Mexico 2007 trip report - long and probably boring

[Toy Man]

We did this guided trip 21 Oct. to 2 Nov. Our first time in Mexico. Great trip. Pictures later. We took our stock 1999 Dodge RAM pickup.
http://www.4westernadventures.com/4x...nyon/index.htm

Mexico Trip Report

Saturday 20 2007
Arrived in Douglas AZ at 12:35. Odometer 90901. 92 degrees with a breeze.
Met up with the Wilsons, the Geschreys, Frenchie and super navigator Rich H. Visited Walmart, drove thru old town then got our visas and car papers at the border. Came back to Motel 6. Nice group dinner at the historic Gadsen Hotel. Neat old time lobby.

21 Oct. 2007 - Sunday
We are up at 4 am and packing. Went to the Walmart store at 5:15 am to get a few last minute items.. Group breakfast at 7:00 am. The Wilsons, Frenchie and Rich leave to get visa’s. The rest of us re-visit the Walmart then we drive over the border and wait visa people to finish. At 9:00 we are on our way. Instant culture shock as we drive thru Aqua Prieta. We make our way slowly thru the town of Aqua Prieta and finally pickup Highway 2 heading east. Our CB quits working about this time. Frenchie replaces it with a spare he carries. We drive over a lot of barren land – no people, no animals – just dirt, rock, grass and small brush with occasional small trees.


The highway is like a paved 2 lane country road with lots of semi trucks. I try to see how close I can come to dying by passing two semi’s on a blind curve. About 2 car lengths close….

Up and down. We cross the continental divide and pickup highway 10 south at the bottom of the hill where we are greeted with an army road block. The soldiers waves us thru. We continue south thru a lot more deserted land. North of Nuevo Casa Grandes we encounter a police road block. They take a quick look at our visa’s and wave us thru. Just north of Nuevo Casa Grandes we begin seeing farmland and a few houses. Into Nuevo Casa Grandes were we have a lunch at Hotel Hacienda. After lunch we drive to the hospital where Sara Leigh visits the emergency room. She gets right in, has an exam and an ultra sound. $40 and she is out within the hour.

I like Nuevo Casa Grandes. Like the name suggests, it has nice houses, wide streets and just looks nice (especially compared to next door Casa Grandes.)

We gas up (including the gas cans) and drive a few miles to the Parmquime Cultural Center where we are given a special tour by the center director. Parmquime is the site of an ancient (1200 to 800 AD) ruins.

We leave there a little after 4:00pm and drive about 10 miles to Mata Ortiz. Mata Ortiz is a small village that is the thin wall pottery center of Mexico. We stay at the Adobe Motel which is a nice rustic hotel hidden away on a back alley (street?). We have a shared taco dinner there. Before dinner the women potters display their wares for us and they leave with a lot lighter load. After dinner the men display their wares. They don’t do as well as the women tapped most of us out. It is VERY nice pottery with some amazing hand painted designs.

A long and tiring day. I’m in dream land by 8:00.

PS: We quickly learn the signage (Tope or Topes) for the speed bumps that all towns with paved streets have.

GPS: 163 miles in 4 hours of driving time at an averages speed of 20 mph. Elevation at Mata Ortiz in 5000’. It was about 85 degrees to day and felt perfect.

22 Oct. 2007
Up at 4:00am. The Adobe motel serves a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon,, beans, salsa, tortillas, juice and melon slices. It is a bright sunny morning. We drive thru Mata Ortiz and take a short side trip to the old Hacienda San Diego. Then back to the highway and the turn off to the caves/ruins at el Willy. This road is our first rock/dirt road. A hitch hiker asks if he can ride with us. We make room for him in the back of our pickup.

We slowly make our way up the Sierra Madre Mountains and start seeing small trees as we climb. We average about 9 mph. On top it is like a plateau with small hills. Up and down until we reach the final down slope. Down and down until we cross a small river and proceed to the small village of el Willy. Thru the village and on a rough track to the camp site. We arrive about 2:30pm. We have lunch then hike to several caves with Indian ruins. The first cave features a HUGE olla (jug/jar). I think it was like 13' tall.

After hiking, we setup camp. We are at 6,000 feet and even though it is the middle of a bright sunny afternoon, it is chilly and downright cold when the sun goes behind the trees. . We set around and BS then Frenchie cooks an excellent burrito dinner.

The GPS reports we drove 204 miles in 7.5 hours of driving. That seems like too many miles. Average speed of 12 mph.

