We pulled out of Creel this morning at 9:00AM for the climb to the highest point on the route and another crossing of the Continental Divide. As we left Creel Hex Hoechstenbach, our Tailgunner took the photo showing our entire train. We are the first white RV with the brown CRV in tow near the beginning of the train. The route immediately starts climbing and passing through several tunnels including one that makes a complete loop. The second photo is the track shown on our GPS.
In the mountains meeting Indian children waiting for the train to wave hello is an everyday event. We also met a passenger train pulled over waiting for us to pass and caught up with the Tracks to Adventure group at Divisadero that we had met earlier in Chihuahua. Our locomotive switched us onto the siding alongside them and then took them on to the next day's destination.
Divisadero is not a town as such but a railroad station that is access to the junction of three of the four canyons that make up Copper Canyon.
The name Copper Canyon comes from the color of the rock walls, not the presence of any copper. It was our first spectacular view from the top rim of the canyon almost 7,000 feet above the floor at this point. It also was the last opportunity to purchase the reed baskets the Tarahumara Indians are known for so we all were making final selections.
We spent the afternoon visiting various spots along the rim and spent a couple of hours at the Mansion Tarahumara Hotel including dinner before returning to the train for an early night.
We are planning on hiking the rim in the morning for a view of the Barrancas Canyon before departing at noon for Bahuichivo further down the Canyon.
