Trip Leaders:
Dick and Judy Opsahl.
Author:
Dick Opsahl.
Participants:
New Mexico: Evan Rose, Felicia Orth, Ernie Newman,
Susan Newman, Lia Perry, Sherry Hardage. California: Dick Opsahl, Judy
Opsahl, Ann Nitzan, Pat Skillman. Connecticut: Charlie DeWeese,
Rhonda DeWeese.
It took more than a year of planning
to put this one together. I first learned about Nichols Expeditions
in 2009 during a Los Alamos Mountaineers trip to explore Arches
National Park at Moab, UT. While there I visited the Poison Spider
bike shop and found an interesting brochure about sea kayaking in
the Sea of Cortez. I quickly put together a Mountaineers trip with
Nichols Expeditions kayaking from Loreto to La Paz. It was a 2 week
trip during November 2010 involving paddling about 150 miles from
Loreto to La Paz in the Sea of Cortez. We camped each night on the
beach. Things worked out remarkably well: Great guides, super
equipment, wonderful food and endless beer. On the trip we often
spoke about doing another different trip--one with focus on seeing
whales, riding on the famous railroad and exploring Copper Canyon.
So I contacted Judy Nichols and worked out a plan to do that kind of
trip sometime in February 2012.
On this trip, we started in Chihuahua,
spending a day and a half there exploring the history and culture. A
highlight was the Pancho Villa home and museum. While the original
plan had been to use the public busses to get to Creel, Judy Nichols
found that her hotel friends could easily get us a private van which
greatly eased the logistics of moving luggage, getting to and from
bus stations etc. Our hotel was the San Felipe, a B&B which offered
personal attention and free wireless internet. They even prepared a
fantastic home made dinner in additions to the breakfasts. Our
guide, for Chihuahua sightseeing and the trip to Creel was Eduardo
Villaboba, who was (as were all our guides) extremely knowledgeable
and helpful. The private van transport made possible a visit to the
Mennonite community located between Chihuahua and Creel. We visited
this German speaking community with a our guide and were able to
purchase some of their cheese and excellent cookies. Dick was
actually able to chat them up a bit in German.
This was our
adventuresome and very handsome group of fellow travellers!
From the Mennonites we moved on to
Creel which is the usual jumping off place to go down to Copper
Canyon. We stayed for a night at the Sierra Lodge which is unusual
for it’s complete lack of electric power although it did have indoor
plumbing and lots of hot water and heat during the cold night from
pot-bellied stoves. Our new guide, Noel, who would be with us for
the next five days, took us hiking and driving through the top of the
Canyons country and we learned something of the Tarahumara people
and their life. Meals were outstanding. Early morning the next day
we boarded two vans for the descent down to the bottom of the Copper
Canyon.
The trip down to the bottom of the
canyon was special. We were told that it takes most of the day, and
that we would have a picnic lunch near the rim of the canyon. We
expected to eat a burrito at some view point. To our surprise,
before getting to the lip of the canyon we suddenly pulled off of
the main road and stopped for lunch in the forest.
Two men from the Sierra Lodge had set
up tables and chairs along with white tablecloths, complete with
wine and beer while a hot lunch was being cooked over a campfire.
After lunch, we got back into the vans for the real descent down the
winding one lane dirt road (with sheer drop-offs on one side) to the
bottom. Our 2 vans were equipped with 2 riding seats on top with tie
in seat and shoulder belts, like a fighter aircraft. During any slow
part of the trip we took turns riding on top. Super views were the
reward and even rainbows at times. Usually with 2 or 3 of us in the
on top seats. Near the top there was a stop to drop off some of us
to walk or run down and be picked up 1/2 hour later. The road was so
bumpy and twisty that the vans could not make much more speed than
running.
Arrival at the colonial era Riverside
Lodge at Batopilas was incredible. The place could have easily been
part of a movie set; full of colorful tile patterns, fancy carved
wood doors and dozens of tiny passages leading here and there. A
huge open top courtyard was the centerpiece. This would be our base
for 3 days at the bottom of the canyon. In town, it was even fun to
say hi to the military and police who hung around on street corners
with their AK-47s aimed at their toes.
The Riverside Lodge
at Batopilas was incredible!
We had arranged for a second guide in
Batopilas who would lead the more strenuous hikes. Those who wanted
an easier time could go with the normal guide. We split about 50-50.
