La Sierra Tarahumara

Day 12 kt:77 ta:2676 gps N 28 degrees 31.930' W 106 degrees 30.422'

When one decides to live the life of a nomad they must always guard against growing too comfortable in any one area. I think I was already becoming too comfortable in Chihuahua City. Why leave when their is good, cheap food in every corner of the city and I would have to expose myself to desert conditions, again. For these reasons, I took my time leaving the city this morning. I ate a nice large breakfast and surfed the internet for about an hour. It easy to become ensconced in the comforts of the city.
But I have to keep moving. There are too many beautiful places to see to stay in one place for too long. I am very excited about visiting the Sierra Tarahumara. The whole mountain range abounds with beautiful places. There are waterfalls, canyons, hot springs, river gorges, etc... The conditions are going to be very different than the desert. There is even a possibility that I might see snow. I am already at a higher elevation and I am expecting a cold morning. This will definitely make it harder for me to get out of my sleeping bag. The scenery and the climate should be changing soon. Hopefully, I have what it takes to survive the cold. It will all be good preparation for the Andes. I don't think that I have ever been at an elevation above 10,000 feet in my life. Onward.

Day 13 kt:91.2 ta:2890 gps:N 28 degrees 27.414' W 107 degrees 20.232'

As I predicted, I got a late start because it was cold and I did not want to leave the warm confines of my sleeping bag. The first twenty or so kilometers of my day was all uphill. The scenery and the ecosystem changed. I started to see a lot less desert plants and more pine trees. The higher elevation seemed to support apple orchards for I passed by several large, industrial-scake operations. I have no doubt that Mexico is self-sufficient in food production.
I passed through several areas with larger communities of Mexican Mennonites. They are easy to spot because they wear funny-looking hats and often have fair skin and blue eyes. I am pretty sure that it is a pretty closed community but they do, occasionally, venture into Babylon to buy supplies. The Mennonites I saw did not seem to be narco-mennonites for they were driving a pretty beat up pick-up truck. Obviously, though, the dominant capitalist culture has begun to infiltrate their culture. They have managed to stay closed-off to the rest of the world to maintain their fair hair and fair skin, though.
I managed to call one of my friends in Mexico City today and I was very excited to get ahold of him. I can't wait to visit all of my friends in el D.F. and see all of their various bands. It is going to be so much fun. My campsite tonight is kind of sketchy. It is just off the side of the road. My tent is on an incline because I wanted it to be hidden from the road. That means my sleeping bag will be sliding off of my sleeping pad all night. There is a dead, rotting goat close to my tent. I am just far enough away from it so that I don't notice the smell. The goat looks like it has been sucked dry by the chupacabra. I am going to sleep clutching my buck knife so that I can be prepared for any epic battles with the chupacabra.

Day 14 kt: 65.6 ta: 4097 gps: N 28 degrees 22.029' W 107 degrees 51.894'

The mountains are getting bigger and I have definitely left the desert behind me, for now. I had a pretty frustrating day because I kept having problems with equipment failure: first with my bike rack and later with my tent. When I was ascending a big hill I noticed that all of the gear on my back rack was wobbling. At first, I thought I had a flat but, upon further examination, I realized that the screw and bolt that had held my rack on had rattled off. I tried to look for these pieces but, soon, gave up for it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I was worried that I was going to have to commit my cardinal sin and hitchhike. I don't want to use gas if I don't have to on my trip. The problem was solved, temporarily by cannibalizing my bike rack and using a screw from one place and putting it in another. I later found out that this was a problem because the bolt on other side of the screw was getting in the way whenever I would try to shift into my highest gear. This deprived me of that extra gear for hauling-ass down mountains. The first thing that I did when I reached the town of Tomochic was seek out an auto mechanic to see if I could get a better screw. We had to grind the screw down with a pneumatic grinder to make it work. I am always impressed with the ingenuity of mechanics here. Again, when I tried to offer compensation, it was refused. I don't know how the mechanics here feed themselves if they are always offering their time for free. I will always be indebted to Ezequial from Tomachi.
The tent comes with a bigger piece of pipe that can be fitted over a tent pole for emergency repairs. I also think that I can fix the problem with a little super glue. There is a loose fitting that can probably be glued back in place.
I have had a lot of time to think to myself and I have worked myself into one of my frenzies. The governments of Mexico and of all the states of Mexico publish lots of propaganda, in just about every medium, patting themselves on the back for how much good work they have done. I think that they have taken way to much credit for any improvement there has been. It is probably more likely that the billions of dollars sent home by Mexicans working in the U.S. has more do to with any improvement. All I know is this. I passed through several small Indian villages, today, and these people are still dirt-poor. They live in dilapidated shacks with no electricity or running water. I saw churches in some of these villages but no schools. It is no wonder that illiterate Indian villagers come to the big cities to beg. You can see them in any city in Mexico with their hands held out, not saying a word. It is sad, but they probably do better for themselves begging in the city than staying in their villages. The least the government could do is stop wasting their money on propaganda and actually build schools in these villages so that when people do, inevitably, leave their villages, they at least have skills so they can get jobs in the city. As of now, no one would hire an illiterate Indian who can't even count. What else are they going to do but beg?

