Creel and the Copper Canyon Railway

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From Zacatecas we had another mammoth journey, in total 17 hours of travel, first was the 11 hour bus ride north to Chihuahua, famous for the midget dogs! We had an hours wait with the usual assortment of wierdos in the bus station at 4.30 am, then another 5 hours bus trip West to Creel, a small railway town surrounded by mountain in the middle of some of the most amazing scenery I´ve ever seen. Since we researched Mexico this was one of the must-see places, famous for the Barranca Del Cobre, Copper Canyon Railway, one of the most scenic journeys in the world. The journey covers 20 canyons, 9 of which are deeper than the Grand Canyon! It covers vastly different biospheres, from an altitude of 2300m to sea level. When I think of canyons I always picture the barroness of the Grand Canyon, this was totally different, it was completely covered in greenery, from pine trees and ferns to cactus, with the odd cascading waterfall to break up the greenery! The journey lasted 12 hours in total, 10 of these were breathtaking the other 2 I couldn’t say as it went dark! It was something Ill remember and hope to do again some time as there is so much to see and its difficult to take it all in. The journey took us from the highlands of Creel to Los Mochis on the Pacific coast.

Before the train journey we spent 3 nights in Creel, the scenery was amazing and we had a great time here. The first day we toured one of the close by Canyons at Divisadero where we got our first glimpse of the size and impressiveness of it. One of the stops was a place called balancing rock, as you might have guessed this was where a rock balanced on another on the edge of a rock face very high up. When you stand on it you can shift your weight so that it pivots like a see-saw, the guide we had did this and we all thought he was mad as it looked a bit too close to the edge for my liking and thought it cant balance like that forever! I still jumped on the rock for a photo opportunity but didn’t have the guts to make it wobble as my legs were doing enough wobbling on their own! Looking back I should have given it a go but at the time there was no chance!

The second day we went horse riding, my first real time on a horse as I can only remember being walked around on one when I was younger, similar to the donkeys at Blackpool. This was a bit different to say the least. Michelle is very much at home with horses so was loving every minute, so was I at first, strolling and taking in the fantastic scenery, brilliant rock formations, flowery meadows and picture perfect lakes. It all changed when we galloped, very fast! Al I could do was hold on for dear life and try to enjoy the rush as much as possible. Michelle said I looked like a scarecrow bouncing all over the place with no control what so ever! I can´t really disagree as the horse that I named ´Seabiscuit´ had a mind of his own and went wherever he chose! I just kept saying to myself the horse isn’t going to hurt itself on purpose so just go with the flow! Afterwards my thighs were killing and my bum looked like Id spent a few months in prison! I couldn’t sit properly for a week, Michelle was sore too so that made me feel a bit better! She said for my first time she was amazed Id managed to stay on as the saddles weren’t the best, she burst into laughter now and again just picturing me bouncing about like a rag doll, so glad she enjoyed the show!

The third day we went hiking to a canyon named La Bufa, 3 hours from Creel, once again so spectacular, so much greenery for miles and miles, so hard to put into words just breathtaking, I could spend forever here.

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Photos

Creel
Trusty old Sea biscuit!