- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
- Messages
- 4,465
- Reaction score
- 1,228
- Location
- Buda, TX
- First Name
- Rich
- Last Name
- Gibbens
The Copper Canyon - Big Bend Loop
Prologue
It has been on my mind for about 2 years, sort of like that commercial where the guy has the little car stuck to his forehead. In that commercial, during each subsequent scene the car stuck to the guy’s forehead gets bigger and bigger. That guy had a new car purchase on his mind; I had Copper Canyon on mine.
It wasn’t like I had gone out seeking this. I was minding my own business, completely innocent. All I was doing was surfing the web over at Adventure Rider when I ran across a story called “Cantina Crawl 2004 (Sierra Madre and Copper Canyon)” by Kevlar. It sounded like an interesting story so I clicked on it without a second thought, completely unsuspecting of the long term effect it would have on me. It was a story with lots of pictures of a motorcycle adventure to Copper Canyon and it completely captured my imagination. Once I finished the story I called my wife into the room, pointed out some of the pictures of Copper Canyon to her, and told her I would sure like to go there.
It took 2 years for me to get everything arranged for the trip. I bought a KLR 650, made the necessary modifications to it for long distance travel, and took care of the multitude of other stuff necessary to make the trip (luggage, passport, gear, time off, funds, riding partners, etc.). Finally, I was ready to go.
Originally four of us were going to make the trip. However, one of the guys dropped out due to an arm injury. Another friend of mine was going to replace our lost rider, bringing our number back to four, but in the end my friend wasn’t able make the trip either. So, we were down to three riders just one week prior to the trip. But fate wasn’t finished with us just yet. Mike, the third rider, was having serious knee problems and decided the wisest course of action would be to stay in the U.S. He was concerned that his knee just wouldn’t be up to the amount of unpaved road riding we would be doing in Mexico. Mike and I would trailer our KLRs out to Big Bend together and he would spend a week riding in the Big Bend area while Uncle and I headed off for Copper Canyon.
The die was cast. The basic plan was:
Day 1 – trailer from Austin to Uncle’s place in Terlingua, TX (Big Bend area)
Day 2 – Terlingua, TX to Creel, MX
Day 3 – The road to Batopilas
Day 4 – Back to Creel
Day 5 – Divisidaro & Basaseachi Falls
Day 6 – El Paso
Day 7 – Indian Hot Springs, TX
Day 8 – Terlingua via the Lost Trail
Day 9 – Austin
Day 1 – Austin to Terlingua
Mike showed up at my house around 10 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving. We loaded up my KLR into his trailer with his KLR and headed towards Terlingua as fast as the law would allow.
Loaded
We made a stop at Whittington’s Jerky in Johnson City to stock up on jerky – regular beef, teriyaki beef, and turkey jerky. That Whittington jerky is just plain ‘ol good.
Not much else to tell about the ride out to Terlingua; just 500 miles of slab. The real fun starts tomorrow
Prologue
It has been on my mind for about 2 years, sort of like that commercial where the guy has the little car stuck to his forehead. In that commercial, during each subsequent scene the car stuck to the guy’s forehead gets bigger and bigger. That guy had a new car purchase on his mind; I had Copper Canyon on mine.
It wasn’t like I had gone out seeking this. I was minding my own business, completely innocent. All I was doing was surfing the web over at Adventure Rider when I ran across a story called “Cantina Crawl 2004 (Sierra Madre and Copper Canyon)” by Kevlar. It sounded like an interesting story so I clicked on it without a second thought, completely unsuspecting of the long term effect it would have on me. It was a story with lots of pictures of a motorcycle adventure to Copper Canyon and it completely captured my imagination. Once I finished the story I called my wife into the room, pointed out some of the pictures of Copper Canyon to her, and told her I would sure like to go there.
It took 2 years for me to get everything arranged for the trip. I bought a KLR 650, made the necessary modifications to it for long distance travel, and took care of the multitude of other stuff necessary to make the trip (luggage, passport, gear, time off, funds, riding partners, etc.). Finally, I was ready to go.
Originally four of us were going to make the trip. However, one of the guys dropped out due to an arm injury. Another friend of mine was going to replace our lost rider, bringing our number back to four, but in the end my friend wasn’t able make the trip either. So, we were down to three riders just one week prior to the trip. But fate wasn’t finished with us just yet. Mike, the third rider, was having serious knee problems and decided the wisest course of action would be to stay in the U.S. He was concerned that his knee just wouldn’t be up to the amount of unpaved road riding we would be doing in Mexico. Mike and I would trailer our KLRs out to Big Bend together and he would spend a week riding in the Big Bend area while Uncle and I headed off for Copper Canyon.
The die was cast. The basic plan was:
Day 1 – trailer from Austin to Uncle’s place in Terlingua, TX (Big Bend area)
Day 2 – Terlingua, TX to Creel, MX
Day 3 – The road to Batopilas
Day 4 – Back to Creel
Day 5 – Divisidaro & Basaseachi Falls
Day 6 – El Paso
Day 7 – Indian Hot Springs, TX
Day 8 – Terlingua via the Lost Trail
Day 9 – Austin
Day 1 – Austin to Terlingua
Mike showed up at my house around 10 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving. We loaded up my KLR into his trailer with his KLR and headed towards Terlingua as fast as the law would allow.
Loaded
We made a stop at Whittington’s Jerky in Johnson City to stock up on jerky – regular beef, teriyaki beef, and turkey jerky. That Whittington jerky is just plain ‘ol good.
Not much else to tell about the ride out to Terlingua; just 500 miles of slab. The real fun starts tomorrow