Day 15 kt:58 ta: 4285 gps N 28 degrees 10.160' W 108 degrees 12.544'

It was cold last night despite the fact that I slept in my clothes in my sleeping bag. It seemed like it was freezing cold this morning when I woke up, too. The mountains here are beautiful but I doubt that I could live here for I would not want to wake up until it got warmer some time in the early afternoon. Speaking of the afternoon, it was a beautiful day by then. I was starting to enjoy the mountain roads. All day long, I crawled up the steep grade of one side of the mountains and then hauled-ass down the other. Sometimes I would rest at the top of a long climb.
It was while resting at the top of a long, steep ascent I met a man who told me he was going to pick up several kilos of marijuana in the other direction. I asked him if he had any and he gave me a dime bag while jumping into the back of a pick-up truck. I hadn't smoked since Austin so I was grateful. I even rode through a military check-point with the weed. The trick is not to act suspiciously.
My plans were to ride as far as possible, today, but they when I reached the lookout point over the waterfall in the mountains outside of Basaseachic. Neither words nor pictures can fully capture the beauty of this place. The gods of the forest still live in the mountains here. There are parts of the forest here that have, probably, never been touched by man because it is too difficult to access these points. I sit here, writing this, while watching the sun go down over the mountains. I rode my bike right up to the lookout point for it is handicapped accessible and therefore bicycle accessible. I am going to stay here tonight, watch the stars, pray to the gods of the forest, and then watch the sunrise over the mountains in the morning. Only then, and probably not even then, will I have had my fill of this place.

Day 16 kt: 43.6 ta: 3769 ft. gps: N 28 degrees 06.545' W 107 degrees 57.494'

It was another cold day when I woke up this morning. I was smart this time and slept under even more layers. Because it was not the busy season at the cascade, I was able to sleep in an unused structure that had walls on all sides and a roof. I did not even set up my tent though I should have because some mouse or rat bit into my camelback valve while I was sleeping (I was wondering what that was that scurried across my sleeping pad, last night). The camelback still works, though. It just has a slow leak out of the valve.
Today, was the first day in which I had to ride on an unpaved road. This definitely adds another layer of difficulty onto my trip. Not only is it hard on the body and the bike, but it is very desolate and I have had to go into my emergency provisions to eat. I still have plenty of food and about 9 liters of water so I think that I have enough to make to San Juanito, which is another 57 kilometers away on this same dirt road. My bicycle shakes and rattles as it goes downhill. I have to always look ahead 50 to 100 feet for dips in the road while I descend. My hands are tired from braking. I did not even make it to the halfway point between the cascade and San Juanito though I came close. I was happy that I made it up the neverending, dirt-road hill of my worst bicycling nightmares. It topped out at 8,600 feet. My campsite is just on the other side of the mountain at about 8,500 feet.Tonight, it is going to be very cold so I built a campfire. I will build one in the morning, too.
My day has been very challenging but, also, very rewarding. It is so beautiful here that if I died and my body was never found, I would be okay with that because my body would be absorbed into the earth in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. There is so much unspoiled nature here, including creeks with crystal-clear water. I would be tempted to jump in if I didn't know that the water is freezing cold.
My body has become adapted to the nomadic lifestyle. I seem to be always ready to eat and, yet, I can ride for long distances without eating much. I have stopped places after travelling and snacking for the day and then devoured a half-chicken with tortillas and salsa and then eaten dessert. Yesterday, I even, accidentally, ate raw chorizo sausage without any ill effects. Today, I ate a whole can of beans and then used the pan to cook the rest of my chorizo into a chorizo chili which I ate with saltenes. It was quite delicious and I was pleased with my ingenuity of cooking without cookware, especially since this was the first hot food I had eaten all day. I should have more than enough food to make it San Juanito.

