Panam Reports
Extracts from Panam Report 2, By James Walker
By
Feb 9, 2006, 11:41

On Tuesday 17 January we left San José del Cabo and headed north, along the twisty ocean road towards La Paz the state capital. Here, we met with the Secretary of Tourism before driving to the ferry port at Pichilingueto to cross the Gulf of California on a five-decked boat, which previously ran the route between Holyhead and Dublin before it was purchased by Baja Ferries. The crossing took almost 7 hours to reach Topolobampo. From there we travelled a short 25 minute journey to Los Mochis.

Los Mochis, founded in 1904 around a sugar mill built by the American Benjamin Johnson, is a fishing resort with a sizeable US colony. The name is derived from a local word meaning ‘hill like a turtle’. We departed Los Mochis on Thursday 19 January and headed towards Divisadero, a 370km run. En route we visited a lovely small town called El Fuerte, which had many interesting traditional style buildings, plus a pretty square in the centre of the town with ornate fountains and statues of various Mexican heroes.

On the way from El Fuerte to Choix, we caught sight of the Chepe passenger train as it journeyed along the roadside on its way to the Copper Canyon – one of the world’s great railway journeys. The Sierra Madre mountains began to tower before us in the distance.

Choix is a thriving town with picturesque views of the mountains on all sides. The bustling streets are lined with many different small shops, coffee houses, bars and street vendors who sell a whole host of delicious smelling food.

Copper Canyon

Shortly after leaving Choix we found ourselves on the dirt road leading to the spectacular craggy Copper Canyon, which is bigger than Colorado’s Grand Canyon, and quickly began to ascend up into the mountains. The trip to Divisadero along the mountain roads was simply amazing. The views were unbelievable and continued to get better as we got higher. The roads were of a fairly good quality, although slightly challenging in certain places. Although we have billed this as a 4x4 only route, the roads were better than we had expected, and Arne Hertz confirms that a properly rally-prepared classic, carefully driven, would get through without trouble. It’s worth the trip!

As we climbed higher along the twisty mountain pass, through small hamlets and villages, the countryside became richer. We passed forests of ancient trees and lush green vegetation, a complete change from the dry land of Baja California. At every corner there were more panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, canyons and valleys – an amazing place!

The following day we left Divisadero and headed along the twisty asphalt road towards Creel, a small country town, whose main street leads up to a pretty square, surrounded by various shops and stores. We next visited the falls at Cusarare, which plummeted 30 metres into it’s beautiful surroundings.

Copper Canyon seen from hotel balcony

The main road from Cerocahui to Samachique is very scenic, but the road to Batópilas is absolutely phenomenal and definitely the best experience of the recce so far. It is like a trip from the top of the world to the very bottom, around a 2,000 metre decrease in about 2.5 hours (including time to take plenty of photos). The road has some of the most breathtaking views I have seen in my life and is constantly twisting down the mountainside. Arne, who has travelled extensively on many fabulous roads worldwide, agrees that this is probably one of the most wonderful roads that he has ever driven (and he has seen far more roads than I ever will!).

Batóphilas is a lovely small place steeped in history. I was very surprised how modern it was considering its remote location. The town has a pretty square with various shops and bars. We were lucky enough to be there on the day the town was celebrating its 25 anniversary, complete with a square party where all the friendly and helpful local people were dancing and rejoicing. Because we were running late, we spent the night here.

Next day we travelled to Hidalgo del Parrál and visited the Hacienda de Villa hotel. Its on a mountainside overlooking the town. The rooms are a good size, clean and modern. Although not very lavish, it’s a good hotel for us.

We then continued on fast asphalt, main roads, and stopped for the night in Durango. On the way we passed the town’s famous filmsets. The Villa de Oriente film set was the best; it is where many moves (including Chisum and Big Jake, if you are a John Wayne fan!) were filmed in the past. It has a saloon-style restaurant which will make a good (and fun!) lunch halt for participants on the event. We may be able to arrange a Wild West show.

Durango filmset

From Durango, we backtracked to Los Mochis to check our back-up route for classic cars not taking the Divisadero Trail. It’s a pleasant alternative which would include an overnight in the attractive Pacific resort of Mazatlán, and a wonderful asphalt highway over the Sierra Madre to Durango.


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