Copper Canyon by Rail
Dramatic Landscapes, Nature, Birds, Culture, Art, and History

ITINERARY: Copper Canyon by Rail

September 22 - October 2, 2012

Travelers fly into Tucson in early afternoon. Gathering at the airport, we will then be taken by van to Douglas in extreme southeast Arizona on the Mexican border, where we stay the night at the historic Gadsden Hotel. En route to Douglas we pass through Tombstone and Bisbee. Time permitting we will do some birdwatching along the way, perhaps among the saguaros of the Sonoran Desert.

Gadsden Hotel, Douglas

After crossing the border and meeting our van and co-leader Gustavo, we proceed east, then south, through the Chihuahuan Desert with occasional stops for birds and flora. There should be many raptors, perhaps burrowing owls, loggerhead shrikes, and a variety of wintering sparrows. The driving time will be 5 to 6 hours. At Casas Grandes we settle into a charming, traditionally decorated, adobe style hotel. Our hostess is an authority on the region and has a private museum of fine Mata Ortiz Pottery.

Posada Guacamaya, Casas Grandes

We have an early option to visit Lake Fierro (named after one of Pancho Villa's men) where we will see dozens of songbirds and waterbirds typical of the US Southwest. We then see the Posada's private museum and continue half an hour to the town of Mata Ortiz, where the pottery techniques of the Mogollon culture were first revived and expanded. We'll have lunch at a potter's home, and visit their workshops and galleries, including that of famed master craftsman Juan Quesada, who creates intricate traditional patterns and forms. We return to Casas Grandes to visit the Mogollon site of Paquime, an adobe city of 3,000 rooms and four stories. The city traded and also no doubt served in the exchange of ideas and technologies between North and Mesoamerica from 900 to 1250 AD. There is an excellent museum. Dinner will be a traditional carne asada on the hotel patio.

Posada Guacamaya, Casas Grandes

We depart early for our 6 hour drive south to the Sierra Madre and Copper Canyon. The route across the desert is beautiful and we will make several short stops at lakes, ponds and rock formations. Large ranches cover the region and a few small towns. In the early evening we reach the pines and search for the endangered thick-billed parrot, then continue to Basaseache Falls, time permitting, or settle into our nearby lodge of forest cabins. We'll look for whiskered and screech owls.

Lobo Rancho, San Lorenzo

We begin with a half mile walk to 800-foot Basaseache Falls('place of the falls' in the Tara language) in Condameña Canyon National Park. There are five large falls entering this spectacular s-curving barranca (gorge), and good trails enable views from many angles. This is one of the grandest scenes in the entire region and little visited. Nearly 1200 foot Volado Falls (Mexico's tallest) requires a longer walk but may be possible for our group. After lunch at Lobo we have a two hour drive through diverse pine forest to Creel, a colonial lumber town and a center of commerce for native Tarahumara. Tonight or tomorrow we'll visit San Ignacio Mission (where a unique local Catholicism integrates traditional beliefs), view cave dwellings, and enjoy weird rock formations near large Lake Arareco.

Sierra Lodge, Creel

There will be good early birdwatching near the lodge beside a stream, weedy fields and rocky slopes. Our principle walk is a couple of miles to view broad 100 foot Cusarare Falls. The trail is one of the region's best for finding the Eared Quetzal, endemic to the region, as well as many other pine-oak species. At midday we have the option to catch the train for a half-hour trip to Divisadero. This rail section is not especially scenic, but always interesting. Others may prefer to take the van. We have a relaxed afternoon at Divisadero, where our hotel is at 7,200 feet overlooking massive 'Copper Canyon.' The entire Copper Canyon system includes a half dozen huge canyons, most interconnected, and this particular barranca is the namesake of the region; tomorrow we view Urique Canyon. At the train station and town beside our hotel many colorfully clad Tarahumara weave and sell baskets of sotol leaf and pine needles, as well as bark dolls, drums and other crafts. Behind our hotel is a spring where birds drink, and nearby are forests for an evening walk. Hummers frequent the feeders.

