed it in Casa Grande. Ended up removing the shield for the remainder of the trip as while removing the 2nd screw it broke off a victim of over torqueing when Big K installed as near as I can guess. Not a big problem as the pipe is recessed so not to contact the riders leg but the radiant heat without the shield was uncomfortable at times to actually damned hot when the air speed dropped during slow dirt sections and the air temp rose. Two other mechanical problems arose, one for another KLR rider, lost a supertrap muffler and just needed a bolt to get it back on and the Tiger had a problem with the centerstand mount and the rider removed the stand and tied it on his load for the trip. Another KLR had a slow leak in the rear tire as we entered Creel. Very good timing that was. > Next morning we headed for Creel. Some split off and I was among them to do a side trip SW to Basaeachi Falls (sp!!) Those who went sraight to Creel had a 1/2 day of riding. I am more of a rider than a town tourist so having more time in Creel was not important to me. I came to ride! Now it is the dry season but the road to the falls was worth riding on a motorcycle. The falls tho dry then is a 900+ ft in height. We were able to take a short 1 KM hike and stand at the edge of the drop thanks to a chain link fence and look stright dow. Yep 900+ ft is a LONG ways down.. The view of the falls when the river is running has to be spectacular. This is a remote area so the view is not colored by civilization such as buildings and such. The ride back SE to the paved road towards Creel was a 50 mile gravel road. This was very dusty at sections but just hang back far enuf for to to settle seemed to work best. > Checked into the motel in Creel for a well deserved shower and get ready for the evening meal. The main meals were brekie and supper. Snacks like power bars etc for during the day. I purchased a Camelback drink system and it was worth 10 times the cost. I ride off road and sport touring so the camelback will be used a lot. That and a tinted visor for the Arai Quantum helmet were some of the smartest items I purchased for the trip. I stubbornly refused to get the tinted shield over the last two years because of the cost. After repeated sun burns including the lips my resistance has faded. > Departed Creel for Botopilas DOWN in the canyon. After some 45 KM from Creel we leave the pavement for a dusty rough narrow dirt road and another approx 45 KM to Botopilas . Soon after reaching the peak of the road over the Sierra Madre Occidental around 7-8 K ft we start going down into the canyon. After some 10 KM we have a 2 hr delay due to construction. Widening the road. We thought we a timed it right but still had to wait. In the sun with no shade, tho there was the yet to be installed large culverts laying about some were snoozing off in. OK we finally can set off again. During this stop we see some of the ethnic Tamahuramura (sp!!)Indians. Very different in looks and dress. You won't confuse the Indians with Mexicans IMO. > Down down and down some more. More switchbacks that can be counted. Winding thru the blind and sometimes decreasing radius corners and edges of the moutainsides. One big mistake and there is the edge with near vertical drops down to the river bottom. I try to set the pace I enjoy for a short while picking up the speed but am stopping very often for photo ops. I go thru some 10 rolls of film on this trip. On down and around till we get at the river level and cross the main bridge. On toward Botopilas on just slightly less sharp turns. > Arrived in Botopilas dusty as can be. A small town of 1100+ it has quite a history going back to Spain hauling out enuf silver to build the Armada with finding deposits of up to 200 kilos of nearly pure metal. > Some of us had to get back to the ole job so I split off the next morning with the Atlanta four and headed back to Creel. A nice ride out of the canyon. Very different as going up and the opposite direction. Most any rider will agree that reversing course will give a feel of a new ride. After arriving at the pavement again and some more photo ops I declared my interest in again splitting off from the group just before Creel to take a short detour out to Divisaderos. This is a canyon rim outlook similar to the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon of AZ, USA, too big of views to describe here. I started reading about the Copper Canyon a year ago. Startled to find that it covers 3-4 times the area of the Grand Canyon with some slightly greater depth and not a wide from rim to rim. Also like the one op north it is several canyons and the area is named the Copper Canyon because of the color. > Concerning roads I found them to be in good condition thru out the areas I was riding in. Some nearly new asphalt. Most every one was a delightful motorcycle road with some of the best twisties anywhere. Nice thing about adventure touring is the discoveries and especially the unanticipated finds. Some of the Copper Canyon is accessable with street bikes so the KLR was nice as this was billed a d/s ride with the optional dirt roads we took. > After Divisaderos I wanted to continue on south to the Urique canyon area but decided to be conservative and get back to Creel a couple hrs prior to sunset. That was a good decision as riding at night in Mex had always been srongly advised against by all accounts I have read. > Also smart as it took me a while to locate the motel one of our group was staying in as he had opted out of the Botopilas part of the ride. Ahh, a familiar face even tho I had just slipped off from the Atlanta group of four only a few hrs ago. When you as ignorant of the language as I am you soon find that you are in a state of a lack of information and not being able to do anything about