23 Oct. 2007
Odometer 91122. Cold night. 26 degrees at 6:00am when I get up. We are up at 6 when it is first light. Muffins and cereal for breakfast. We pack and break camp and are off at 8:13. Another bright sunny morning. After 2 hours of crawling back up the hill we came down yesterday, we reach the top and turn south towards Madera It was 9 mph or less coming up from the camp ground.

The road starts to slightly improve. It will continue to get better as we travel south. We drive up and down over the hills and driving thru numerous creek crossings in the valleys. As progress towards Madera, the trees start to grow slightly taller (still pretty small) and in thicker stands. We pass thru a few VERY small villages – no power, phones or any services. Just poor houses and a dirt road. Even in the poorest villages some of the houses have a small solar panel. I assume it was provided by government.

At 2:30 we pick up a paved road at El Largo 71 km north of Madera. Lots of logging and sawmills around here but is just ‘pecker pole’ pine. We gas up here and charge towards Madera arriving there at 4:00 pm. We stay at the Hotel Real del Bosque.

Madera is at 6,500 feet elevation and even though it is still bright and sunny, it is cool.

6:30 – dinner at Sam’s Saloon. Sandy and I have the only thing we can recognize on the menu – chicken fajitas. They are good but just average. Frenchie and I try to order ice cream. Rich tries to remember his Spanish but his word for ice cream brings us sugared milk. (Tomorrow Rich finds out that he had the correct word for ice cream in Spanish but it completely different in Mexican. (nieves)) The group talks about camping tomorrow night but because of the cold decides to stay another night at the motel in Madera. We leave the restaurant about 8:00pm and the town is closed down. The Pemex gas station is about the only thing open.

The GPS says we drove 103 miles in 6 hours and 20 minutes of driving time at an average speed of 16 mph.

[Toy Man]

I just found that there is a maximum number of characters per post so I am having to break this report into multiple posts.

24 October 2007 Wednesday Odometer 91283. We are up about 4:30 packing and getting ready. Marty teaches me beginning race walking and we spend a half hour walking around the motel courtyard. Breakfast at the motel’s restaurant at 7:00am. I have Machaca – a scramble of meat, potatoes, peppers, onions, etc.
We off about 8:00am.

Frenchie leads us thru a maze of streets until we reach a rock and dirt road heading up hill. Madera is at 6500 feet elevation and we keep climbing until we reach the ridge crest at 8000 feet. We take a good rock/gravel/dirt single lane road down the side of the ridge, across a plateau and down a steep escarpment, switch backing our way down to a small suspension bridge across the river. The total drop was about 3700’ feet which does not sound like much but is a LONG way down.

A note about the road: It is a single lane road with an occasional small turnout. We meet a few pickups and two or three suicide SUV drivers flying low to somewhere. Meeting and trying to pass stake bed log trucks is ‘interesting’. Even more interesting is that most of the log trucks have the logs cross wise on the bed with only a single chain holding them on. If that chain ever breaks, the logs will come rolling off the truck onto the road/vehicles behind the truck.

The canyon(s) we are in is the northern edge of the Copper Canyons and we can see high tree covered ridges extending into the far distance with no sign of human habitation.


Once across the bridge, we drive several miles up hill and then take a cow path for about a mile to the Grand Cave trail head. Take the 10 minute hike down to the cave and check it out. It is a large under into a rock outcropping with some nice Indian ruins in it. Lots of pictures and then hike back up to the trail head.


We drive back down to the bridge and then about an eighth mile down river to a hot springs and swimming pools.


Let me describe the setting: Miles from anywhere and a least a 3 hour drive over a less than perfect road to get here. Someone (the government?) has spent a fortune constructing a very nice facility here. Extensive rock wall reinforcement of the hillside and a gazillion cubic feet of concrete to hold several large swimming pools and other small soaking/children pools. There are also some water tubes and shade cabanas and a caretaker’s residence. I would be surprised if there were 50 people a week during the summer. No one was there when we arrived. A nice short swim/soak in the warm pool and then we head back up the escarpment.

About half way up we turn off the road onto a rough track and drive downhill about a mile to the trail head for several caves – Cave of the eagles, cave of the serpents, and another one. Frenchie leads the group down to the cave of the serpents while I conserve my energy by holding down a chair. Two hours later they back – tired but glad they made the hike.

It was now 5:00 with a 1.5 hour drive back to Madera. The sun sets 5:38 and we are just starting up the last ridge. It is full dark when we top the ridge and start down to Madera. We reach Madera at 6:30 and stop for dinner at Sam’s Saloon again. We get back to the motel at 8:00 pm. A long and interesting day.

