hi all.

we are about to take the ferry from la paz to topolobampo and then make our way up to creel, we would like to have your advise regarding the road from alamo or from el fuerte. how rough would it be on this time of the year and is it o.k safe wise.
if those roads are impasiable what is your advise for an alternate way up yo creel.
many thanks ahead.

__________________
love to all

www.guyandmarie.com

This is a fairly common question that I am not sure has provided a definite answer. I tried to do this ride a couple of years back but could not find a way through and ended up taking the train to Creel. That's a good trip but it was disappointing not to ride it.

There was some recent info on the train:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...torcycle-26246

As for safety I don't know the recent story. Lot of drugs and bandits so I was told and there may be a good deal of truth in this.

Good luck with whatever happens.

Matt

thanks for the reply. in a week or so we shell know if it ok or not. we have couple of friends who did on a 4wd and daid it was fine, so we shell take our chances ...

__________________
love to all

www.guyandmarie.com

i did that route in reverse from creel to topo then la paz and it's good road all the way. some of it is paved and what is not paved is graded gravel. there are some sandy sections and some big rocks but it's nothing major. i posted a .gpx track here that shows the route.

san juanito-urique (copper canyon) west to el fuerte - ADVrider

i have more pictures and info on the route if anyone is interested.

thanks a lot Haggeo, unfortunately we don't have the softwear to open the file. Which softwear are you using? Will it be possible for you to send us a print screen (jpg file etc) of the map? it would be great assistance for us .
would love to get more information.
you can e-mail us to smile @ guyandmarie.com (without the spaces)

Thanks!

__________________
love to all

www.guyandmarie.com

If you do not have any GPS software to open the file try saving or copying the file and then open with google earth.

hope i didnt catch you too late but i did this exact ride a few years ago and here is my opinion. btw....LOVED the ride!!! it is a bit techincal tho and you will find yourself challenged along the way. not atms, no internet. halfway hotels and so-so dining awaits. and so does one of the funnest ride's i've ever done. all told we rode about 6-7 hours a day for four days. it's slow-going but beautiful. we did it around july 04



from la paz we took the ferry to los mochis (basically topolobambo). 6 hrs i think. bring a book.. you tie your bike w/ a rope against a guardrail. lock your gear. no worries. dont recall the cost.

enter los mochis late night....find hotel....rest. decent town....seemed safe enough

next morning we took off round 10am, headed for batopilas. all i recall is the road outside mochis was paved until we had to take the off road route about 20km out of town. no markings...you have to ask the locals where the Y is. from here it's dirt almost all the way to creel.

day one....gorgeous mountain scenery. rain clouds chasing us. we knew it would be 6pm b4 it started pissing on us. stoped in small town of about 30 or so peeps. local head honcho was uber cool. i wont use his name b/c they're only source of income is growing cannibus. they have fields of it stashed out there. the military comes thru every now ant then...they have walkie talkies to alert themselves when this happens. he let us sleep in his barn for the night which saved our asses. fed us as well. such great folks. i will always remember their kindness

day two....took off and had another day of nice riding...more tricky than day one so hope your up for deep ruts and some (rather long) stream crossings. 4wd would be the only vehicle that could make this leg in my opinion. there were a couple Y's in the road where we had to do rock paper scissors (take a good map). stayed in a flimsy hotel and had some cheap food. intersting to see villages that far out in the wilderness. we gased up here. dont recall the name of the town but they sold us fuel.

day three....more great riding. my moto buddy lost his footpeg which posed some crazy difficulties as he was not so accustomed to riding offroad. but beautiful mountain scenery all the way. in fact the road was so rough i broke my rack mounts and had to do a quick fix with bailing wire which held the rest of the trip. stayed in a hotel that seemed perched on mountains simliar to the andes in peru. perfect place to rest your weary body and check out the scenery.

day four....more technical riding. my riding partner (who was experiencing his first time off road) was having a difficult day. loose rock, steep cliffs, ruts, stream crossins and a heavy load were taking its toll. i was doing fine but i've been riding since i was a kid. rode into the first of many wonders, the church of satevo....super cool brick church in the middle of nowhere. about another 3km and batopilas appeared...finally! had a nice hotel, good food. even met an american who had been living out there for 14 years. weird. not many people there.....nice town tho. apparently was the second town in mexico (after mex city) to ahve electricity. of course when the mines ran out so did the folks.

day 5....road was more smooth to creel, still lots of loose gravel and steep cliffs. great veiws of copper canyon though. some bridge crossings that were kind've hairy....made more hairy by the fact we were carrying a couple girls we met in batopilas. finally arrived in creel....kindve a let-down since the road there was so beautiful, the town was full of american tourists who rode pavement from the USA and thought that was a tough ride. if they only knew.....most bikers take a day trip from creel to batopilas...you'll have done it the fun and adventurous way.

that's it. wonderful ride....highly recommended. u should be a fairly decent rider tho. ride safe