Why riding El Chepe through Copper Canyon is amazing
I used to have a co-worker called Pat. He drove me crazy. I worked with him for 20 years and when I quit/was fired one of the best things that came out of it was that I no longer had to work with him. I think that’s added a few years to my life.
But when you work with someone for 20 years some things stick with you. And if there is one thing Pat loved above anything else it was trains. He loved trains and even built himself a huge train set in his basement with trains, a town, hills and tunnels. It was quite impressive. My hobby was planes and at one point I had built myself an airport with all my planes on display. So in a way we shared a passion.
I’ve just completed the famous (but not well-known) El Chepe* train ride from Chihuahua, Northern Mexico to Los Mochis on the Pacific Ocean. And after not thinking of Pat in a very long time I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Because if there is one thing I could tell him it is that he HAS to take this epic train ride. If you are a train aficionado this is the Holy Grail. If you are a train aficionado you can’t die without doing this trip. Period.
* El Chepe is officially known as the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico (Chihuahua-Pacific Railway).
I’m not a train oficianado but doing El Chepe ended up being an incredible journey on so many levels. Through some of it I viewed it as a traveller/tourist. But at a certain point I started to view it from a different perspective and came to the realization of what an incredible undertaking and achievement this rail line is. And having worked in the transportation industry (with Pat) I wish that I had taken this trip 20 years ago. I think it would have given me a much greater appreciation of what I did. It is one thing to work in an industry, it is another to understand the history and logistics that formed the basis of how things – even today – are transported on this continent.
I also have to give a huge thanks to Paul who I met on the train. I’ll talk about him further below.
Anyway, this is a travel blog and I don’t want to bore all of you. I’ll start with the notes that I took along the 16 hour route. Just a reminder – I went from Chihuahua to Los Mochis. Most of the highlights were towards the end – keep that in mind if you’re doing it from the opposite direction.
Note: I’ve seen blogs that write about having to buy first class tickets and having to buy your tickets online 72 hours before etc etc. Ignore all that. Firstly: don’t buy First Class, get economy. It’s the same thing except for the dining carriage. You’re just wasting money. You do however have to watch out for the schedule because while First class is every day, the train only has economy carriages 3 times/week. Secondly: Unless you’re travelling during Mexican holidays, don’t worry about pre-buying your tickets. I bought all my tickets either the same day I was travelling or on the train itself (and that was true for first class tickets as well). It’s really not as complicated as some people make it out to be. In fact it’s really easy.
Here are some notes taken “live” on the trip.
First Part – Chihuahua to Creel (6 hours)
Before you continue: Why Chihuahua makes for an interesting Visit
Departure from Chihuahua is at 6 am and I arrive at the station at 5:15 to buy my ticket – no problem, it takes 5 minutes. At around 5:30 they start allowing people to board starting with first class passengers and then with economy. When boarding the carriage we are all assigned seats. It’s mid-June and the carriage is about a quarter full as we are about to leave Chihuahua.
Cost: Chihuahua to Creel in economy, 800 Pesos (that’s about $45 US, or $57 CAD these days)
At 6 am on the dot we pull out of the station, just as light is starting to show outside. The train moves slowly as it goes through the city, then, after about 20 minutes starts to speed up (El Chepe never really goes that fast though).
The first 2 hours are actually my favorite of this 6 hour ride. I love the desert geography (which I described when writing about Chihuahua) and it is especially pretty under the rising sun. Looking out the window I actually see some wildlife: a couple of rabbits, a deer, even a coyote. That’s not counting all the horses, cows, and dogs seen along the way.
After about 2 hours the land gets more cultivated and you see huge, professional farms. This is Menonite country I’m told. At a certain point we get to a huge lake which for a while looks like a mirage in the distance until it clearly becomes a lake.
We continue on, the geography once again looking dryer, more rugged. We stop at a few very poor-looking communities where Tarahumara Indians climb on board, the women in their colourful dresses, most with a little kid tied on their back.
We continue on and it doesn’t take long before the geography changes again. This is hilly terrain covered by pine trees. It actually reminds me of much of Canada. The geography stays the same for the remainder of this first part of the trip. Lots of hills, a few bridges over streams, and lots and lots of pine trees.
It is nearing noon when we start passing through a tunnel. At this point we are told to prepare to disembark at Creel.
Creel is on the other side of that tunnel and we disembark to lots of people: some other tourists waiting to climb on board, others locals with rooms to rent or tours to offer.