GPS: 58.1 miles in 5 hours and.21 minutes of driving. 10.8 mph average speed.

25 October 2007. Odometer 91293.

We are up at 5:00 am packing and getting ready. Yet another bright sunny morning but cold. Breakfast and then we are off at 8:00 am stopping for gas at the outskirts of Madera.

I see our first modern looking two story houses in the outskirts of La Junta.
We top off our gas in Tomochi and continue on to Basaseachi. We are waved thru a military check point shortly before Basaseachi. We arrive at the Basaseachi Falls parking lot/camp ground at 12:30. After a short meal of excellent pork burritos we walk down to the falls overlook.

You cannot see any of the falls from the overlook – just a great view down the valley and you can see the bottom a LONG way below. Basaseachi Falls are 950 feet high and the third highest falls in North America.
We are the only tourista’s at the falls. We also the only ones camping.
It is another bright sunny day - probably in the upper 60’s. The sun goes behind the ridge at 4:30 and it starts to get cool immediately.

As it gets dark, we hear three pistol shots on the road above. Just someone celebrating we guess.

GPS: 144 miles in 4 hours driving time at an average of 35 mph. The elevation is 6580.

[Toy Man]

26 Oct 2007 – Basaseachi Falls camp ground. 91437
Cold – 25 degrees but I sleep hot. Up at 6:00am. I cook grilled Spam, English muffins and cheese for breakfast.

We are off at 8:15 am. Another bright sunny day in Mexico.
We drive to the Basaseachi Falls overlook then on to Creel via the rock/gravel back road. As we reach the highest point and start down we start running into road construction. They are widening the road and planning on paving it. It will be nice some day.

We have lunch at a small cafe in San Juanito.

We reach Creel at 2:30. The hotel Margaritas is full so we stay at the Hotel Parador Montana.

Creel is at 7700 feet and the temperature is 72.
GPS: 94.6 miles in 4:39 hours at an average speed of 20.3 mph

27 Oct. 2007
Creel. This is to be a day of rest. We are up at 6 with sunrise at 6.50. It froze again last night. Another bright sunny morning.

Breakfast at the motel. I had machaca (scramble) then we did a stroll along the main street. I stop at an Internet store and check my email.

Everyone does their own thing until noon when we drive the 25 miles down to El Divisadero. Divisadero is a tourist train stop with a great view of the canyons, a fairly fancy motel on the cliff edge and a series of hand craft stalls to satisfy the tourists wanting to exchange peso’s for baskets, etc. We play the tourist. There are also food vendors cooking on converted 55 gallon drums. We snarf down a variety of goodies.

As we start back, Frenchie hits a rock and puts a huge gash in one of his tires. A short stop to put the spare on and we are on our way back.

We have a group dinner at one of the local restaurants. While we are there, a two man band comes in and serenades us. Wish I had brought my earplugs.

This being Saturday the main street is packed with kids cruising their cars up and down the street and the sidewalks are filled with people just walking and talking. There are several sidewalk vendors selling hamburquesa’s and bacon wrapped hot dogs. A hamburquesa is a very thin hamburger patty with cheese – quite often in a torta bun.

GPS: 54.5 miles in 1 hr 51 min. 29.4 mph average speed.



28 Oct. 2007 Sunday Odometer 91591
Up at 6:00am. Cold but it does not appear to be below freezing. We have breakfast at the motel. Another bright sunny morning.

Today is the day we begin our descent into the canyons. We will drop from 7700 feet to about 1500 feet. It should be a lot warmer tomorrow morning.
We leave Creel at 8:00 am. We drive south on a good paved road then turn off onto a dirt road for a short drive into the very small village of Cusarae. A small but well stocked store there has a tourist shop at one end. We do the usual peso’s for basket exchange then look at the large well maintained church. Across from the church is a newer set of buildings that appear to be a mission/school. A closer look at the village shows that it is better off than most Mexican villages. There is electric power and even a few satellite TV antennas on several of the houses.

We spend about an hour in the village and then back to the pavement and south. We see a lot of Tarahumara Indians walking in this region. (Because it is Sunday?)

This area consists of high mesa’s and as we continue south, we slowly twist our way down one and back up another. After doing this several times we stop at a Pemex gas station and top off. This will be the last gas station we see for the next three days..


