Copper Canyon Exploration - March 2008

Five canyons with a combined volume four times the Grand Canyon. And deeper; 8,000 feet elevation on the plateau and 1,700 feet at the bottom. One of the top ten train rides of the world runs through it.

Hanging out for a coffee break in Palomas while waiting four hours at the border to get our vehicle permits.

Dan, Tom, Keith and I are heading for the Copper Canyon to scout out some new routes.

Loading up our bikes at the Plaza in Creel. We were trying out some new saddlebag setups and wanted to do some riding near Creel to check them out.

Our mission:

Visit Creel, Uruachi, Urique, Batopilas, and back to Creel - Ride 600 miles of dirt - Cross some rivers - Have some fun.

This Tarahumara cave dwelling is only about a mile away from the center of Creel.



It's quite common to see the Tarahumaras using cave overhangs like this for living quarters.










Typical Tarahumara log cabins.

















San Ignacio Mission in the Park with the cave dwellings, Valley of the Mushroom rocks, Valley of the Monks rocks, and Lake Arareko.

Camping is available and hiking/ mountain biking on the trails is fantastic.









We stopped to take Pics of the "Monks" rock formations and we asked this woman if we could take a few Pics of her "washing machine".














Lake Arareko

















Cusarare Falls - Tom and Dan

We left our dirtbikes at a hotel by the highway and hiked 1-1/2 miles.












Recohauta Hot Springs - I've been wanting to visit here for a long time.

The road down to here was "spooky".














The "overlook" at Divisadero".

This would be an excellent choice for a place to stay if your budget can handle it.










The main entrance at Divisadero.





















Crossing the Oteros on the way to Uruachi.

Tom shows how it's done.













Our hotel in Uruachi.

















Keith and Dan have some fun crossing the Chinipas River.
















Our hotel in Chinipas.

This building provided offices and housing during the big mining days a hundred years ago.













Chinipas.

One of the two locomotives shipped in pieces and re-assembled for hauling the ore out of the mountains.















Gas from barrels in Chinipas.



















Riding the old railbed.

Fun!











Cerocahui Mission near the Copper Canyon Train tracks.














A wood fire to heat the hot water.

Novel and fun!















Parking in the courtyard of our hotel in Urique.
















The cemetery at this old mission in Tubares looked very old.
















Riverside Lodge in Batopilas. Owned by Skip McWilliams from Michigan.

It's a palace inside.

Only three or four groups per year stay here.











The Plaza in Batopilas.

A great place to chill.















Hotel Juanita in Batopilas.

We parked our bikes in the courtyard.















Store on the "little" plaza in Batopilas.

The owner has some great frozen bananas and frozen juice treats in the freezer.

You may be able to buy a few beers to take to your restaurant since Batopilas is a "Dry" town and only a few restaurants are allowed to sell beer.
















I love this store.

Still the same as when it was built over 100 years ago.














Wild West town!
















Ruins of the big silver processing operation "Hacienda", built by Alexander Shepherd a hundred years ago with financing from Washington D.C. backers.


Everything was brought in by burro train then. There was no road to Batopilas at that time.







Ice and water supply store from the mining days.






















Climbing out of Batopilas Canyon.
















We relaxed one day in Batopilas and hiked around while it drizzled rain all day (and all night).

We climbed out on the dirtbikes and when we hit around 6,000 feet altitude, we hit this snow and had a lot of good times riding in the mud/ snow.










We dropped Tom off in Deming, NM and he headed back to Tempe.

Keith, Dan, and I stopped in Santa Fe for some luxury hoteling. Nice!

It was a fantastic trip!

Mt. Kilimanjaro Expedition - 2008

Sandie and I head out the door at 6 AM for our 42 hour trip (22 hours on planes) to Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania.



The big reasons for the trip was to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, go on a safari, and hang at the beach. We got a pretty good look at "Kili" as flew into the airport.


We stayed at the Springlands Hotel in Moshi and did a lot of napping when we arrived. The next day we headed out on our six day "Kili" hike. We had a guide and seven assistants (porters, cook, Etc.) to carry our packs and everything else, except our day-packs.


We used the Marangu Route which has huts at 9,000, 12,000, and 15,500 feet. It's all very primitive.


Here's the cooking area. Needless to say, the primary training you should do before attempting the climb is to toughen up your stomach.


That's the summit behind our guide Joseph and I. Sandie and I elected for the six day trip. Day one to the Mandara Hut - Day two to the Horombo Hut - Day three for acclimatization at Horombo with a short hike - Day four to the Kibo Hut arriving at Mid-day and trying to sleep before leaving at midnight for the summit climb - Typical times to the crater rim are six hours - Return to the Horombo Hut - Day Six hike on down to the Park entry gate.


Sandie hiked up with our guide Joseph and I hiked with his son-in-law, Frank. The top of "Kili" is a huge crater rim and there are several points on top to hike to. I hiked to the Uhuru Peak and Sandie hiked to the Gillman's Point. She made it up there in six hours. Very impressive!


Here's the view from the crater rim at sunrise. The ice wall at the top of the glacier is huge.


This is just starting down from Gillman's Point, and Sandie and the Kibo Hut are in the picture.


Congratulations to Sandie! She made it! That's the crater rim in the background.


After the climb we should have taken a rest day but left immediately for our four day safari. We visited three National Parks, Manyara, Ngorongoro, and Tarangire. After a few thousand animal sightings, I was ready for something new.



Hippos!


Famous Masai people village!


Animals!


A "bushman" village visit was on our itinerary and I figured we'd get a "canned" tourist presentation and dance. But,,,, this was a big treat after bouncing down a rough 25 mile 4WD road. We visited the Hadzabe People and the Datoga People in their "homes". Hanging on the line was the meat from a Kudu (deer like animal) covered with flies.


The Hadzabe People don't build houses or grow anything. They live off the wild animals they kill with their bow and arrows.


They make their own bows/arrows.


When the head man strapped some bells on his ankle and started to dance and sing, I joined in. He'd sing a phrase and the rest of us would answer. Around and around, in and out, the dance went on for quite awhile. Very emotional!


Next we visited the Datoga People. They raise cattle and grow onions.


This was the head man of the family and he had nine wives. When he asked me how many I had and I said one, he offered me one of his daughters.


We saw a lot of these.


A view of "Kili" from Moshi, the town our first hotel was in.


We flew out of the "Kili" airport and landed in Zanzibar. A spice and slave trading island. Stonetown with it's very narrow streets is a lot of fun.


Two days in Stonetown and we were off to the eastern beaches to "hang" at these beach bungalows for six days.


We really worked hard at watching the sand and beautiful blue water of the Indian Ocean but we did take a break to go sailing and snorkeling on the this dhow fishing boat.


A great trip!

Losing Weight book - Chapter on Exercise

Exercise - "Not"

Almost anyone will admit that exercise makes sense. There’s a built-in intuition that exercise is a healthy thing. The people that don’t do it have convinced themselves; that it’s too hard, no fun, they don’t have time, and on, and on, and on. Combining exercise with losing weight is highly recommended because you combine burning more calories with an increase in your metabolism, along with reduced calorie intake. This is a winning combination. If you believe, but don’t want to go for the conventional exercise program, here are a few ideas to try.

Tip - Look for ways to do things the "hard way". The following list of ways to burn extra calories will go a long way toward fulfilling your “exercise” quota without doing any formal exercise. – Put on your socks and shoes while standing on one foot (One leg tie) - Always Take the Steps - Carry someone's bags - Push someone's car - "Do it the hard way! - Hike the Terminal - Jog the Parking Lot - Walk a Bit Faster (Check out my book: Exercise -- For Life!).