The first day’s ride was through rolling country on the plateau above the Urique canyon. We were all impressed with the type of terrain the horses could negotiate. The trails are very rocky, steep and generally gnarly. You wouldn’t want to ride a mountain bike on most of them. The plateau is covered in pine forest and there is water in some of the small drainages that empty over the canyon rim. We made camp at Mario’s sister’s house in Churro, a little community near the canyon rim. It has a healthy population of chickens and dogs. His sister made us some tasty tortillas and we hung out around the fire under the stars.

The next day we descended to Narango which was about 3000′ down into the canyon. We thought that the horses were taking it to the next level with the steep, rocky descent. It was nerve wracking until you realized that the horses were good at it and that you could trust them. The views are incredible and when you ride a horse you can really see the landscape as you pass through it. Norberto pays a lot of attention to his horses and never seems to push them too far. He makes them work hard but he respects their limits. We ended the ride at Mario's house which is a semi tropical paradise of citrus trees and flowers. As you descend into the canyon the climate becomes more mild. Mario’s wife made us dinner and we ate in their two room house by the light of their solar powered florescent tube.

From Mario’s main family home we rode to his new home in Urique, which he built so that his older son and daughter could attend school there. The little adobe house is right on the Urique river so we had to spend an hour swimming and lounging on the beach. After lunch, we took the horses down and took them for a swim. most of them had never gone swimming before so it was pretty exciting. We stripped down and rode them bareback in to the river, then tried to hang on. The town of Urique is more tranquil than Batopilas.

Now we had to climb 5000′ out of the canyon to the south rim. We followed a side canyon up until we reached switchbacks that ascended to a hanging valley. By this time our horses were breathing hard and soaked in sweat. We gave them a good break then rode on for another 15 minutes. From here we walked the horses to the rim so we wouldn’t completely wear them out. At one point we almost lost the load off of our pack mule. It had shifted on the pack saddle and almost rotated underneath the mule. Norberto said that if that had happened the mule would most likely have had a panic attack and kicked all of our belongings all over the countryside. Up on the rim we came to a small mine that was surrounded by all sizes of geode. You could crack them open on the ground to expose the crystals inside. We rode on until dark and made camp in an old corral on the edge of Cienaguita.

After packing up we went in to town to get supplies. We also needed to ask about the route ahead since it was new to Norberto and Mario. Supposedly Cienaguita had not been visited by many tourists. It is fairly prosperous for an isolated village. We followed the rough road to La Renga, which was a long scenic ride along a ridge system. We arrived at camp at dark and had fire under the stars. The moon was getting fairly full by this point.

From here we had to find the Camino Real and follow it to the old gold, silver and copper mines in the Barranca del Cobre. Olivia got her GPS tuned into the Mexican topo map that Norberto had. It took us a few tries to find the right trail, but once we found it, it was obvious we were on the right track. The Camino was built to ship ore from the Sierra out to Ciudad de Chihuahua. It is enforced with stone walls and has the feel of something ancient. There are grooves worn in the slick rock sections by hundreds of years of mule trains making their way over the rugged trail. We descended through Guacaybo and made camp just before dark in the ruins of the old mine works. There is a man who lives here who supposedly raped his three sisters and killed his mother. He was expelled from Guacaybo and now lives in a shack in the ruins. He is a known thief so we had to keep an eye on our stuff. Aside from him, the place is incredible. There is a warm spring just behind camp where you can take a shower. The river has beautiful green pools to swim in. There are citrus trees among the stone ruins.

None of us were raped during the night so we went to visit the mines in the morning. Mario stayed behind to watch our stuff. We met the famous thief at his shack and he is a bit crazy looking in the eyes. He ended up borrowing a knife from Mario to open a can of sardines. Mexicans are trusting people. The mines are fascinating and eerie, like a derelict ship. We felt that there must be a lot of bodies buried in the area. From the mines we crossed the river and rode up to the opposite rim. The horses climbed quickly and the landscape of rugged green canyons dropped below us. At the top we visited a derelict hotel with a burned out dining room suspended over the canyon rim. From here we rode back to the highway at Cusarare. We did the last half hour by moonlight.

Exploring the canyons with Norberto is well worth it if you like a good adventure and are interested in travelling by horse. He is easy going, into exploring and is a professional. I haven’t been on very many guided trips but I was impressed with Norberto. He was givin’er all week. He is easy to relate to and he is just a good guy to hang out with. The horses are also excellent and they seemed to take the riding to a new level every day. This is one of the best trips I have done and I have a lot of trips under the belt. Story by Robson