We talk to bicyclist from Houston. His goal is to bicycle all the way to Argentina. I think he is insane for bicycling on these narrow roads. His blog is at http://bicycleexpatriator.blogspot.com/
After leaving the Pemex station at 11:00 am we proceed down the pavement about a half mile and then take a right hand turn onto a dirt road that is being rebuilt. A 6 kilometer detour and we are back on the dirt road leading to Baptopilas. It is 64 kilometers (40 miles) from the pavement to Baptopilas and I have read it takes 6 hours to reach there. At this point it is a standard Mexican dirt road – an unmaintained one lane, rock/dirt, rough and twisty road. Oh – and did I mention the dust? We bump our way along following the top of the mesa and seeing occasional houses and even a small village. The road goes thru a narrow wooded canyon and then into a more open canyon while slowly dropping in elevation.

We have come quite a ways in two hours and don’t have far to go to reach Baptopilas. I’m thinking we will be there in about a half hour. Frenchie brings us to a view point for a lunch stop. We get out and look over the edge. Whoa Molly – it is a LONG, LONG way down a VERY steep hillside. We can see the road switch back down and then onto a cliff of narrow canyon and across a bridge we can barely see. The road crosses the bridge and then starts to climb the opposite cliff. Hmmm – maybe it will take a little longer than a half hour to reach Baptopilas. Frenchie says it will take 2 ½ hours but I am still doubtful. How bad can it be? We are about to find out.

We start down and after several switch backs the road widens slightly until we near the bottom and enter the cliff section. The road narrows here and we meet an oncoming vehicle. I try to squeeze against the cliff. Not quite enough room for the vehicle to pass so I back up to try and get a little closer. Bam – I have backed the canopy into the cliff and busted out a small window on the side of the canopy. Damn. The vehicle passes and we continue on down stopping after crossing the bridge to apply a cardboard, plastic and duct tape repair to the window. After a half hour we are on our way again.

Now the road gets serious – very narrow, continuously following the contours of the vertical cliff. We go along up the cliff, down the cliff, etc for a LONG time with Frenchie in the lead letting us know via the CB when there is an oncoming vehicle. The CB is a god send as it gives us time to try and find a small widening of the road to pull over and let the vehicle (usually a pickup or stake bed truck) pass.

It was 11:00 am when we turned off the pavement and it is now after 3 pm with dark coming about 5 pm. I DO NOT want to be on this road after dark. After several eternities then canyon begins to widen slightly and we are no longer driving along a vertical cliff, just a steep hillside and finally we drop down to where we are not too far above the river. At dusk (4:30 pm) we round a bend and see what appears to be a large Spanish style villa built into the hillside on the left of the road. It has two large buildings, verandas etc. Frenchie says it is the Hotel Margaritas just outside of Baptopilas. He checks and it is open and has rooms available. Halleluiah (Now we only have to squeeze into the hillside for a parking space.) The hotel rooms look like something out of an old movie. Several hundred year old wooden doors, high ceilings, completely tiled bathrooms, etc. A GREAT place to spend the night.

We unpack and then drive a half mile down river and then cross a single lane bridge into Baptopilas. Baptopilas is a town built along a very narrow strip of land between the river and the steep hillside. We stop at a small restaurant on the edge of town. Wise decision as this is about the only place we can park in the entire town. The restaurant appears to have a very limited selection available so we all end up ordering hamburqeusa’s. They were pretty good.

Frenchie is towing a trailer and cannot easily turn around so we continue into town. The street is narrow with cars parked on it. This the main drag so passing an oncoming vehicle requires one of the vehicles to pull behind a parked pickup or find a small random spot to pull over. It is full night as we are driving and a number of families are standing/sitting of the small side sidewalks. The town slowly widens as we approach the center. I think there are a total of three parallel streets at this point. We make a slow turn around the town square (a very narrow street/alley to make a 90 degree turn into at the end of the square) and slowly head back to the Hotel Margaritas.

During the night and early morning I hear various vehicles pass by. Must be ‘interesting’ to drive the canyon at night.

GPS: 86.6 miles in 6 hrs and 18 min. driving time. 15.7 mph average speed. Odometer 91677.

[Toy Man]

29 October 2007 – Hotel Margaritas – Baptopilas.
Up at 5:00 am. Rather than trying to find breakfast in Baptopilas we decided to make our on the patio. It is a very nice warm morning with daylight at 6:00am.

We are on the road at 7:45 am and drive into Baptopilas and park on the edge of town. We spend the next several hours walking and exploring the town. It is nice by the square.