Divisadero Hotel, Divisadero

After early birds and photographs near the hotel, Gustavo will drive us half an hour to his favorite lookout and excellent forest birdwatching. After lunch we catch the train at 2:00 for an hour ride to Bauchivo, from which our van takes us twenty minutes to Cerocahui, a historic mission town. Another 20 minutes and we reach our cabins, nestled among the pines beside the Urique Canyon rim. We'll relax this evening and make short walks from the wooden cabins, where we stay for two nights.

Cabañas San Isidro Lodge, Cerocahui

Many western US forest birds, especially Arizona species, occur in this zone, where we spend six days. Specialties include: Zone-tailed Hawk, Goshawk, Northern Pygmy-owl, Black Swift, White-eared, Magnificent, Berylline, and Blue-throated Hummingbirds, Mountain Trogon, Eared Quetzal, Thick-billed Parrot, Mexican Chickadee, Bridled Titmouse, Arizona Woodpecker, White-striped Woodcreeper, Eastern and Western Bluebird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Brown-backed Solitaire, Red-faced, Grace's and Olive Warblers, Painted and Slate-throated Whitestarts, Hepatic Tanager, Striped Sparrow, Hooded Grosbeak and Black-headed Siskin among many others. Birdlists will be sent and frequently reviewed. We will also have books on the flora.

We depart early into Urique Canyon, enjoying 7,500 foot Cerro (Hill) Gallegos viewpoint before our descent, with numerous stops in various vegetation zones with diverse flowers. We may descend to about 4,000 feet, where valley bottoms are dry and open. We will see many northern migrant birds too at this season. After lunch we'll make our way back up to the hotel with more stops at higher elevations.

Cabañas San Isidro Lodge, Cerocahui

More nature walks and drives near the hotel, then after lunch we meet the train 45 minutes away at 2:30 PM, at last descending along the most fantastic section of railway to the coastal plains, through numerous tunnels and over bridges, the highest being 335 feet and the longest 1638 feet. The afternoon light is rich on innumerable vistas, including old silver mining towns and agricultural villages. We can move around on the train and there is a nice dining car for drinks. We arrive in El Fuerte at dusk and are met by staff of the nearby Rio Vista Hotel, which overlooks the river, and where we spend two nights.

Rio Vista Hotel, El Fuerte

We're out early to raft a few bird-rich miles of the Rio Fuerte where it comes out of Copper Canyon and winds through subtropical gallery forest. We'll get out in a few places to walk into deciduous forest, and to view petroglyphs at Hill of the Masks. Our boatman will discuss some of the characteristic plants including medicinals. We return for lunch, and after a break we'll have a guided tour of the colonial town dating from the late 1700s and 1800s, including the fort, plaza, city hall, cathedral and historic hotels and homes. This evening, an optional birdwatching outing. Individual dinner in the town

Rio Vista Hotel, El Fuerte

There'll be an early option for more diverse woodland, scrub and riverside birding. After an early lunch we drive through Los Mochis, an agricultural and transportation hub where sugar cane is king, and continue to the coast, about a two-hour drive total, where we settle into our hotel in Topolobampo for two nights. After a break we drive through estuaries teeming with shore and waterbirds and explore cactus and thorn forest, before an evening stroll on an isolated beach, where the restaurant has very fresh seafood.

Marina Hotel, Topolobampo

Blue-footed and Brown Booby, Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Reddish Egret, Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling-duck, White-tailed Kite, Harris's Hawk, Snowy and Wilson's Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Marbled Godwit, Red-billed Pigeon, Ferruginous Pygmy-owl, Gilded Flicker, Rufous-crowned Motmot, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Green Kingfisher, Great Kiskadee, Thick-billed Kingbird, Black-throated Magpie-jay, Sinaloan (Mexican) Crow, Mangrove Swallow, Rufous-backed Robin, Summer Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Streak-backed and Scott's Oriole, and Yellow-winged Cacique, among many others.

Again we explore estuaries, mangroves and thorn forest, continuing inland to view agricultural lands and wetlands. After lunch, there is more optional nearby viewing, then a break at the hotel before our late afternoon boat trip 1 ½ hours boat trip to Bird Island, featuring Dolphins, Blue-footed and Brown Boobies, Peregrine, Brown Pelicans and Yellow-crowned Night-herons. At our final banquet, we recall the many sights.

Marina Hotel, Topolobampo

Flights depart at 9:00 AM and the airport is about 45 minutes from our lodging. The least expensive routes take us through Mexico City. Thank you.