The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Another great overnight spot!

It's always fun when we start a drive not knowing where we'll end up staying the night. It's only very rarely that we end up somewhere less than ideal. Most of the time, we're pretty happy with our overnight spot. And then occasionally, we really luck out!

We almost didn't drive yesterday. It was really foggy in Parral when we woke up, and part of the reason we are taking the route that we are is because we had heard about the fantastic scenery. Which you can't see if it's foggy.

But we waited out the earlier part of the morning and it looked like there were going to be some breaks in the cloud, so we set off at around 11:00am. A bit of a late start for us, but we figured it would be better to put even a few miles on. And if we made it to our destination around Guachochi, then all the better.

Where we had been parked at the Hotel Hacienda del Villa in Parral.

One last shot of the city of Parral as we were driving out of town.

After we got out of the city, the fog returned. 

It was pretty foggy and slow going for the first 45 minutes or so after we left Parral. But the road was in pretty good shape, and there wasn't much traffic. But things cleared up a bit by the time we started getting into some elevation. We drive slowly anyhow, so it wasn't a problem.

Some really beautiful roads through the hills.

We turn right here towards the Copper Canyon!

After we turned right, we didn't see a single other vehicle for over 50 kms (30 miles)!

But we did see lots of nice scenery.

Yep, that's our road.

Nobody around for miles.

Yep, there's the road we just came in on.

Another beautiful view.

The altitude ranged from 6,500 feet up to 8,400 feet. We don't have altitude reading from our cheap Tom-Tom GPS, so I just looked at various points on some mapping software online. The road surface wasn't great, but it was overall good. Especially not a problem because there was so little traffic that it was easy to drive slowly and miss the odd pothole.

Nobody around.

We went through one little rainstorm for about 15 minutes.

And then we were actually above most of the low lying clouds.

I like the sky in this pic.

It was close to 4:00pm when we arrived on the outskirts of the town of Guachochi. We saw a sign advertising cabins for rent, and saw that it was a dirt road leading up to it. The problem was, we didn't know how far along the dirt road, and we didn't know if we would be able to turn around once we got there!

The dirt road leading to Cabañas el Tepehuan.

But it was less than 1 km down the road, when we came to a big set of gates and Sherman passed through with no problem. I parked at the side of a field and wandered over to where I saw some guys working chopping and splitting wood. Two of them looked to be in charge and I explained that we had a motorhome and were looking for somewhere to park for the night. They said "sure, you can park here" and pointed over to a spot in the pine trees. They even asked if we needed water.

No charge.

Sherman, parked up for the night in the pine trees.

This is actually some kind of resort, with cabins for rent and a restaurant and a lake. It's called Cabañas el Tepehuan, and they even have a website at http://www.cabanaseltepehuan.com/inicio/. GPS co-ordinates are 26.849995 -107.079559. Any size rig would fit in here. A great spot for an overnight, or even longer. The building beside us even has an electrical outlet and I'm sure if you paid them you could hook up.

Yesterday's drive from Parral to Guachochi, 191 kms (118 miles).

Slept great last night, although we did have a big storm that went through and even had some hail beating down us. Not that cold though, because it was still 8C (46F) inside the motorhome when we woke up. Put the furnace on to take the chill off, and now there's bacon cooking on the stove while I'm writing this. Yum!

Today, we plan to arrive at Creel and the Copper Canyon! Very excited about that, plus our drive today will take us through part of the National Park itself. And, there is some blue sky, so we should have some great photos.

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15 comments:

  1. Looks like a great little place to stay. I'm guessing they don't get too many Gringos though. Too far from the beach.

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    1. We loved it here, probably should have stayed one more night and done a little hiking in the area. Perhaps next time. :-)

      No, I'm pretty sure they don't see many "Gringos" here!

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  2. Hello, interesting to see your travel to creel . I am from Yarmouth nova scotia. We drill water wells near creel! We have friends in creel ! I would recommend staying at best western or supper 8 I think is what is there in creel . You do have the choice of margaritas! Its ok as well. Scenery is beautiful1 take the Gondola in the canyon beautiful.

    We are drilling wells for the native Tarahumaras there.

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    1. Hi Darren, glad that you are enjoying our travels to Creel. Because we are traveling in our motorhome we aren't staying in motels. We did check out the Best Western but they didn't have room for a motorhome where as at the Hotel Villa Mexicana they are actually set up for RV's so it just makes more sense for us to stay there. The scenery is beautiful here and was especially beautiful on our drive yesterday. We can't wait to take the train and see the sights from the rails. Unfortunately we won't be taking the Gondola over the canyon, as it is fairly expensive but we do intend to do some hiking so we should get some gorgeous views then.

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    2. Forgot to mention that we had seen a number of government signs up on our way here yesterday that mentioned about the work they have been doing on the wells for the local population. Nice work! ;-)

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  3. Replies
    1. It was a great spot and so quiet! Thinking we should have stayed one more night!

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  4. The picture of the gorgeous sky is typical of what you will see around the canyon. You are in for a real treat. Enjoy the canyon!

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  5. Beautiful pictures of your drive. I love that you create your own campsites. Wish that was possible here.

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    1. Thanks Sherry, it was a gorgeous drive! It is possible to do that in the US as well! We have found plenty of great spots when we have passed through the States.

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  6. What a beautiful place for an overnight stay. You know how to pick them! Love, love curvy roads with a great view.

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    1. Thanks Nan, it was a perfect spot. Next time we will stay a little longer, it looked like there would have been some nice hiking there.

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  7. Hope to do it next Nov. 1st wk hope weather is good.

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    1. I think that would be a great time of the year to be here. The temperature will be a little warmer then. Sure hope you make it here, it is a really beautiful part of the country.

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