Back to our vehicles and another slow drive thru Baptopilas and out the west end on a rough track along the river. We reach Satevo after a short time. There is an large old church at Satevo. No one seems know quite why such a large church was built in a very small village. I assume the early mine owners financed it. We leave Satevo and start a slow ‘granny’ gear grind up the mountain. The initial couple of miles are seldom used but we have no problems other that Mike’s truck overheating. He was in the wrong gear. We finally merge with the road coming up from Baptopilas just before we start crawling along the base of the rock cliffs near the mountain top. We are at the saddle at 12:30. It only took 1 ½ hours of crawl time to get to the top.

We start a slow descent down the wide valley that is before us. The temperature increases as we lose altitude. It is 100 degrees when we ford the Rio Baptopilas river and camp on the river’s edge. The temp is perfect in the shade. I see a small cloud on the horizon. It is the first cloud we have seen since entering Mexico.

The Wilson’s cook supper and we finish just before sundown at 5:00 pm.
I wake about 1:00 am. I hear one vehicle across the river making a lot of noise with the driver continuously revving his engine. I can also the see the lights of another vehicle with him. The ‘revver’ finally crosses the river about an 1/8th mile below us and parks - still revving his engine. The other vehicle also crosses over, then returns to the other side and drives off down river. Mr. revver shuts down, takes out his automatic pistol, fires off three rounds and then goes to sleep. Several other vehicles also cross during the night.

This is a very isolated area. After crossing over the mountain we have only seen one small village (Boca del Arroyo) and occasional houses.
Comment: For a country where pistols are totally banned there sure seems to be a lot of them. This is the second time we have heard nearby pistols shots and I saw a bunch of .38 Auto Special empty cartridges at the Hotel Margaritas.

GPS: 28.3 miles in 4 hrs and 45 minutes of driving time. 5.9 mph average speed. Odometer - 91709



30 October 2007
River’s edge somewhere. Odometer 91769
Up at 5:15 am. Temperature is a little cool at 45. Breakfast is at 6:45 am. I cook bacon, and english muffins with cheese. Fruit cups/oatmeal packets/juice are also available. We are underway at 7:40 am and the temp is already 70 degrees.

I transferred five gallons of gas from the cans to my gas tank last night.
We cross back over the river and slowly follow the river. Across ‘flat’s, up and down arroyos we make our way to Tubares – well at least across the river from Tubares.

Before we reached Tubares, we crossed the Urique river. Sandy gets stung on the neck while we are fording the river. It was about 90 degrees at lunch.

Tubares is a little village that is a crossroads for several rough tracks plus some very nice mining roads. The mining companies have built a long high concrete bridge here but instead of crossing the bridge we turn the right and head up the hill on a wide smooth dirt mining road. That only last a few miles before we turn off and start climbing a mountain. While this road is only a single lane dirt/rock road, it has been freshly graded. Frenchie says it is used for mine support vehicles. We will spend most of the day in ‘granny’ gear climbing this mountain. Climb, climb and more climbing. Pass the grader parked to the side with a flat tire, pass a back hoe doing emergency road repair, dodge a flat bed truck coming down, wonder if we will ever reach the top. Climb some more. Near the top we pass a few houses where the Wilson’s almost become a hood ornament for a dump truck. Climb some more and we are at the mine (6000’). Stop for a break and pictures. One of the workers gives Sandy a nice piece of ore from the mine. While climbing to this point a group of motorcyclists from the US have zoomed by us and they are also stopped here. We talk to them. All older men. They are taking the same route we are for the next two days.
We finally gain the top at 7300 feet. Our Dodge pickup has used a half tank of gas climbing the mountain. I even look to make sure the gas tank is not leaking. We then drive along the ridges/plateau for quite a ways. 3:30 pm and we are at the turn off that goes down to the town of Urique. We decide to keep going rather than spend the 3 plus hours it would take to drive down and back.

On across the plateau we go and finally drop down into and thru the town of Cerocahui stopping at the motel Paraiso del Oso (4:35 pm) a few miles beyond. The motel is below a rock called the Yogi Bear rock and the profile of the rock does indeed resemble Yogi Bear.

Nice motel with wood stoves for heat (which we don’t use). Amazingly enough the motel has a wireless Internet connection. Slow and somewhat temperamental but still a connection where I was surprised to find even a phone line.

The motel has a dining room and a bar. We meet Steve from Tampa FL. He was in a motel at Baptopilas when we drove thru. We said we were the talk of the town the following morning. Nice supper of skirt steak, salad, tortillas and refried beans at 7:00 pm and then I’m sacked out. (Note: you get refried beans with EVERY meal)

GPS: 59.7 miles (felt like 600) in 7 hours and 11 minutes of driving time at a 8.3 mph average speed. Elevation at the motel is 5433. Odometer 91769.

