Deep Pockets
The lowdown on Copper
Whether you plan to follow in the footsteps of famous outlaws or make new tracks in Copper Canyon's unspoiled wilderness, here are a few things you'll want to know.
WHEN TO GO: The rims of the canyons experience seasonal weather changes—from around 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer to freezing temperatures and snow in the winter—but the canyon floors are almost always hot. They're at their coolest, about 65 degrees, from October to May.
GETTING THERE: El Paso and Tucson are the two stateside jumping-off points for Copper Canyon road trips. If you drive your own car, you'll need insurance from a U.S. company that specializes in car insurance for Mexico, such as Sanborn's Mexico Insurance (about $80 per week; 210-828-3587), based in San Antonio,
or San Diego&150;based Anserv Insurance Services ($35 per week; 800-654-7504).
STAYING THERE: In Creel, I stayed at Casa de Margarita (011-52-1586-0045), a backpackers' haven. A bunk in a shared room costs $5 per person, including dinner and breakfast; a private room costs about $20. In Batopilas, try the rustic adobe Hotel Mary for about $10 per person.
OUTFITTERS: Columbus Travel (800-843-1060), based in Columbus, Texas, operates multiday hiking excursions into the canyons with prices ranging from $1,050 to $2,190 per person. California Native International Adventures (800-926-1140) runs hiking trips for $590 to $2,060. —B.W.
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EVEN MORE THAN Americans, Mexicans have long been enamored with outlaws like Villa. Born Doroteo Arango in San Juan del Río in the northern state of Durango in 1878, Villa committed his first recorded crime when he was still in his teens, killing a ranch owner who had assaulted his sister. Afterward he fled to the Sierra Madre, became a bandit, and
grew famous for his ability to elude the law. Americans probably know Villa best for his brutal raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916—a response to the U.S. government's support of one of Villa's political opponents—in which 18 Americans were killed. The U.S. Army chased Villa deep into Mexico, but never caught him.
My first brush with the ghost of Villa occurred 300 miles south of the border in a tequila bar in Creel, a logging town of about 4,000 in the Sierra foothills where Villa hid during the 1910s. Here, a burly truck driver told me that Villa still lives on in the rugged individualism of the people of el norteño, northern
Mexico. Here, you still see bumper stickers that read "Viva Villa! Viva Mexico."
Creel is the northern gateway to Copper Canyon; Batopilas, 85 miles south, is the region's southernmost town. Today the canyons are mostly inhabited by the Tarahumara, who are known for having maintained their ancient traditions of dwelling in caves, growing corn, and weaving pine-needle baskets, as well as for their ability to run amazingly long
distances.Over the centuries, the Tarahumara have fended off the invasions of Spanish conquerors, Mexican colonizers, miners, pot growers (parts of the area are now home to a bounty of marijuana fields and cranky Mexican drug lords), and logging companies. The Mexican government now wants a finger in the Copper Canyon land-exploitation pie, too. A $385
million federal project, dubbed the Copper Canyon Master Plan, is already in the works to build enough roads, lodges, and cultural centers to transform the area into a mass-market vacation spot by 2006. (Currently, Copper Canyon draws about 370,000 tourists each year, most of whom merely pass through Creel on the Chihuahua al Pacífico Railway.)
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