Mexico Help-Copper Canyon and beyond
 

Heading to Copper Canyon with a group of maybe five riders. Crossing at Nogales, then to Hermosillo to Mex 16 to
Creel. Any one know of any good side trips along the way?

Big dual sports so we aren't doing any technical dirt, we can go to Batopilas OK, but nothing more technical than that. We can go to Divisadero too, not sure how much further we could make it..

Any other "reasonable" places to explore?

Has anyone taken Mex.24 which goes from Parral west to the coast and Highway 15? The map says "Not Reccomended for Travel" but its a very old map. Any direct experience or "stories"?

We want to visit Zacatecas. Any tips? Places to stay? Things to do?

Thanks,
Patrick

When you leave Creel try the road that goes by Guachochi (23) then to San Pablo Balleza (20) then south to the (24) road that goes NW to Hidalgo del Parral, This is a beautifull trip, beautiful neat twisty road.
It will take from 4 hours to 8 hours to do it depending on your speed & skills.
Beware of tree shades, there might be slight ice on the road if early or late. It is going to be cold by this time.
In Parral there is budget hotel called Turista Hotel, it is good & clean, maybe 400 pesos 2 people.

If you ride near Gudalajara drop me an E-mail.

Have fun

Humberto
MoroCycler

Hi Patrick; I would second Humberto's recommendation from Creel to Parral. It is an absolutely lovely ride. The short ride from Creel to Divisadero is not to be missed. Lovely pavement, lots of curves and vistas. Also across from the train station at Divisadero is a lookout that takes your breath away. ( note that I am a flatlander!) I am not familiar with #24, but my map shows the pavement ending atYerbitas. If you have the time, go down to Durango, then take #40 west towatd Mazatlan. This is commonly referred to as the Devils Backbone. You will never forget it. Enjoy your trip. Wish I could be there. Neil W.

In Parral i always stay in the Hotel Acosta, near the plaza. Its in the lonely planet. From the roof you have a beautiful view of the city, and a double room was only 240 pesos. You can park up to two bikes in the lobby. Diddo on all the road recomendations, especially the Devils Backbone. Bring your heated vest, it gets cold up there!

Zacatecas...good choice. You should look up my friend Frederico...Casas (his name is veeeerrry long) His family has a hostal on Av. Juares 222. He´ll surely help you out. Stay a few days, its a great city!

Hey Patrick,

If you get to Zacatecas, be sure to take the cable car ride across the valley the old part of town sits in. You get a couple hundred feet off the ground. There are 2 Spanish cathedrals there, and the Plaza de Armas is great for people watching. The hotel we stayed at was right in that area, and had a private parking ramp. I see if I can find the name.

Hope we meet up again,

Andy (from Creel '04)

Hi Andy!
Thanks for the tips on Zacatecas! Thanks also to Ron, 'Berto, and Mack as well for the tips.

Andy and I shared a room in Creel at the HU event in Oct. '04. This trip, which will be in late April, we plan to explore a bit more of Mexico. It will be my 3rd trip to CC.

In '98 I rode on 23 down to Parral but we kept going to Durango. Then did the
Espina del Diablo to Mazatlan. Fun road.
But this time I'd like to try to get to the coast via 24 if possible.
I'm searching for info on this road.

Andy, I've heard about that cable car, sounds cool, thanks. Have you done any good rides lately? Any planned? Any luck
with the Texas bike mag?

We may also get over to Real de Catorce,
near Matehuala. Cool ghost town. Anyone
been there?

For a neat hotel in Parral go to the plaza at the east end of the Zona Centro, next to the mercado and go south off the west side of the plaza on the short street and find Hotel Acosta. Last fall a room for one there cost me only 220 peso and they let me park the bike in the lobby.Very nice plac , with a view of the city from the 4th story! And this was one of the more expensive hotels.

Patrick, the Federico of Zacatecas that Mr. Ron mentions was at the HU meeting at Creel in October 2004 ... you may have met him there ...

