REGIONAL MAP
The whole enchilada
If you've already hit the MAPS link front page then you know about the 4 most visited canyons. (If you didn't see that page do go see it now).
Let's begin here with giving you a little head's up about this map and what the little lines mean. (we will be adding better maps with time, not to worry!)
The thick black lines are obviously paved roads. The dotted black lines here represent dirt or gravel roads. The dotted red line is the train line that runs from Chihuahua to Los Mochis.
You can see, barely, the km markers between each major point to give you an idea of distance. The gas stations are also marked with a tiny little gas pump for your convenience.
Yes, it IS possible to drive the back roads from say El Fuerte to Batopilas or Batopilas to Cerocahui, etc...BUT...there are a few sections of the road that really need a 4X4 in order to make it so we do NOT recommend that these back roads be used if you don't have this type of vehicle and some very good off road experience under your belt.
Having said that...there have been tourists in regular cars that have made that crossing and lived to tell the tale, insanely enough, BUT the cars are completely trashed in the end due to all the extreme bumping that must be endured since you have to pick up speed to make it up a steep bumpy incline that you would have crawled easily up in 4 low. There is also the inevitable 'what goes up, must come down' theory in play here since once you make it up that very scary, steep and bumpy incline at a dangerous speed, you must then ride the brakes all the way down thus destroying your brakes in a canyon environment. Not too bright eh? Also, if you don't have a high enough clearance you can really damage the under carriage or an important mechanical feature such as your transmission, oil pan, etc...and end up stranded in the middle of nowhere. There aren't many people that go up and down those roads so you may have a very long wait if you break down.
To make matters worse, there are NO signs on these roads and there are many now that go all different directions due to the mining operation going on in certain sections of the road.
Please do NOT attempt to drive these back roads without a proper 4X4 vehicle and a GPS device.
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