The Copper Canyon of Mexico is renowned for ruggedness, remoteness, and the vastness of its scarcely-explored reaches.Encompassing the roughly 64,000 square kilometres of the Sierra Taruhumara, it is not a single canyon at all, but a vast domain of many deep canyons, abrupt precipices, torrential rivers, and spectacular waterfalls that comprise the largest canyon system in North America.
The name Copper Canyon, or Barrancas del Cobre, derives from a copper-walled segment of the larger Rio Urique canyon, and over time has been applied to the entire canyons region.
Within this region lie four or more canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona, and the newly-discovered 453-metre plunge of Piedra Volada falls, the highest waterfall in Mexico and among the five highest on Earth.
Vegetation ranges from forests of oak, pine, juniper, and cottonwood to wildflower meadows and subtropical canyon bottoms. Wildlife includes black bear, puma, deer, boar, and 300 species of birds.
The Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon are runners over vast distances of rugged trails, and it is these trails that provide foot access from the railway trailheads to most areas of this scarce-developed region.
The name Copper Canyon, or Barrancas del Cobre, derives from a copper-walled segment of the larger Rio Urique canyon, and over time has been applied to the entire canyons region.
Within this region lie four or more canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona, and the newly-discovered 453-metre plunge of Piedra Volada falls, the highest waterfall in Mexico and among the five highest on Earth.
Vegetation ranges from forests of oak, pine, juniper, and cottonwood to wildflower meadows and subtropical canyon bottoms. Wildlife includes black bear, puma, deer, boar, and 300 species of birds.
The Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon are runners over vast distances of rugged trails, and it is these trails that provide foot access from the railway trailheads to most areas of this scarce-developed region.