Day 17 kt: 61.9 ta: 3869 gps: N 27 degrees 56.637' W 107 degrees 35.581'

Last night, the wind was howling and it was cold but I was as snug-as-a-bug in my tent. I put on the rain fly of my tent so the wind didn't bother me. I slept in late and made another fire in the morning.
When I checked my bike out this morning, there really wasn't anything wrong with it other than being dusty and having low tire pressure. I pumped up my tires and applied the last coat of oil that I had to all the moving parts of my bike. My bicycle was happy.
The ride got progressively better because the road was improving, slowly but surely. Civilization is coming to these parts. I saw all sorts of various earth-movers and dump-trucks. There is still no plumbing or electricity but the people here expect it to come soon with the paving of the roads.
I despise the ubiquity of Coca-Cola but I was very happy to see a Coca-Cola sign on the outside of a house on the side of the road. This meant that they would probably have water and something to eat. To my pleasant surprise, they even had pollo en mole with tortillas and rice. This, and the fact that the roads were mostly paved, made the last 20 kilometers of my trip much more pleasant than the first 40. When I reached electrified civilization, I gorged on hamburgers, fries, juice, and ice cream. I then road to the outskirts of San Juanito, found a campsite, and made another fire. I am starting to grow fond of camping in the mountains.
There are two things I learned in Boy Scouts: always be prepared and how to make a one-match fire. It is simple: first you make a pile of tender, then you put kindling on top, and, afterwards, you put the wood on top of that. The nice thing about the mountains here is that there is more wood than you can shake a stick at. The pine needles make great tender, though, that means that you have to be constantly vigilant to make sure your fire doesn't spread. I prefer to make a fire circle with a radius of at least two feet for two reasons: some of these igneous rocks explode if they are too close to the fire and I can scrape some coals aside for cooking. It is always nice to have hot food on a cold night.

Day 18 kt:89.3 ta:5491 gps: N 27 degrees 31.992' W 107 degrees 49.576'

There was frost on my tent this morning when I woke up. No problem, I just made another fire and I was warm and toasty. Compared to the unpaved mountain roads of yesterday, the roads today were like heaven. It was like I was floating on a cloud. I know longer had to hold onto my brakes for dear life while descending the mountain hills. I made good time to both Bocoyna and Creel so I figured that I would try to reach Copper Canyon. Upon arrival at my campsite, I realized that I had accidentally left my chain somewhere when I stopped. I frantically hurried back to the places I stopped looking for my chaing but to no avail. I can get another chain but it probably won't be as good as my trusty kryptonite chain. I will look for another chain in the next city. When I am in el D.F. I will look for another kryptonite chain.
Copper Canyon is so beautiful that when I was at the viewing area for the canyon, frantically searching for my chain, I couldn't help but take a moment to notice how beautiful the full moon rising over the canyons at sunset was.
I am camped close the viewing area and had another impressive campfire meal. This time I had roasted marshmellows for dessert. I realized that I can cook rice in the sardine cans. With a little onions, jalapeños, and lime juice, I will have a nice little fish stew. I think I will have this for breakfast, tomorrow.

Day 19 kt:50.5 ta:3532 gps: N 27 degrees 42.908' W 107 degrees 36.892'

