Call of the Canyon: Copper Canyon, Mexico

A guest post by John Vogel:

 

Life on the  edge:  Copper Canyon in Mexico

I hear a voice beckoning me from deep down in the canyon. Is it coming from the tiny villages dotting the massive plateaus below me? Or maybe it's coming from the pueblos tucked in canyons hidden away, dwarfed by towering cliffs on either side. The voice calls me, urging me to come and marvel at Indian villages isolated from modern civilization by seemingly impassable canyon walls; villages accessible only to the hardy souls willing to traverse the precipitous trails leading to them.

 

Or maybe the voice emanates from the canyon bottom, lost and invisible somewhere below cliffs so high they seem to reach to the heavens. The canyon, itself, pleads to me with a gentle, yet urgent, voice to come and discover its unseen mysteries.

 

Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon), implying one canyon, is somewhat a misnomer. This stunning geographical area covers some 600 km in length, and 250 km in width. It comprises no less than six canyons with an average depth of 5,100 feet, with many diverse ecosystems resulting from elevations ranging from 6,900 feet to 1,350 feet above sea level. It has waterfalls plunging nearly 1,500 feet, and sheer cliffs twice that height. In comparison with the Grand Canyon in the USA, Copper Canyon is 25 million years younger, but four times larger. In short, it is a geographical wonder formed by millions of years of erosion. Throughout the past five million years, the Sea of Cortez has been filling in, while Copper Canyon continues to deepen and straighten as the volcanic debris washes away leaving behind a phenomenal labyrinth of canyons for us to explore today.

 

BestDay.com says, “When you visit a fascinating place such as Copper Canyon, you must give up the concept of words like big, huge and vast. Standing in front of this marvelous landscape, the most grateful sense is the view and the best thing you can do is remain expectant and receptive to experience something absolutely unique. You will find polite people, rocks and churches that will share with you this land's history; you will feel the rush during your trip through the mountains, tunnels and bridges; you will breath the pines filled air, concluding the journey sleeping under the star studded sky of Mexico and dreaming that you are a part of this beautiful and untamed land that you will never forget.”

 

The Tarahumara Indians, or Raramuri as they call themselves, have inhabited the canyon for thousands of years. These shy people live on small, remote family farms as they have for centuries in homes which are picturesque log cabins, stone buildings or caves scattered all up and down the barrancas (canyons). Around 50,000 Tarahumara live in the rugged canyons in the Sierra Madre Mountains of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Dressed in their traditional clothing of brightly colored clothing and headbands, the Tarahumara scale the canyon walls going about their daily life.

 

As I sit and rest on the trail reveling in the rugged beauty of Copper Canyon, I find it very difficult to resist the temptation to head off on a trail leading me down into this colorful wonderland. Then, as if to pull me out of a dream, harsh reality awakens me. I am just out for a day hike and have little water or food with me. My hand-me-down sneakers are on their last leg, their soles flapping as I walk. There is no way I can heed the call of the canyon. As if to lure me back into dreamland, several Tarahumara Indians, colorfully dressed in their traditional clothes, pass me on the trail as they go about their daily chores. The voice is back, taunting and teasing me to come and discover a civilization lost in the past, a culture nearly untainted by the modern world. But again I am reluctantly yanked from my dream as my wife and two sons remind me of the train we must catch this afternoon to the coastal city of Los Mochis.

 

As I apologize to the canyon and thank it for its invitation, I'm thankful for this wonderful day. Bright blue skies with fluffy white clouds lazily floating across the vast horizon, a gentle warm breeze, and a canyon too spectacular to describe made for a perfect hike.