Creel would be a stop for 2 days.
More: What you really have to know about Creel
2nd Part – Creel to Divisadero (2 hours)
The train comes right on time (11:45 am) and everyone hops on board. Forget about trying to get information or buying tickets at the Creel train station. They’re pretty useless and I’m not sure why they bother having a station and employees at all. As I find out, you buy your tickets on board the train from the carriage attendant. I have to say that the El Chepe staff is fantastic: friendly, professional (with nice suits), and ready to answer all your questions.
Cost: Creel to Divisadero in economy, 325 Pesos (About $18 US, $23 CAD)
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The ride is a continuation of the same: lots of hills covered with lots of pine trees. But about 45 minutes into the trip the hills become a lot more rugged and the valleys deeper. We are still not in the canyon but it is getting more interesting…and then we arrive in Divisadero. You can’t see that view from the train but when you disembark (and all trains stop here for 20 minutes) you walk through a bunch of vendor stall and then suddenly WOW. You’re looking at that view. It’s pretty stupendous. Divisadero is on the continental divide between East and West.
Lucky for me I’m not getting back on the train today. I’ve got an overnight stay in Divisadero at Hotel Divisadero Barrancas. Best decision I’ve made and if you can book a night there do it!
Divisadero – why it was my highlight in the Copper Canyon
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3rd Part – Divisadero to Los Mochis (8 hours)
For this last leg I have to take first class because there is no economy option on this day (no economy carriages on Fridays). Really there is no difference between First Class and Economy except for a nice dining carriage where you can sit and order a full (and overpriced) meal. The economy train only has a snack bar carriage. Obviously also, first class tickets are more expensive and you won’t be seeing the local Tarahumara getting on board. This is strictly a tourist train.
Cost: Divisadero to Los Mochis in first class, 1365 Pesos (about $75 US, or $100 CAD)
(it would have cost about 800 Pesos in economy)
The first few hours of the train ride are the same: hills and pine trees. Somewhere after the small town of Bahuichivo I decide to go to the dining cart and have a beer. That’s where I meet Nina (who I had ziplined with early that day) and her husband Paul. One of the first things he says is “I think I’ve seen enough pine trees”. I’m in agreement. I’ve been thinking that the trip has been a bit underwhelming so far. He invites me to have a beer and I end up sitting with him about 2 hours. He’s a really interesting guy.
Paul is from Eastern Texas (the Marfa area) and has for years worked in politics, primarily working with US/Mexican officials in streamlining “ports of entry” along the border (they’re called “ports” of entry even if an overland route). He cites a 10/1 efficiency ratio comparing the US/Canada border to the Mexico/US border, all having to do with American paranoia over immigration/terrorism. So he’s on this ride out of both personal and professional curiosity.
A few interesting things he tells me:
– The concept of this railroad was to connect the Central US to the Pacific Coast. The Mexican portion of the line actually runs from Ojinaga (on the US/Mexico border) to Los Mochis. So although El Chepe runs from Chihuahua the rest of the line extends further north to the border. It was only because the American portion of the line failed (due to internal competition among American rail companies) that the line never succeeded in becoming became a major trade route linking the Central US to the Mexican Pacific coast.
– Los Mochis (or its port of Topolobampo) was envisioned as a new socialist colony by the founder of the railroad Albert Kinsey Owen who was a member of a Utopia Socialist colony in Indiana. This was part of the initial motivation for the railroad. That didn’t work out, after a few years many of those settlers ended up going back home.
– It took 6o years to build this railroad, with different companies quitting and others picking it up until it was finally completed in 1961 (additional reading tells me that the 673 km route has 37 bridges and 86 tunnels).
We are busy talking when I look out to the most incredible scenery. We are in a river valley looking up at towering cliffs, the train riding a narrow ridge while ducking through tunnels and over bridges. At this point I leave Paul to take some photos:
We ride through this canyon (Septentrion canyon) for several hours. Cliffs rise up to the sky like highrises. It continues on and on: cutting through tunnels and going over bridges while looking up at these huge cliffs and catching glimpses of the river running below us (it’s dry season so there’s not much water). It’s some of the most dramatic geography I’ve ever seen. I’m reminded of the Twelve Apostles in Cape Town. We finally leave the river gorge, seeing a large mountain lake of amazingly blue water. We go over the Chinipas bridge, the views over the lake and mountains beyond incredible.
The geography changes, the huge cliffs getting smaller. I see huge cactus in the fields and hills. We’ve just crossed from Chihuahua state to Sinaloa state.