[Toy Man]

31 Oct. 2007 Near Cerocahui.
Up at 5:15 am. First light at 6:00. It feels warm in the room but is freezing outside. The motel furnishes breakfast of pancakes, rancho huevos and beans at 7:00.

We pack up and leave at 7:45 for a easy but dusty drive back to Cerocahui where we do the tourist thing at the town square. Cerocahui is in a nice valley with a small river running thru it. It looked like a fairly good sized town from above but it appears to be just a few stores around the square and a fairly good sized motel for tourists. The motorcycle group pulls in shortly after we arrive. It only took them 15 minutes to ride up the hill from Urique vs. the one and a half hours it would have taken us.

We leave Cerocahui at 9:30 and head for Bahuichivo where we gas up. This will be the last gas for two days so we fill our gas cans also. As we start the dirt road to Chinipas we find it to be freshly widened and graded with a fair amount of construction work being done to it. Frenchie remarks that this is a big change since he last drove it six months ago. We make good time (with LOT’s of dust) along the plateau. It reminds me of the California hill country with trees of oak, pine and madrone. I am surprised we don’t see more cattle grazing the grass hillsides. Very few houses. This plateau’s elevation is about 5000’.

Just outside of Temoris we see a new modern looking two story house. Very unexpected in this remote location. We arrive at Temoris at 1:20 pm (82 degrees). Surprising town – looks like a blend of USA and Mexico. Nice well maintained houses, one way cement main streets, a new metal roof over the town square, new electrical poles and quite clean. We take a 20 minute stop to visit a farmacia and a bakery. See a few riders from the motorcycle group. And I see our first Mexican car wash.

On across the plateau continuing to ‘eat dust’. Mighty glad we have air conditioning with re-circulated air. Finally come to the edge of the plateau and begin our descent. While the road takes its usual steep twisting descent, lots of road work has been done and is still being done here. We drop one or two thousand feet to a fairly new mine where they are busy tearing down a mountain. I spot a cement truck – the first one I have seen in Mexico (and they use a LOT of cement.). Now we know why the road is being upgraded. It’s so the large dump trucks from the mine can haul the ore from the mine to the railroad at Bahuichivo or Temoris.

After the mine the road returns to Mexican back country standard – horrible. It takes 1 1/2 hours to drop another 1550 – 2000 feet to the valley floor and Chinipas.

We arrive in Chinipas at 4:30 and the beginning of dusk. We drive to the middle of town, take a left and drive down to and across the river onto a large rock/sand bar. Quickly setup camp. After camp is setup and it is full dark, most of us drive back across the river and into town. We talk to some of the motorcyclists, find a restaurant across the street from the town square and order whatever we can communicate to the owner. I think I had tacos. Towards the end of the meal several groups of young yelling kids run by. That seemed unusual until we remembered it was Halloween. Didn’t know Mexico celebrated Halloween but they do in this remote town. Rich and Mike remember they have bags of candy in their vehicles so after dinner they get the candy out and walk across the street to stand on a corner of the town square. There are no kids in sight. One small boy from the restaurant comes over, gets a piece of candy and quickly runs back to momma. 30 seconds later a mob of yelling youngsters surround Frenchie and Mike. Looks like feeding time for a bunch of piranhas. Frenchie and Mike can barely hold the candy out of reach while trying to distribute it. Frenchie finally resorts to throwing candy on the sidewalk to try and relieve the pressure. That works for about 20 seconds then it’s back to the feeding frenzy. Everyone watching is laughing, even the mothers. After the candy runs out and the kids disappear, I get some tacos from a street vender to take back to the group at camp. We survive fording the river in the dark and reach camp to find Rich making an improvised risotto. We BS around the fire, taste the risotto (good but salty) and then sack out. Later there are some obligatory gun shots – just like the US on Halloween.
GPS: 74.7 miles in 7 hours and 8 minutes of driving time at an average speed of 10.5 mph. Elevation is 1400’. Odometer - 91843

1 Nov. 2007 – Chinipas sand bar. Day of the dead.
We awaken to the sound of chickens crowing, dogs barking and a burro braying. Up at 5:15 am, break camp and eat a quick breakfast at camp. 40 degrees when we get up but it warms up fast. Looks like it will be another bright and sunny day.

