Los Mochis to Creel, Mexico - Best way?
 

I'm receiving conflicting responses on how to get to Creel from Los Mochis, Mexico.
I was presented with 3 options that I'm writing here in order:
(note that you may did the other way around, (Creel to Los Mochis), so please give me your impressions too).
A) Via North and East
From Los Mochis start North on Hwy 15 towards Navajoa and Ciudade obregon,
Then turn right (NorthEast) to Hornos, Rosario and Curea.
Then turn right again (East) to Yecora, Maicova, Yepachic, Huajumar, Yoquivo and San Juanito.
Then turn right (South) to Creel.
This one is suppose to have about 420 miles, and good roads with only few unpaved.

B) Via railroad, straight NorthEast
Go to La Palma, Mezquite and Choix,
Then find your way around from there to Guamuchil in a dirty road, probably need to sleep for one night.
This one is suppose to have about 230 miles and bad roads after Choix.

C) Via SouthEast
Go South on Hwy 15, towards Guamuchil, Culiacan and then Marmol (it's about 30 miles North of Mazatlan.
Make a left turn to NorthEast on Hwy 40 to Durango,
Then Make left (North) on Hwy 45 to Guadalupe, Diez de octubre, El Casco, La Zarca (junction with Hwy 30), keep going North to Hildago del Paral
Stay on Hwy 45 to Jimenz, Ciudade Camargo, Delicias, Chihuaua, them
Hwy 16 to La Junta and finally a dirty road to San Juanito and Creel.
Total will be 1000 miles all paved with only about 30 miles of dirty.


Do you have any personal experience on this travel?
How bad is the option B (short one from Choix to Creel)?
Can it be done with a GS with 2 up, loaded, by a guy who doen'st have too much off road experience? in one day?

Thank you

Are you coming over on the ferry from the south? Or from the north?
any wrong turns or get a bunch of rain? doing the canyon or on another trip?

roads to Creel
 

Strsout, from what I am reading I get the feeling that this wil be your first trip into Mexico , so it might be the best for you to stick to the easiest routes ,two up and loaded as you will be going. - Mex 15 - Mex 12-Mex16 and the gravel road section from Basaseachic(falls !!!) to San Juanito and mex 23 to Creel.
Pat is a hard , fast rider and his suggestion to do Guaymas to Creel in one day needs a caution. An 8pm arrival in creel means you will be riding at least two hours in the dark. DON"Tdo it!. there are indeed horses and burros wndering along the highways. Mex 16 as you enter it is just starting the mountain curve section and you will want to go slow to enjoy it and take in the scenery, not pushing,pushing constantly to make a deadline.
Pat is a bit harsh in his assessment of Yecora hotels of which there are 5 and I have stayed there with no complaints. They are certainly preferable to riding around snaking mountain road in the dark peering into the night for possible horses.
As an aside to strsout; perhaps try keeping all posts on this same topic together in the same thread so it will be easy, less confusing for us to follow.
P.S.: Enjoy the planning, but don't overplan too much and get a good map. For instance in your reference to the souteast route via Mazatlan what you are describing is merely getting of the toll road Mex 15D and onto the free old highway Mex 15.Mex 40 to Durango starts from Mex 15 southeast of Mazatlan and is then soon a joy of mountain scenery and curves but slow going.Also if you go all the way to Chihuahua before turning west and then still planning to take the gravel route to San Juanito you are definitely lost- you overshot your paved turnoff south from Mex 16 to Creel by more than 100km and before that you missed a wonderful paved road from Hgo. del Parral to Creel via Mex 24 and Mex 23 . I know from experience having done all these routes lots more than once.
I suggest you get the single AAA or Rand McNally foldout road map of Mexico which will have adequate information for your travel planning purposes. More complexity for such a first trip is not needed and may actually confuse you . You cannot hope to see everything in one first trip. Next when you get into Mexico and reach Ensenada visit the Sanborn's restaurant downtown and look through their magazine and book rack for a Mexico road atlas by either QUIMERA or GUIA ROJI , the small magazine-sized items , about $9- $12 which will have a lot more detail than your foldout map and use that. If this store doesn't have either of these atlases then go to one of the huge department stores like SORIANA or any Mexican book store and you will find one

Sjoerd makes some good points.
My route suggestions and time table were merely examples

Hi Mollydog and Sjoerd,
Very good information and I'm digesting all. It does apply to my case since this will be my first 'real' Mexico trip. I went to Baja few times, but not too South.

I'm deciding on the Route A, North on hwy 15 and planning to sleep at Baseachic (350 miles from Los Mochis) and as a plan B, sleep at Yecora (70 miles less).
I'm a early bird rider, normally 5:30AM I like to be on the road and I will try that from Los Mochis since seams to be a easy ride even if it's still dark in the morning.

