Copper Canyon Day 5/6 FINAL

We’re about to wrap this amazing Copper Canyon ride tomorrow morning as every rider is like a horse smelling the closeness of the barn and comforts of the USA. Before I end this last story, let me add a little observation; Cortez had his Milanche; Lewis and Clark had his Sacajawea and Gpskevin now has his Roberto.

And now, If you’re in the dark about who or what those two are then maybe now is a good time to stop and refresh yourselves on USA and Mexico history.

Yes, one could easily do this ride by without speaking Spanish but, the value added that you get with having a bilingual speaker along is tremendous.

One of the biggest benefits of knowing the local language is that it allows you to communicate with everyone you meet. Amazingly very few outside of maybe Creel spoke any English. I even met a 60 year old local woman in Banolitos whom when encountered with a hotel guest from Tacoma Washington that couldn’t pay his hotel bill; she made him stick around for a month longer to teach her English.

Those fantastic meals we ate and at the places we ate and stayed at were not by chance; and neither was the hotel or museum tour in Banolitos.

Thank you Roberto and thank you gpskevin for the most amazing ride into lands where few gringos dare travel. We even had a writer and photographer from Upshift motorcycle magazine along with his model riding companion. Apparently the French riders are wanting a story about this amazing ride and so I am sure a story is already in the works.

Today is our final day and tomorrow we cross the border back to the USA. Our final day came way too fast and some riders got caught by surprise. This morning the ride was all pavement except for about the last twenty five miles that was more a battle between man and nature. I think nature is doing a good job of reclaiming that last twenty five miles. Everyone had an ahhhh shit moment and mine was almost running into a mountain slide that took over the road. There was this patch about three feet across that was not covered by the landslide and I nearly missed it when I ran wide after that last twistie.

And thank you Yoda Gregg too; I also saw the value in any type of assistance that you proudly provide to many a-riders that lack the confidence needed; even though they may have the most awesomeness off road bikes.

Last night Tim’s new front tire on his 701 Husqvarna had a slow leak. About six riders plus Tim were all on hand getting it fixed; even though the temperatures were now in the low 50’s.

Once again we can’t say enough about the foods we’ve enjoyed and eaten. Mexican cuisine is another reason to come explore this area. Every meal was fantastic and in most places we were the only game in town. It’s definitely not the type of Mexican food you find in our local restaurants back home. Like for instance Veronica’s restaurant in Creel has the Veronica burger special that has mixed into the meat Mennonite cheese, topped with delicious avocados that cannot be exported elsewhere. This is the location where tourists off load from the El Chefe train. There’s a thin slice of ham on the burger along with other ingredients.

Not me, I stick with all Mexican traditional meals and I have the pictures to prove it.

The soups (called caldos) are to die for. Each one is unique yet familiar to our pallete. The word “caldo” translates to “broth” in Spanish, which is an apt descriptor of the dish.

And for desert we walked to an ice cream shop and each enjoyed a cone made from some type of cornmeal that the Tarahumaras use as an energy drink. The two year old in the picture was out with his sister who was showing him the fine art of selling baskets and key chains to gringos. She was a persistent little bugger who followed me around like a puppy dog. Speaking of puppies we saw none. But, there’s plenty of mongrel dogs in every town we stopped or rode by just waiting to be fed.

Today we diverted from the ride to go see a waterfall. The Basaseachic Falls (Spanish: Cascada de Basaseachi) is the second-highest waterfall in Mexico, and is located in the Parque Nacional Basaseachic at Cañón Basaseachic in the Copper Canyon region of northwest Mexico, near Creel, Chihuahua.

The Falls, drop (800 feet), and is said to be the highest waterfall in all of Mexico. The park has a great diversity in flora found in Northern Mexico. One of the factors that allows the park to have such a great variety of flora is due to the large number of micro-climates found in the park due to its dramatic terrain.

The Pine and oak species are found at an elevation of 2,000 meters (6,560 ft) above sea level. The park contains 92 species of conifers and 76 species of oaks.

Once again, the hardest thing about doing anything bold is taking that first step. As I see it now, we didn’t die on this ride; lightning didn’t hit us and going over the side of the canyon wasn’t an option for me; and neither is old age going yo take me for a while longer. I’m still betting though that I’ll be riding a fee years longer until old age catches up with me one year.

Trawlercat 10/30/2021