Leave camp at 7:45 am and stay on the west side of the river heading down a rough path. After a short way, we turn west and begin climbing the mountain. The mountains in this region rise up almost vertically from the valley floor so we are in 4x4 granny gear immediately. Up, up and up. Break over the first ridge at 2600 feet, then descend a ways and prepare to climb the ‘real’ mountain. Once again there are a lot of steep, climbing narrow hairpin turns. Luckily we only meet a few oncoming vehicles while climbing.

Finally the top at 6300 feet and we drop down a 1000 feet to the plateau. Our old friend dust greets us. We see very few signs of habitation. As we approach a small village a couple of teenage boys hold out their thumbs. We stop and they find a place to hang on to the back of the Mike’s pickup. Rich asks them how long to Alamos and they reply ‘one and a half hours’. That means it will be three to four hours for us.

Shortly thereafter we begin the drop off the plateau. It’s the usual narrow, steep twisting road but seems routine to us by now. We finally reach rolling hills and then a fairly flat plain where the road widens and becomes a pretty smooth dirt road with a LOT of dust. We pick up the pace and reach the outskirts of Alamos at 3:30 pm and find our first paved road since we turned off for Baptopilas. Nice houses in the outskirts. Driving into town we find a mob scene at the town square with people preparing for/celebrating the Day of the Dead. We give up trying to find a parking space and head out of town. An ice cream parlor appears with parking just beyond. All stop – time out for an ice cream break. Then it is out of town on a good paved road to Navojoa where we arrive at 4:40 pm.

Navojoa is the first large (pop. 144,000) that we have seen and except for the language on the signs it looks exactly like a suburb of Los Angles.
We stay at the Motel el Mayo where the outside temperature is 93 degrees. We have a group dinner at a nearby restaurant. I also have an after dinner taco from a street side taco stand.

This has been another long grueling day but it is the of our off pavement adventures. Tomorrow we start for home.

GPS: 99.1 miles at an average speed of 13.3 mph in 7 hours and 26 minutes of driving time. Elevation at Navojoa is 133 feet.

[Toy Man]

1 Nov. 2007 – Chinipas sand bar. Day of the dead.
We awaken to the sound of chickens crowing, dogs barking and a burro braying. Up at 5:15 am, break camp and eat a quick breakfast at camp. 40 degrees when we get up but it warms up fast. Looks like it will be another bright and sunny day.

Leave camp at 7:45 am and stay on the west side of the river heading down a rough path. After a short way, we turn west and begin climbing the mountain. The mountains in this region rise up almost vertically from the valley floor so we are in 4x4 granny gear immediately. Up, up and up. Break over the first ridge at 2600 feet, then descend a ways and prepare to climb the ‘real’ mountain. Once again there are a lot of steep, climbing narrow hairpin turns. Luckily we only meet a few oncoming vehicles while climbing.

Finally the top at 6300 feet and we drop down a 1000 feet to the plateau. Our old friend dust greets us. We see very few signs of habitation. As we approach a small village a couple of teenage boys hold out their thumbs. We stop and they find a place to hang on to the back of the Mike’s pickup. Rich asks them how long to Alamos and they reply ‘one and a half hours’. That means it will be three to four hours for us.

Shortly thereafter we begin the drop off the plateau. It’s the usual narrow, steep twisting road but seems routine to us by now. We finally reach rolling hills and then a fairly flat plain where the road widens and becomes a pretty smooth dirt road with a LOT of dust. We pick up the pace and reach the outskirts of Alamos at 3:30 pm and find our first paved road since we turned off for Baptopilas. Nice houses in the outskirts. Driving into town we find a mob scene at the town square with people preparing for/celebrating the Day of the Dead. We give up trying to find a parking space and head out of town. An ice cream parlor appears with parking just beyond. All stop – time out for an ice cream break. Then it is out of town on a good paved road to Navojoa where we arrive at 4:40 pm.

Navojoa is the first large (pop. 144,000) city that we have seen and except for the language on the signs it looks exactly like a suburb of Los Angles.
We stay at the Motel el Mayo where the outside temperature is 93 degrees. We have a group dinner at a nearby restaurant. I also have an after dinner taco from a street side taco stand.

This has been another long grueling day but it is the of our off pavement adventures. Tomorrow we start for home.

GPS: 99.1 miles at an average speed of 13.3 mph in 7 hours and 26 minutes of driving time. Elevation at Navojoa is 133 feet.

