Monday, November 3, 2008

Copper Cañon

Two weeks in the State of Chihuahua in the interior of Mexico. USA is serving up some culture shock. It was sure nice to not hear any news...

Too many stories to blog. How about just some pictures, each telling at least a few hundred words, if not a thousand:


Enrique, our Creel local guide, rides from a tarahumara farmhouse after talking to them

The trip was made quite rich by exposure to the tarahumara people, one of the most culturally intact indigenous populations left in North America.


Friendly tarahumara girl


Tarahumara woman at the lodge where we were staying, bringing goods for sale, her child strapped to her back


Kim cleaning a bike--not his.

The people we traveled with were the best. This is Kim, one of the kindest, most positive people I have ever met. He made the trip special with his humor and attitude.


The mission in the town of Cerocahui, Chihuahua. Pictured from the courtyard of our hotel


Waterfall near Cerocahui, Chihuahua


One of our first peeks at the grandeur of the Urique Cañon.

Most visitors to the Copper Cañon country descend into Batopilas Cañon if they go below the rim country. We traveled into Urique Cañon, a deeper and less visited cañon.


Urique Cañon, with the town of Urique along the Urique River


The Urique River as seen from the bottom of the cañon


The west cañon Wall as seen from Urique


The road out.

On Monday morning, the 11th day of the trip, we climbed up out of Urique Cañon, starting before daylight to avoid the intense heat of the cañon floor. This is the road we climbed. Approximately 4,500 vertical feet from the bottom to this point.


Campfire at the San Isidro Lodge at then end of the day that we climbed back to the rim out of Urique Cañon. Me, Kim, June, Phil, Kyle left to right.


Boots

Of all the many, many homeless dogs that I would have liked to adopt, this one who we called Boots was the most compelling. She was smart, beautiful, and surprisingly gentle for a street dog. She followed us all over Creel then slept on the sidewalk outside the hotel waiting for us to come out the next morning.

5 comments:

Ed said...

Just the other day I was wondering what Tom was up to and how the Copper Canon trip went.

Very cool looking area and I'm psyched the folks you were with were so nice.

That road climb looks awesome!!

Thanks for the report and pics Tom!!!

Ed

Gary B. said...

Welcome home! Cool photos, brought back lots of memories. We've been to that lodge. My cousin was working in Urique (MD) and I've spent some time there. Some day I'll tell you about my hiking trip from Urique to Batopilas.

Unknown said...

i hate my job

Anonymous said...

Nice...I wanna go now!

Matt said...

That is a trip I have been wanting to make for years! Congrats for being able to do it...wow, that is some pretty country down there and the food I'm sure is just like everywhere in Chihuahua - awesome. I made it as far as Casas Grandes for work and was amazed how pretty the eastern edge was.....