Copper Canyon is as wild as the Grand Canyon must have been 120 years ago, and has many thousands of miles of unmarked trails. It totals three times the length of the Grand in the world's largest maze. Most tourism is up on the 7,500-8000' elevation plateau, except two spectacularly descending roads to the subtropical bottomland towns of Batopilas and Urique. Otherwise outsiders seldom venture far into the big canyons. 60,000 Tarahumara Indians live here, mostly up on the plateaus. Hundreds still live in shallow caves. Having visited since 1984, I've explored 40 of the 750 miles of big canyon.
Now that transportation has improved, I'm offering 2 trips to 2 different pristine hot springs in and near the subtropical bottomlands, one difficult, one very difficult. The season is November-March. It's too hot in the bottomlands the rest of the year. The springs are perfect base camps for exploring the extensive network of tiny trails everywhere.
(These are not the commercial Recowata or Basirecota hot springs near the plateau town of Creel. These are much deeper in,, much more spectacular, and much wilder. A mule train passes the Upper Springs a few times a week; I've never seen anyone at the Inner Springs. The bottomlands are the subtropical area closest to Colorado. The top has periodic snow in winter.)
![]() Urique River from the Great Overlook | ![]() Upper hot springs; camp under boulder |
Trip 1: Upper hot springs, waterfalls and the big river below; 3 or more nights in the canyon. Hard hiking. Some easy but exposed climbing without a pack to visit the waterfalls.We take a 50 minute bus from the hotel in Creel to the village of Arepo . We hike gently up for an hour, then fairly gently down another hour - out a long promontory, to the White Rocks. We stop for rest, food and photos before starting down the 120 narrow steep switchbacks. 2 hours later and a half mile lower we stop at a nice spring and wash up. We pass a tiny settlement, descend some more and arrive at the Upper Hot Springs an hour later. There are several little pools from hot to warm.We'll camp under the large boulder in the photo above right, unless it rains, in which case we'll tent 5 minutes back up the trail. The hot springs are 30' from the boulder, and the Great Overlook is about a 10 minute hike. The next day we'll need a rest, so we probably won't do anything harder than the 30 minute hike to the waterfalls. The 3rd day we'll hike past the falls to swim in the river 1000' below. We walk as high as 7700' elevation and camp at 4000'. The last day is the hardest: back up the way we came, but without the food weight. | ![]() One of the series of waterfalls totaling 1000' |
Getting to the waterfalls and river requires some easy climbing, so make sure you can do what's in these videos. You won't need to do them with a pack for Trip 1.
Trip 2:
![]() Cave and overlook above | ![]() Inner Hot
Springs |
Trip 2 starts with Trip 1, decends to the Rio Urique then 2 miles upriver to the Arroyo and the Inner hot springs. Return the way we came. 6 or more nights in the canyon. Some easy but exposed climbing with a pack.After the rest day of Trip 1, we descend another 1000' past the waterfalls to the river (about an hour). We hike up the beaches and thru the rocks along the main river for 2 hours, crossing the river with packs on our heads once.. A bit more easy climbing up the Arroyo get us to the Inner Hot Springs. We'll camp in the Cave in the photo and/or tent by the springs 100 yards from the cave. The one large spring is up to 5' deep, the temperature controlled by allowing stream water in.We can hike about 45 minutes up the falls and pools of the Arroyo until cliffs stop us. We can dive in the big river and sun on the beach. We can also hike up to several overlooks 300' above the springs, or cross the river to buy oranges at the grove. We return to the Upper Hot Springs, spend at least another rest day there, then head up. | ![]() Carlos picks us some oranges |
There is more easy climbing to get to the Inner hot springs, so watch these clips. You'll need to do these with a pack:
Cost:Less than $500 total per person for 3 or 4 nights in the canyon: About $200 roundtrip busfare from Denver; $35 for lodging; $35 for food; $200 for my expenses and guide fee. $30 each additional night. I can't bring groups of more than 3 because there's just no more flat space for camping near the springs.
Transportation:
From Denver, there are 3 reasonable choices, or we can meet in Creel, 50 minutes from the Canyon.
1. Bus: About 23 hours and $100 each way. 3 Mexican lines (all better, faster and cheaper than Greyhound) leave Denver at 7PM, get to El Paso about 6AM. (My favorite is Autobuses Los Paisanos.) Cross the border to Juarez. Bus to Chihuahua, arrive noon. Bus to Creel, arrive 6. This a "low-carbon" trip!
2. Private vehicle: About 18 hours and 1100 miles each way from Denver. I don't have a suitable vehicle. Regular insurance isn't valid in Mexico, so you must buy special insurance, available online; about $75 for 2 weeks. At the border, you must give them a credit card number or a large deposit. They expect you to bring the same vehicle back or they'll tax you 100% of its value.
3. Small Plane: I think I can arrange a pilot and plane, which would take about 4-5 hours from Denver. Much more expensive. There are commercial planes to Chihuahua City, but are expensive and from Denver they go via Dallas, Houston or Mexico City and don't mesh well with the final 5-hr. bus ride
Accomodations & Weather
Margarita's Guest House is right on the plaza near the bus and train stations in Creel. Private rooms are $35 for 2; dormitory is $8-10; Both include family-style breakfast and dinner! I can meet you here . We spend a night here on arrival and another before departing Creel. Otherwise these are camping trips.
December-Feb.there's occassional snow up on the plateau areas, but the bottom, some 4,700' below, is warm enough for oranges and bananas! So you need winter clothes to travel in that we leave at Margaritas, taking light and middle-weight clothes -including raingear- down in the canyon. You can check the weather in Urique, the bottomland town some 25 miles downstream. It will be about 4 degrees cooler than Urique at the Inner hot springs, about 8 degrees cooler at the Upper hot springs.
Warnings & Reassurances:
These trips are not for anyone who's overweight or weak in the knees, ankles, or hips, or afraid of heights or Mexico. Mexico is mostly safer and less violent than the U.S., because handguns are illegal and it's a Catholic country under the protection of the Virgin of Guadelupe! Speaking some Spanish will make the trip more fun.
Documents required by the U.S. to re-enter are described here. You now need a passport, or a photo ID plus proof of U.S. Citizenship, such as a birth certificate. Some military and Native American ID will work.
For safety reasons, I won't take you if your pack totals more than 45 pounds. Because the trails are small and fragile, I won't take you if YOU weigh more than 180 pounds. You must bring hiking or ski poles: this will save your knees when carrying a full pack down the 120 narrow switchbacks the first day, and will help you get back up the last day.
I'm just the guide. I will cook with you but not for you. Except for the hot springs, don't expect luxury! There is sometimes mule or goat shit around the camping areas, and it's rocky and sandy. There a few mosquitos and flies, so I bring some herbal repellent. Scorpions are around but not common.
Photos & other trips
Slide show is here. My older Copper Canyon photos are here and here. You can learn a bit about me.
For the Copper Canyon Ultramarathon Race or custom trips with no hot springs, go with my friend Caballo Blanco. For mountain biking go with Arturo.
Communal dinner at Margaritas Tarahumara goatherd
