November 8, 1997 - Eight of us converge on Alpine, Texas
to begin a Dual Sport ride to
the Copper Canyon region of Mexico. We come from all over the
USA and Canada. This writer and Pete are from Georgia. The rest
are from Washington State, Florida, Texas, Colorado, New Hampshire,
and Canada. Our bikes are four KLR650s, a BMW, Honda NX650, Suzuki
DR650, and a Suzuki600 single.
All but one of us are associated
with Pancho Villa Moto Tours: Either as guides or frequent participants
in Pancho Villa Tours in Mexico. We have been planning this trip
for months and are finally ready to depart Alpine for the border
crossing at Presidio, Texas, just West of Big Bend National Park.
Presidio is a convenient and fast border crossing and has a very
nice road leading to Chihuahua, Mexico, our first stop.
The 200km ride to Chihuahua
is fast and very scenic! A great start. Entering Chihuahua one
has only to continue to follow the signs to “El Centro”
and find the Palacio del Sol, our Hotel. This Hotel is one of
the best in Chihuahua and easy to find as it is one of the tallest
buildings in Chihuahua! All Pancho Villa Tours use the Palacio
del Sol as their Hotel in Chihuahua. After an evening of eating
and talking we are anxious to head out to the Copper Canyon.
The morning finds us riding out
of town toward Cuauhtemoc, about 100km to the West and the beginning
of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Just past Cuauhtemoc about 5km
there is a turn off to the South toward the village of Carichi.
This area is the “Zona Menonita” (Mennonite Zone.)
The area looks just like it came out of a movie set in Kansas!
Very neat homes and farms where the Mennonites have settle around
1923 and prospered ever since! The road to Carichi is hard surfaced
but turns to dirt once you enter the village. This is where we
started our first day of Dual Sport riding! The country is high
plains, rolling and begins to turn to mountainous scenery with
pine trees replacing the brown grass and scrub trees. Some portions
of the 75km ride are difficult but well within the capability
of all the riders. My friend Pete, from Georgia began to suffer
a power loss on the hills and after checking out his bike concluded
it had to be a clogged air filter - it was! On the trail removal
of gas tank to clean a fouled plug as well as cleaning the filter
soon had him on his way.
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A Dual Sport Ride Into The Copper
Canyon