it. I will bone up on a few words and phrases next time! Famous last words! > After a nice evening meal, a good sleep and breakfast I was raring to go. I enjoyed the group experience but revel in going alone. I head up out of Creel with the idea of getting over the border by dark. This time I will cross over south of Douglas AZ as going to Deming is the opposite direction for me. > The weather has cooled even more. Most of the trip was pleasant especially when moving along. Like 80 deg F in the lower elevation and 50-60 at 6-8K ft. It was about 38 when leaving Creel in the morning but that warmed up to about 60 soon enuf. A low front storm was sweeping across Mex and north across AZ also. The rain was only north of me, always north. I heard when back in Phoenix that they had quite a deluge and the front spawned tornados in TX. The wind was blowing strong. Approx 30 -40 mph with gusts. Blew me around a bit. Nervously thought of the vehicles that wander without this help of the wind. I have to say that with few eceptions the divers in Mexico were courteous and helpful. > Away from the border towns the Mexicans were friendly also and always willing to help a Gringo that could't speak their language. Stupid me. Back to the windy condition..Being as it hit me mostly on the left it takes a toll after a full day and by the time I hit Douglas I was very tired. I stopped for a very nice dinner just before crossing to spend some of the pesos. I crossed just about dusk and checked into a Motel 6. > Getting up the next morn I had the plan to ride up to Tucson and then east up Mt Lemmon. By the time I got near Tucson I realized that I was into the state of exhaustion. I had been riding for 8 days without a day off. I nearly rode into the ditch when stopping for fuel. Mistakes can be made unawares when so tired. I made a brief 15 min stop and decided to haul to Phoenix and turn the bike in a few hrs early to Mike who is the trucker/shipper of bikes. He runs KGM Assemblers in Kent, WA. He had a good load coming to Phoenix as it was AZ bike week. I was fortunate to have a very similar time plan and so got in on a group rate. Saved me a couple hundred USD compared to having it shipped to Deming and I also got to visit family and ride some of AZ. > So after a day and a half layover in Phoenix I flew back home. Put 2600 miles on the KLR and it did not miss a beat. > What would I do different? Little things like wear the MX pants for riding as they can be rinsed out each evening and dried overnight, that would reduce the qty of denim jeans from three to two. No big things that I would change. > All went well and other than two minor spills in the dirt by two others and a scare to another while riding to fast thru the switchbacks down into the canyon (he reluctantly offered info that he was scraping the bar guards on the inside of the corner against the dirt wall and came around and bumped into a cow, as there were so many places to ride off the edge of the road over cliffs and such that was a tame outcome. > A beautiful ride to the Copper Canyon my friends. My amigos on the ride were great. The food was very good. The only precaution I took was to have a couple of vaccinations for Hepatitus A & B per my doctor and drink bottled water and refreshments. The water served at the restaurants was bottled and each hotel had bottled water for tooth brushing. > Hope this report is readable and understandable. > My suggestion..just do it. Ride that is.

[Danodemotoman]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2000 16:08:49 -0500 Bill Haycock wrote:

>To all: Please print this out and bring with you to Deming > >Following is the revised Itinerary for the Copper Canyon trip > >COPPER CANYON ROUTE > > > >March 26th (Sunday) Group members meet in Deming, New mexico. Plan your >arrival time by mid afternoon. Those trailering bikes will need time to >drop off the bikes and gear and take their vehicles/trailers to the >storage location. > > Motel 6 Lodging (Deming off Interstate on east side of town) >- Reservations will be made. > > >March 27th Ride to Nuevo Casas Grande Visit Pre-Columbian ruins that >afternoon or next morning. > > Motel La Hacienda Lodging (Main highway coming into town) > >March 28st Dual Sport ride across the Sierra Madre Mountains (130 >miles) We will spend the night in Madera. > > Motel Real de Bosque Lodging (On the highway going south out >of town) > >March 29th Madera to Bassaseachi WaterFalls (morning ride). >From >there to Creel via good dirt roads. > > Motel Parador de la Montana Lodging (Main street in Creel) > >March 30th Ride to Baptopilas in the Copper Canyon (90 miles, 45 dirt) > > Motel Mary s or Motel Real de Minas (might have to split up >as rooms are limited in Batopilas > >March 31st Spend the day exploring Batopilas area neat stuff here! > >April 01 Ride to El Rancho Hunting lodge in the mountains > > El Rancho Hunting Lodge > >April 02 Ride back to Deming, New Mexico for the early returning >group. > > Extended stay Group > >April 2nd would have us leaving the "La Estancia" (Hunting Lodge we are >all staying at on April 1st) and riding to Cerocahui >for the night. We might decide to stay at Divisadero as it is much less >expensive. Then proceed to Urique the next morning.) The route is >basically back toward Creel, out the fantastic new road to Divisadero, >onto the dirt to Bahuichivo, >and ending the day at Cerocahui. This is about 165 miles total - about >35 miles dirt. > >April 3rd - Ride into Urique (all dirt and another big decent into the >canyon bottom). Spend an hour or so and then back out and return ride >to El Divisadero, spend the night on the canyon rim at Hotel "La >Mansion". > >April 4th - Ride to Madera or Nuevo Casas Grande if time permits > >April 5th - Nice day ride to Deming, NM > > >