Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon)

October 5-12, 2023

The Barrancas del Cobre, or Copper Canyon, is a group of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in northwestern Mexico formed by six rivers that drain into the Rio Fuerte which empties into the Sea of Cortez. The canyon gets it’s name from the copper/green colors of it’s walls. The indigenous people are the Raramuri or Tarahumara, known for their superb long distance running abilities detailed in the book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. Today the area is a national park and is easily visited by train. Completed in 1961, the El Chepe Express runs 405 miles from Los Mochis to Chihuahua through 39 bridges and 86 tunnels. There are three tiers of tickets: coach, business class, and first class. We chose first class which gave us access to the dome topped dining car, bar car, and terrace car.

After crossing the border at the Cross Border Express (CBX) we flew from Tijuana to Los Mochis where we were picked up at the airport and brought to the town of El Fuerte. We stayed at a very cool hotel, the Hotel Posada Hidalgo. This is an old mansion from the mining days of the town now converted to a boutique hotel. Legend has it that it is also the birthplace of Zorro. We enjoyed the pool, beverages and exploring the town of El Fuerte.

The next day we boarded the train and headed into the mountains. Winding through picturesque landscape we arrived at the town of Divisadero which is at almost 7500 feet elevation. Staying at the Hotel Mirador, we had spectacular views into the canyon from our room while we enjoyed the cool weather.

Our next stop was a short van ride and guided tour through the mountains to the town of Creel. There is a small downtown area with several good restaurants and bars. Our favorite was the Restaurante Veronica. We stayed at the Lodge at Creel which had rustic, log cabin type rooms.

We then boarded El Chepe for the scenic ride back to El Fuerte and another nice stay at the Hotel Posada Hidalgo. After two nights relaxing and enjoying the pool, we took a van to Los Mochis where we boarded a Tufesa bus for the trip to Guaymas. Our friends Phillip and Michelle from SV Sancerre picked us up and drove us back to Tasi in San Carlos. The Tufesa bus was great; clean, efficient, comfortable and affordable. We’ll take one again for sure.

We had wanted to do this trip for a while after seeing various YouTube videos about it. Although it is certainly possible to plan the trip yourself, we decided to go through “Copper Canyon Mexico Specialists”. As you can imagine there were a lot of moving parts to make this trip work and they did a phenomenal job arranging ground transfers, train tickets, hotel reservations and meals. Everything went seamlessly and we highly recommend them if you are planning a trip to the Barrancas del Cobre.

Copper Canyon Mexico Specialists, LLC; info@coppercanyon.com; www.coppercanyon.com; 888-975-3410