By the time we arrive at El Fuerte the geography is flat. Mountains are seen in the distance.
From El Fuerte it is 82 km, or another 2 hours, to Los Mochis. The geography is totally flat and we see the first palm trees (by the time we get to Los Mochis they are everywhere). The air is stiflingly hot.
It is 9 pm when El Chepe arrives in Los Mochis. I take a collective taxi (50 pesos each) to the Fenix Hotel where I spend the night. The next day I try to go out for a walk but it is 9 am and already 30C (a heavy and humid 30C) and I’m ruining my last clean shirt. I decide to go back to my air conditioned room. At noon I’m at the airport where I get on a plane to Guadelajara.
Need a hotel in Los Mochis? I stayed at the Fenix Hotel – standard hotel but excellent value.
This wasn’t so much a trip as a journey. A journey that traversed through almost half of northern Mexico and multiple geographic zones – from desert, to semi-arid, to pine forests, through incredible mountain ranges and then finishing through green flat fields and palm trees. When I was young I remembered watching Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days where he travelled the world without planes, instead crossing every inch on the ground by rail, boat or bus. I wanted to do that. For me that was travel was about. This trip was a mini version of that.
The journey left me in awe of the people who built this railroad with a vision of creating a transportation route linking Central Northern Mexico (and by extension Eastern Texas) to the Pacific Coast. It’s one thing to read about it but another thing entirely to actually travel through this landscape and realize the incredible challenges these explorers/engineers faced. The result it this amazing train ride through one of the most incredible geographic regions I’ve seen.
The other thing I’ll always remember are the very nice people I met along the way. My biggest surprise: I saw very few Western travellers. Most travellers were Mexicans discovering their own country. They were incredibly welcoming. Mexicans I think are among the most welcoming people anywhere. Also: because there is one train every day going the same direction, you tend to run into the same people on your trip. For example: I met 2 Mexican couples in Creel who I spoke to a lot. We left on the same day, I got off in Divisadero, they went on to Bahuichivo. The next day when going to Los Mochis they ended up getting on the same train in Bahuichivo. In fact, by the last leg of the trip I ended up talking to 4 different groups of people that I had previously met in different places along the way. So the people I met also made this journey something I’ll never forget.
Riding El Chepe really was what travel is all about. A fantastic journey through some incredible geography. And, because this is Mexico, it isn’t teeming with tourists and still feels undiscovered. It’s one of the best travel experiences I’ve had.
So Pat, if you’re reading this: if there is any trip you should do it’s this. I know how much you would love it.
(PS. Don’t read this the wrong way. You’re still a dick).
Related: A Travel Guide to Mexico
Related: Hiking the Peña de Bernal (Mexico)
Related: 48 hours in Mexico City
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I mean. I’m glad you enjoyed the Chepe itself, but the Chepe is far from the main attraction. For one, Copper Canyon has the biggest zipline in the world, the culture is amazing, the architecture exotic and those really small towns far away from the big cities you can only see in movies are an experience in itself.
Thanks Leonardo. I covered Copper Canyon and the zipline in the Divisadero Post and also covered some highlights of the region in the Creel post (both posts are linked to this one). And they’re all great as you say. But El Chepe links it all and for adventure/history enthusiasts I do think it is spectacular. I loved it and I’m pretty difficult to impress.
We both love trains and this definitely looks like a great trip with all the amazing scenery along the way. Love your photos, it really feels as though we are on the train with you. We have not spent a huge amount of time in Mexico, but the time we did spend was great and we look forward to more. The people are definitely some of the friendliest and hospitable we have encountered and the food is amazing too. So much culture! When we return I eould definitely want to do this train journey ~ it is such a stress free fun way to travel, making it as you rightly say, about the journey not necessarily the destination.
Eat your heart out, Pat!
Peta
HA! Thank you Peta. Glad you encountered the same Mexican friendliness.
If you want to really make it interesting you can prolong your trip – when you get to Los Michos (around 9pm) you can take the ferry (around midnight) and take an overnight ferry ride across to La Paz on Baja California (gets in around 7am I heard). I was getting really tempted…
Nice. I think l would enjoy this even though l’m sure l would spend a lot of time reading! I cracked up at the “dick” parting shot 🙂
True, the train ride also nice for reading and sleeping except you’d be missing out on the good stuff!