I got another late start this morning because I decided to help an old lady, who was a food vendor, carry some heavy items in exchange for a few gorditas. The lady made an excellent salsa that was made with a mixture of tomatoes and tomatillos and had the secret ingredient of oregano in it. I didn't leave Copper Canyon until almost 1:00 p.m. I only rode for three hours and rested for one, today.
The, normally grueling mountain roads were quite fun. I would move very slowly uphill sometimes for miles at a time and then fly down the other side. My top speed was 66.3 kph. I went so fast that my eyes would tear up. Most of the time, I was riding and holding my brakes for there are some sharp curves on steep grades. After all of that exhileration, I would sometimes rest at the bottom of a long, steep descent.
When I was coming back into Creel, I saw it. My chain was sitting in the same spot I had rested at earlier only 50 kilometers away from where I noticed it was missing. I felt like such a lucky fool. I felt lucky that I didn't have to spend any extra money on a new chain and I felt foolish because I rode for 50 kilometers without noticing that I wasn't carrying a 10-pound chain over my shoulder. I celebrated by purchasing a comal at the ferreterìa in Creel. A comal is a pan that can be placed over wood or charcoal to cook food. It has been used here in Mexico traditionally for, at least, centuries. The ferreterìa is the store that sells all things metal. One can find screws, bolts, cooking utensils, and anything else that is metal. Ferro is the Spanish word for iron.
I am looking forward to using my comal. I can now make some more elaborate campfire meals. Anything that can be cooked in a frying pan can be cooked in my comal. One doesn't need a fancy camping stove to make all sorts of food. In fact, there are traditional Mexican foods like mixiote, cochinita pibil, and tamales that don't need to be cooked with any cooking utensils. They are all wrapped in a protective leaf pouch so they can can be put directly on top of the coals. The leaf is either corn, maguey, or banana.
I have been meditating a lot on fire, as of lately. The ability to harness fire is the skill which sets us apart from all other species and has allowed us to adapt to all environments. Fire is what has made me come to enjoy camping in the cold, cold mountains.
Recently, I have also been meditating on trash a lot. Even in the most desolate places, it seems like the vast majority of people don't respect the planet and throw their trash whereever. Sometimes, I wonder, when an archaeologist finds some ancient artifact, if they are just finding the litter of some paleolithic redneck. I follow the philosophy of packing out what I pack in and I wish other would, too. We would have a much nicer planet if everyone just took responsibility for their messes.

Day 20 kt: 54.5 ta: 2887 gps: N 27 degrees 22.487' W 107 degrees 30.052'

When I woke this morning, there was frost on my tent, again. The reflection of the sunlight on the frost covered grass in the distance was sublime.
Today was like any other day in the mountains. Up the hills then down the hills. The scenery was beautiful. All was normal until I crashed while going downhill. I am fine, though. I just have a scrape on my elbow and I was pretty scared because wiping out on the descent of a mountain is never fun. I also broke one of the hooks that holds my front right saddlebag onto the rack. I had to ghetto-rig my saddlebag onto my rack using a combinations of bungee cords and a rope I had found along the side of the road in Texas( I knew that rope would come in handy). I would like to find a more permanent solution, though. It may be possible to buy a replacement hook but it would probably be difficult to obtain in Mexico. I am going to buy more bungee cords, for now. It is even possible that I can get a replacement part made for me in a metal shop. The hook was plastic but metal is better. When I reach civilization, I will see what I can do but, for now, I will ride more slowly when I am going downhill.
After my accident, I did not ride very far. I came across a beautiful river gorge with an abandoned house and decided that this would be a good place to set up camp and lick my wounds. I should reach a town of decent size, tomorrow.

Day 21 kt:51.7 ta: 5100 gps: N 27 degrees 07.089' W 107 degrees 17.996'