I always took the strenuous option. On the first hike day we loaded
into a van for the serious hike and drove up up up for an hour on
steep mountain roads to the hike start. Manuelo, our guide, said
that we could cover much more ground by getting a high start. Views
were always spectacular. Another big bonus for me was being able to
use my lousy Spanish for a whole day. Manuelo spoke no English and
the group depended on me to do the English translation. After the
almost 20 mile hike we got back to the Riverside Lodge. Judy took a
gentler hike, 8 miles round trip to a Cathedral in a remote Canyon
town. Then both groups compared notes and tales over Pacifica beer
in the patio of the hotel. As it turned out, we had a professional
yoga teacher with us, Rhonda led a 1/2 hour session which had all of
us, including our 70 year old Spanish speaking guide, stretching and
positioning on the stone floor of the inside courtyard. More beer.
The next day, both hikes were along a
river beds in Batopilas and neighboring canyons. The easier hike,
about 8 miles round trip, went to a ruin of a mine and an early
mansion, with return along the irrigation ditch by the river. The
longer hike, which seven of us took, went deep into a remote canyon
beginning with a van ride to the hike start. It involved numerous
stream crossings on shaky bridges, hopping from rock to rock and, at
times, wading. At Manuelo’s suggestion, we brought along sandals for
the river crossings. En route, we passed several rotary sluices used
to concentrate gold bearing ore for shipment by mule out of the
canyon. The home made rotary sluices are water powered and
concentrate ore so that a 100 pound sack of concentrate might have 1
gram of recoverable gold. As the drought over the past few years has
essentially "killed" marijuana production, sluicing for gold has
become more popular. We got to meet and talk with one of the miners.
We had lunch in a remote village, before hiking back through more
intricate and interesting mining country. When we reached a real
road, three of the group decided to run 4 miles back to the hotel
(maybe to avoid crossing another shaky bridge). Judy and I and
Felicia Orth opted for crossing the bridge and meeting our ride. 16
miles for us; 20 for those who ran back.
Dick with a fully
armed Mexican soldier.
After almost 3 days of hiking and
glorious eating we concluded with a festive evening of margaritas
and dancing to a local band. We finally had to board the vans for
the trip out and back up the serpentine road returning to the rustic
Sierra Lodge with pot belly wood stoves, excellent food, hikes and
lots of hot water. Again we took turns riding on top. As we rounded
a tight hairpin we were stopped by someone in "full" regalia. Full
black face mask, bullet proof vest, pistol and the necessary AK-47
aimed at his toe. A few nearly passed out, but fortunately I could
tell by the neat outfit and shoes that he was army and not bandito.
It turned out that there was a large army contingent going down to
the bottom and they could pass traffic only here and there. We had
to back down almost 1/2 mile to get to a passable spot. As the full
army unit came by they even had a third world style pick up; set up
with the machine gun on top. Some excitement. I was doubly sure that
they were "good" guys when one of them took pictures of us using his
MAC 4S iPhone and iCloud. I was on top of the van.
We left early from the no electric
Sierra Lodge for the trip to Divisadero where we would board the El
Chepe Copper Canyon Railroad. Divisidero is on a high rim of the
canyon with spectacular views. Before getting onto the train we had
another mission--to ride on the almost new cable car down across the
canyon and back. The installation was done a few years ago by the
Swiss firm Doppelmayer. It was set up every bit as a Swiss engineered
project. Everything perfect. The car took 60 people for about an
hour total with half an hour at the lower landing point. After this
ride we went to the train station where we said goodbye to, Noel,
our guide of the last five days, and boarded the train bound for El
Fuerte close to the port on the Sea of Cortez where we would board
the boat across to the Baja Peninsula.
Cable car we took
across a beautiful section of the canyon.
The train ride met our expectations
and much more. Our first class car had view seats for all of us and
was sparsely filled so that we could easily move from one side to
the other for the views. Views were sensational. We went through one
tunnel after another - probably about 50 on this section. BTW
difficulties in construction resulted in the line not being
completed until the 1960s. The ride is easily the most scenic train
ride in the Western hemisphere. A dining car with full meals added
to our train experience. The train moved slowly along the single
track making photos easy. It was an hour or more late into El
Fuerte. There was some apprehension in the group about our hotel
pick-up, since the hotel was about 10 miles distant. No problem I
assured them and, sure enough, a bus was waiting for us as we pulled
in to the station.
El Fuerte had a marvelous hotel for us
and things to do during the next morning and afternoon before
departing to catch the overnight boat to the Baja. Free, fast,
wireless internet was everywhere, food scrumptious and endless hot
water. Even free Mexico telephoning. Dick had to make some complex
fight changes for 4 of us and change an Avis reservation. In the
morning and early afternoon we hiked around the beautiful colonial
city and participated in their river raft tour and visits to the
local Indian villages.
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