Now, one more question if you won't mind (seams like you guys really know the area... :) )

I was planning to leave the bike at Creel, and get the train to Bahuichivo (one night in a nice hotel) and then back to Divisadero (another night in a nice hotel) and then back to Creel (night in a not so nice hotel...) Those 2 nights would be the wife's choice, so I have to go there and stay.
Per some reading here, seams that I can bit the train if I ride the motorcycle there.
Creel to Bahuichivo is 3 hours by train. Can it be done in less time by motorcycle?
Is the road good all the way to there?
or as an option, I could ride to Divisadero, leave the bike there and ride the train to Bahuichivo.
Any comments?
Thank you

around Creel
 

From Creel to Bahuichivo should be possible in 3 hours ....IF....

To explain, I personally have not been to Bahuichivo , but from Creel a beautiful recently built paved road winds some 60 km southwest to San Rafael with a side loop of gravel road which runs along the rim of the canyon by Divisadero. This 60km of pavement can be done in less than an hour and from San Rafael ,on my Guia Roji atlas , it appears to be only another 30km or so to the spot marked Bahuichivo. The locals appear to head in that direction in their pickups etc. so there must be no great difficulty. But.... my map shows a minor gap in the road just before the village, so I don' t know if that indicates a deep chasm or river crossing , which would mean the route is actually by a much longer alternate.
Love that new asphalt road though. I think Bahuichivo is noted for the scenic view from the train, I know nothing about hotels there( perhaps you have details from some train itinerary , would appreciate finding out.) I do know that there is a tourist hotel on the canyon rim at Divisadero , not exactly on the railroad track but close, and its prices start at $200 per room. Now that is a bit too much for my liking, and I know for a fact that there are small locally owned hotels in the vicinity which are a fraction of that price..
If you are a RUB, and don't mind parting with that much plata for one night, go for it. As for me , I figure they are basically selling a view and I can enjoy the view for nothing if I ride to their hotel and visit the canyon rim, perhaps have lunch or coffee in their restaurant and see all the tourists.Besides there are many other access points to the canyon views.
As for "not so nice hotel" in Creel , that is your choice too, there are many fine low cost little local hotels in Creel and a few pricy, ostentatious hotels where all the group tours e.g. from cruise ships, bus tours from the USA, Europe ,spend a night . If you want , there is even a Best Western afilliate there.
Again it all comes down to how much you can afford and how much fancy trimmings you or the missus demand.Also those fancy expensive tourist hotels may well require reservations which are poison, they lock you into a time regime where you must be at point X at such and such a time- not conducive to free form exploration and enjoyment.
Also strsout , in one of your first posts you mention getting insurance for the full" ten days" which I take to mean that ypu intend to do this whole Creel trip in ten days. Are you sure you can get all the planned stuff into that span? Getting down to La Paz is going to take 3 days, one day waiting for and crossing on the ferry to Topolobampo,two days to get to Creel, then the bit of sightseeing to Bahuichivo and back uses another two or four days days and at least two days to get back to Nogales. Although it is possible to cover the amount of ground you want in those ten days it looks like it is going to be a bit hectic, go,go ,go !, . Can you manage to get yourself a full two weeks and actually relax en route ?

Last year there was a lot of construction in town.
Check it out:

Hotels and Copper Canyon
 

Pat's hotel suggestion is very nice place .If you stay there and you do wind up taking the train you will either have to get a taxi to the station or walk the 2km+. Beside the obvious big buck hotels in town itself consider Hotel and Restaurant Los Valles which would put you within a block or three of the RR station. It is a new hotel, its restaurant is right on the main street, Lopez Mateos , at the intersection with four-way stop and the motel units are a short distance east on that side street.They were charging$23.40 in '06 for one or two persons .They had good parking area and would probably have no problem if you left the bike there when on the train.
San Rafael also has a basic tourist hotel at its north entry on the road from Creel and two years ago a new one was under construction on the gravel road exit toward Bahuichivo , so they are expecting more tourist traffic to come. That exit is a bit of a maze to find , on the other side of the rr tracks so ask around.
More hotels are also at the south end of the gravel loop from the canyon where Cabanas Diaz Family and Cabanas Del Sol were available for $19 single in '06 with lots of parking and a short hike to the canyon rim or you could rent one of the horses from the Diaz. Both hotels are run by a pair of brothers -in-law families, nice locally owned country places.Lots of options if one takes the easy effort to find them.

Construction is a constant theme at numerous family owned hotels all over Mexico . First they put up a few rooms and then as business picks up a more are added . Over the years it eventually turns into a big operation but there is a constant presence of unfinished business.
On the topic of finding such hotels on the internet , I have my doubts. After googling some of my list I keep finding that the supposed hotel sources ignore much of the good basic stuff, the Tecate find appears to be an exception. As for Yecora , after a bit of frustrating searching I came up with a site that listed only 2 of the 5 known to be there i. e . Hotel Las Brisas $27 which I have used and hotel Los Champeones $35 which I also know, the rest are apparently not considered adequate - or they did not deign to pay a fee to be listed. Caveat emptor.All such sites seem to direct to the more high end resorts and chain hotels.Searching through all those lists is frustrating and could take longer than the vacation.It is simpler to just go, wing it and find a hotel whenever you need one.