Authentic Copper Canyon » Trans-Americas

Trans Americas Journey- Part 6 on Copper Canyon

Copper Canyon Guy — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:01:22 +0000

Now Eric and Karen are off into Sinforosa Canyon- some of the deepest and most precipitous areas in the Barrancas de Cobre. As they say this area is more “Grand Canyonish” than other areas in Copper Canyon- and not as traveled to by tourists. Here is a blip from their blog:

The Sinforosa Canyon seemed more jagged than the chasms and slopes we’d been seeing for the past 10 days or so as we traveled through the Sierra Madre. From where we were standing the canyon walls were even too sheer for cactus, scrub trees or brush to cling to. This meant the underlying rock–with all it’s color, shape and striation variations–was much more visible than in other parts of the Copper Canyon that we’d visited. Here more than anywhere else, it felt like looking at the Grand Canyon as the evening light created contrast and surprisingly vibrant colors on the world of rock below us.

Our friends at 3 Amigos have a good description of the area and can get you connected to getting there….and this picture is on their site:

The great chasms in Sinforosa from 3 Amigos

One note: 3 Amigos is a great resource for equipment, guides, and info about the back country throughout the canyons. The are based in Creel and El Fuerte…Ivan and Yolanda are great folks!

At the bottom of Urique Canyon…

Copper Canyon Guy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:46:41 +0000

This is one of the most demanding trails I have ever seen…and I have been on some wild ones over the years across the American west. A steep descent on rocky trails in direct sun. Demanding. It took us about 6 hours to get down and a little longer to come out. I have walked it before (down and up in one day- not recommended), but this time I rode a horse.

At the bottom, we spent the night at the little camping area established by Gary Ziegler and Amy Finger of Adventure Specialists years ago. My first order of business was to take a plung is the icey water and bask on the little beach.

This photo is courtesy of the fine travel photographer, Eric Mohl. Eric and his wife, writer Karen Catchpole of Trans Americas Journey were my companions on this wild descent.

Our Copper Canyon trips are about people

Copper Canyon Guy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:15:56 +0000

We partner in the Copper Canyon area with some great folks. One example is this father son team in El Fuerte, Chico and his son Sergio Villasenor. We sat out at the train station in El Fuerte last week and visited with Karen Catchpole (writer)and Eric Mohl (photograher). They are Trans-Americas Journey and I just spent two weeks with them introducing them to our fascinating trip to the little towns of the Copper Canyon area. Chico is one of the premier fishing and wildlife guides in the area and his son holds a degree in Marine Biology and manages an innovative organic farm outside of El Fuerte.

This organic farm is huge and the techniques that Sergio is introducing are fascinating. The products range from basil to hardwoods to fresh fish to cucumbers. This is one of the stops on our new food focused trip called “The Blue Corn Express” (coming in 2010).

Chico showed our crew around the ancient petro glyph site near town along the river. Besides being one of the major petro sites in Mexico, the area is home to scores of avian species- hawks, spoonbills, parrots, and many more.

Anyway, these two guys are top drawer- articulate, funny, and a vital part of our team in Copper Canyon.