He's a KLR rider & put me up at his family's hotel, called Plaza del Carmen on the main square, ideal location. If you haven't seen it before, Zacatecas is not to be missed! Suerte~~

[This message has been edited by Ride Far (edited 03 February 2006).]

More Copper Canyon stuff.Fom Basaseachic go to the east end of the cluster of villages and take the parkroad to the viewpoint on the south side of the Candamena Canyon, full view of the fall. Then leave the park and turn southeast instead of back to Mex 16. This is a wonderful well maintained gravel road , all bridges , 80km to San Juanito and the paved road south to Creel. At Guachochi go into town and follow the route markers to La Sinforosa, easy in DRY weather! avoid if raining ,19km dirt road through pine forest and farms to a fantastic overlook point of the deeeep canyon, hike to the falls there.
Mex 24 is paved all the way to Guadalupe y Calvo where ther are good, inexpensive hotels, great forest and canyon scenery en route.

[This message has been edited by Sjoerd Bakker (edited 05 February 2006).]

Thanks again for the tips Sjoerd. I've never been to the overlook at the falls so we will definitley do that.

On 24 I can see this road goes to Guadalupe y Calvo, my question is, do the dirt roads shown on some maps connect back up to 24 further to the west,
as shown on some maps?

Thanks,
Patrick

I did the road to Guadalupe y Calvo in Sept´05, a real gem, great scenery ,good pavement and curves all the way to the town of GyC.
There is indeed a dirt road connection to the Pacific section of Mex24. I was too chicken to try it, alone on a KLR, but I did ask around about it when I was in GyC.The start of this connector is actually 21km east of GyC at the village of Yerbitas (Aserradero Yerbitas because of its sawmill ) .Folks there told me that it was "transitable" in good weather, and there were tracks there for pickups (4WD?) .
Somwhere there must be a report from some more hardy offroaders who have done it. My 1987 Pemex atlas already shows a graded dirt&gravel road as far as Los Frailes and from there it became lesser quality track to the pavement at Stgo. de los Caballeros,Sinaloa.
The folks at Yerbitas also mentioned the danger posed by narco growers and other nasty types who seem to favour the region for their illegal businesses. I do know there is a drug growing industry problem in the area, but have no knowledge of how accurate the claims of the dangers are , or if it just folklore. Should you wander into an opium patch inadvertently it could be serious trouble for you.
PS : anybody can get to Divisadero - the road there from Creel is only 8years old and beeeeeutifully laid out smooth curvacious asphalt 55km to San Rafael, a short gravel loop goes to the canyon rim at Divisadero ( and a $200US+ per night hotel!!!)
See the website www.bigdogadventures.com
for a an article on dirt roading in the Copper Canyon.

[This message has been edited by Sjoerd Bakker (edited 04 March 2006).]

[This message has been edited by Sjoerd Bakker (edited 04 March 2006).]

Thanks again Sjoerd for the detailed response. With all the development in the area I was thinking its possible the dirt section may be paved by now, or improved. Seems it would be a vital link
to the coast, no?

Anyway, my Guia Roji shows a dirt road
linking the two sections of 24. What we'll
do is send out a scout! I'll look into the
drug thing. We will be there in April, so
hopefully thats not harvest time so maybe
things will be slow? Dunno.

Gracias por todo!

Patrick

yes yes....thanks again.....making more efficient use of our time there with your reccomendations...thank you HU

There's a road that goes down through the canyon and comes out in Choix, just up from rio forte. It wasn't that difficult, maybe a little harder then the one to batapilas. Justin from Rosens rides gave me the route. I did it in 2003 and had no problems, other then the ferry across the presa was broke and had to hire a fishing boat to take me across.I did run down a landing strip, accidently, with a bunch of covered pickups on it, they didn't bother me and pointed me in the right direction. Justin has a new motel in cerrocauhi, since I've been there last.