Today was a better day than yesterday. There were no wrecks, my ghetto-rigged saddlebag remained secure, and it was noticable warmer when I woke up due to the lower elevation at which I camped. Someone in Creel told me there was not a lot of ascent between Creel and Guachochi but they have obviously never ridden a bike on the highway between the cities for I have ascended almost 8,000 feet in the last two days with more to go. I ran into people from Oregon, today, on two separate occasions. The first time, there was a whole pack of retirees on an adventure tour. They gave me water and I was grateful. The second time, I met a man on a motorcycle who told me he had been travelling through Latin America off-and-on for the last twenty years. I stopped and talked with him and learned some useful information. For example, I learned that Colon, Panama is a gnarly crime-infested city and, though the Andes are at a higher altitude than the Sierra Tarahumara, they are actually warmer due to their proximity to the equator. He and I talked for a while and had a good conversation. I got his email and will add him to my contact list.
For those of you that don't know, the Sierra Tarahumara is named after the Tarahumara Indians. These people have lived in caves in the mountains, probably, for millenia. Some of them still live in caves. I don't know much about the Tarahumara except that they have rituals involving psychaedelic mushrooms and they have runners among them who can run for many, many miles for it is a part of their culture. I saw that there is an ultra-marathon through the canyons here and wondered if many Tarahumara compete in it. These days, the women wear very colorful clothing, almost as if for show, and sell baskets and jewelery in the tourist towns. The only way you can often identify the men is by their, obviously, Indian features and by the sandals they wear. I don't know how they wear sandals without socks in these freaking cold mountains. I did see a few older men dressed in more traditional garb.
I saw an eagle, today. It was the second time that I had seen one, recently. The other time I saw a flock of parrots chasing an eagle away from their nests on the unpaved road from Hell. I haven't seen much other interesting wildlife of note. The bears and the rattlesnakes are hibernating and the pumas instinctually avoid man. The fact that I always have a campfire, probably, keeps the critters away, too. Surprisingly, I haven't seen a deer since I left Texas.
I am becoming more and more comfortable cooking with a campfire. It is real easy using a comal. Tonight, I made Mennonite cheese quesadillas. I know three things about the Mexican Mennonites: they wear funny-looking hats, shun society, and make some damn good cheese. I am even glad that the one restuarant in the town that I passed through was closed. The food I would have gotten there would, probably, not have been significantly better than the quesadillas I made. Anyway, I now sit by the dying embers of my fire feeling reenergized and ready for tomorrow. I am having a great time and I hope that this trip never ends.

Day 22 kt:64.6 ta:2621 gps: N 26 degrees 42.184' W 107 degrees 04.660'

I wrote a poem about my favorite subject, as of recently. Here it is:
"My Little Fire"
My little fire which burns so bright,
You keep me warm throughout the night.
Without your warmth, I just might,
Die before the morning light.
Granted I am no Shakespeare but it comes from the heart.
I've grown accustomed to finding frost on my tent in the morning. This morning, my tent poles even froze together. It was cold enough, all day, that I never once changed my pants to shorts.I had a pretty relaxing ride today. Once I reached Guachochi, I found food and an internet cafe. I even found out where I needed to go to find replacement parts for my saddlebags. If you ever need to make new metal parts in Mexico, you need to find a taller de torno. Taller just means workshop and I am pretty sure that torno means lathe. None of the machine shops in Guachochi had a drill press so I will ask around in a bigger city. I now no what to look for. All is good because my ghetto rigged saddlebag seems to stay on better than the bags that aren't broken. I am going to buy more bungee cords.
If anyone ever asks, Novarra makes shitty saddlebags. I am pretty pissed-off that I spent $500 for saddlebags and they have plastic parts. The only good thing that I can say about them is that they are, indeed, waterproof. Novarra makes shitty bikes, too. When I find a machine shop, I am going to replace all of the plastic parts with metal.
Los Cumbre de Sinforosa are, indeed, very beautiful. The desert and mountain ecosystems intersect here for there are Maguay cactus and century plants to go along with the pine trees. It only costs a dollar to get into the park and the park attendants were very helpful. They left the bathroom open and showed a good spot to collect fire-wood. The funny thing about the bathrooms is that they don't have lights, toilet paper, or even toilet seats, but they have automatic, motion-activated soap dispensers.
Tomorrow, I will have, sadly, left the Sierra Tarahumara but I won't miss the coldness of the mountains. In fact, I even look forward to riding through the desert, again.
Someone recently asked me if I was scared camping in Mexico. In fact, I feel safer camping here than in Texas. There is a lot less fenced-off land here and most of the people here are good people. I haven't had any problems here.

Day 23 kt:?? ta:?? gps:??

I managed to get into some good fun trouble, this morning. When I was about to leave the national park, I met some guys that I guess were drug dealers. They asked me if I smoked weed and I said yes so they took me to a nearby ranch and gave me an ounce of the nicest weed that I have ever seen in Mexico up until that point. They offered some cocaine, too, but I didn't want any. The guy who was driving even had a 9 mm. I knew I could trust them because they let me shoot their gun. We got high and drove around the ranch herding cows for a while. We then went into town and they gave me even more weed that was even better than what they gave me before. I swear, I have about a quarter pound of weed on me. I have to figure out where to hide it all so I can get through military checkpoints. I will take some pictures of it. I love hanging out with generous drug dealers. Cheo, the driver, is now my best friend in Guachochi. He told me that I have any problems with the law here that I should tell them I am a friend of Cheo's. Olale.