2 Nov. 2007 Navojoa.
Up at 6:00 am. Warm, bright and sunny morning. We eat a continental breakfast at the hotel and get under way for Bahia Kino at 8:15 am. Bahia Kino is a small village on the gulf coast due west of Hermosillo. As we leave Navojoa we pick up Mexico Highway 15 which is a four lane freeway with an occasional toll section.

We are driving on the flat coastal plain just a short distance from the gulf but we cannot see it due to the heavy brush..A boring drive thru wasteland. As we approach Ciudad Obregon we start to see large agricultural plants (like Corona beer). Ciudad Obregon appears to be a large city even as we drive the freeway bypass. North of Ciudad Obregon we take a left turn onto a narrow paved two lane road that is a short cut to Bahia Kino. Stop for lunch at a small store. Later on we encounter 10 miles of potholes. It is about this time we stop at a Pemex station for a bathroom break. Only a couple of buildings here but in front of one is a push cart hot dog stand. Well – naturally several of us have to check it out. Not a very good hot dog but the novelty of it alone is worth the price of the dog. We begin seeing large corporate farms growing a variety of crops and nut/fruit trees. The land still looks like sandy desert waste land so I assume there is a large aquifer to draw water from. We finally pickup the excellent wide high speed two lane paved road heading to Bahia Kino from Hermosillo.

Bahia Kino is a small coast town (pop. 5000) divided into two sections. The first section is ‘old town’ and further north is ‘new town’ with fancy houses (Owned by gringo’s?) lining the beach front. In the middle of town on the highest point in the area (94’feet) is our stay for the night, the Hotel Posada del Mar. The hotel has a great view and a nice set of buildings but the rooms show that it is either in bankruptcy or close to it. No matter, it is good to be here. 79 degrees with a slight breeze – perfect.

The group spends the remainder of the afternoon checking out the town, sitting on the veranda and watching the sun go down and then we have dinner at a restaurant in the fancy end of town.

GPS: 234 miles in 5 hours of driving time at an average speed of 46 mph. Elevation at the motel at Bahia Kino is 94 feet.


3 Nov. 2007 Bahia Kino
Up at 4:00 am and we leave at 7:00 am. Yet another bright and sunny day.

We drive into Hermosillo, find our way to the freeway and have a boring drive to the border at Nogales. Large farms appear at random out of the desert landscape. A couple of small clouds appear on the horizon as we approach Nogales. We only notice them because the weather has been so perfect for our entire trip.

We arrive at the border at 12:41 pm. Frenchie and us get in one lane, the Gesrhey’s and the Wilson’s in another one. They sail right thru while we are selected to be searched. Just a quick one for us and a more intensive one for Frenchie. 1:19 pm and we are underway. We all link up at a buffet in Nogales USA. Lunch and goodbyes.


Notes:

I have a Google Earth file with way points and tracks I can send you if you are interested.

All times in this write-up are in Pacific Standard Time. When we were on the east side of the continental divide in Mexico, their time was an hour ahead. On the west side it was the same as PST.

The real Treasure of the Sierra Madre are the people of Mexico. It was worth the trip just to experience being among them and their culture.

[Steve]

Wow!! What an exciting adventure. It sounds like a great time. I look forward to seeing some photos of the areas you visited.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve

PS - I figured out a way to merge your posts into one thread.

[Toy Man]

Mexico Trip – Pictures/Slideshows

Day 1 – October 21 Douglas AZ to Mata Ortiz.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=7f40f49b.pbw

Day 2 – October 22 Mata Ortiz to Cave of the Jar.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=ed5066a8.pbw

Day 3 – October 23 Cave of the Jar to Madera
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=7ef141f3.pbw

Day 4 – October 24 Madera to Valley of the Caves to Madera
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=f4377406.pbw


Day 5 – October 25 Madera to Basaseachi Falls
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=fe320f9e.pbw

Day 6 – October 26 Basaseachi Falls to Creel
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=b8d85b09.pbw

Day 7 – October 27 Creel to El Divisadero to Creel
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=b55335b5.pbw

Day 8 – October 28 Creel to Baptopilas
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=c9175692.pbw

Day 9 – October 29 Baptopilas to Rio Baptopilas
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=c3b748e8.pbw


Day 10 – October 30 Rio Baptopilas to Cerocahui
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=6678eac3.pbw


Day 11 – October 31 Cerocahui to Chinipas
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=f4f8443b.pbw


Day 12 – Nov. 1 Chinipas to Navojoa
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=0e402bd5.pbw

Day 13 - Nov. 2 Navojoa to Bahia Kino
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t=053e65fc.pbw