Your photos are beautiful and while I was reading this post, Aerosmith’s words “Life’s a journey, not a destination,…” kept going through my mind. It sounds like some of your journey was the people you met and I especially loved Paul’s factoids and history of the railroad. There are a lot of travel “experts” who like to complicate (and inflate the expenses) so I also appreciated the fact that you demystified how the Copper Canyon train rides works. Most times, doing a bucket list trip the simplest way is also the cheapest. P.S. I had a coworker like Pat but I probably would have recommended the world’s longest zipline that you wrote about previously instead of the train ride! ?
Thanks Anita. Some of the experts are sponsored by companies who want to sell you all-inclusive tours that include the first-class tickets. They make it both more complicated and more expensive. Really, unless there’s some kind of Mexican holiday going on, you won’t need to pre-book at all. In retrospect, I could have booked everything, even hotels (except the one in Divisadero), on the go and would have saved even more money.
Loved all the info here. We are planning CC trip for Nov 2021 from El Fuerte. Not sure if it is worth going all the way to Chihuahua because we’d have to return to El Fuerte – continuing north to US. Your style of travel fits our travel. Thanks.
Thanks Becky. Yes, maybe not – definitely worth going as far as Divisadero, maybe even Creel (which is close to Divisadero) if you want to see this “Pueblo Magico” town. But the long stretch from there to Chihuahua is much less impressive.
Enjoy the journey!
I’m just loving all these posts. What a journey…definitely would love to do it one day. It’s true how friendly Mexicans are and I’m glad that the majority of travellers down there tend to be at the famous coastal resorts (or I think that’s why they do not seem overly visible elsewhere) I found the Mexican people to be mostly very friendly and hospitable and recommend anyone to spend time there.
wow. looks like another journey I will have to make someday. Long train journeys always give you the chance to meet people and have good conversations. Fantastic stuff. thanks for posting Frank!
Thanks Andy. I know you’ve been on some long train rides recently. Yes, something special about it.
Not having been to Mexico, this is great Frank. I love the mountains. When I think of Mexico, desert comes to mind, but this post puts paid to that idea. The prices aren’t too bad either.
I like trains too (Colorado narrow gauge – 1/4″ to the foot) and my father was a pioneer model airplane guy who did some stuff for Cleveland models way back in the 30’s.
Thank you Ted. For sure prices not bad. The train ride (16 hours) totals about $150 US. Hotels averaged about $40 US.
So good value.
Great, another hobbyist! On of my very early posts on this site featured some of my model planes. I don’t really follow trains much but I admit having taken this trip got me a bit interested…
I’m bookmarking all your posts on Mexico. We won’t be going back this winter (flights to SE Asia are already booked, Pad Thai already ordered!) but I think the following winter another trip to Mexico will be on the cards for us. I tried to travel on the train many moons ago, departing from Los Mochis but there were terrible storms and the train didn’t depart for days so I gave up in the end and headed north to the States. It’s been on my list ever since and I fancy exploring the north of Mexico.
Thanks Mark. Sounds like you weren’t very lucky on your previous attempt. You know they get snow in this region in winter? I know a few people that did it then. Hope you get back there 😉
The ending of your post is perfect, because throughout the entire read in the back of my head I was thinking, “I wonder if Pat reads Frank’s blog and if he does, did he know that he drove Frank crazy.” 🙂 And then you ended with telling Pat he was still a …. too funny.
What never ceases to amaze me about travel is the perspective of following someone elses path, the different cultures, the everyday routines, etc. There is so much sh*t going on in the US right now that I just want to scream, ‘Wake up!” to the millions who can’t see beyond their front door. But, that’s another story.
It sounds as if you had a memorable journey, and you learned from the experience as well. That’s always a big plus in my book. Pictures are wonderful and I liked the video. 86 tunnels?! That’s a lot of tunnels!
Oh, I think he knows very well that he not only drove me crazy but everyone else as well…it’s not a secret.
I remember going back Patti to that Trump post I wrote and I was trying to stay objective about his followers, trying to understand them and be open. You know what? After 6 months I no longer have that tolerance. I’ve always been a news junkie and I’ll scroll down to the comments of a Washington Post article or the youtube channel of MSNBC and see all these Trump supporters screaming “FAKE NEWS” and saying hateful things about Jews, blacks, women, media. The stuff is vile. These people are stupid and ignorant. Of course these hobos would never go to Mexico. Ok, stop there, you’re getting me riled up and straying off-topic…
It really was great Patti. If you ever consider doing El Chepe I can only recommend it. And as you can see, it wasn’t expensive.