The Cactus Trip Diaries

As we drove from yesterday’s last stop into Creel we passed a couple of signs to water falls that we decided to visit today. They always make a good scenic subject and so far we had always found cacti and other succulents near by.

And so we  took the turning east off MEX 25 to the Cascade de Cusarare except we should have turned west. Never mind. We drove through the village and sneaked photographs of the Tarahumara people, women washing clothes in the river, men ploughing fields with a horse and simple plough. We stopped (S1362) along the stream and took a look on the rocks on either side of the now almost dry river. No cacti or other succulents found.

S1363 was the stretch from MEX 25 to the west where we parked the car in a flat area with waste bins for tourists but again no one in sight.  Half way along this track Eunice spotted Echinocereus scheeri, a small plant growing in moss on one of the huge boulders along the side of the road. Plants were  covered in pine needles and leaf litter from the deciduous trees and each needed a tidy up before I took their picture – just to give Angie some competition in a future cactus photo contest. I took some ‘before clean up’ pictures as well to show plants in their natural state. This boulder also had Echeveria chihuahuensis growing on it. So far Echeveria have been hiding from us.

Before we knew it, we were back in Creel. It was only 12:30 – what next? We decided to go to Divisadera, regarded by many as the best spot on the Copper Canyon railway line. It promised to offer some excellent views in the area and did not disappoint. (S1364 – no cacti or other succulents). We took a look at the station and it seemed that a train was due to arrive – apparently the timetables for this train are for guidance only. Sure enough, just as we had taken up positions for some good shots, its loud whistle announced its imminent arrival. This is one of the few places on the line where there is a double track so that the train from Chihuahua could pass the train from Los Mochis. Alain has worked for the Belgian Railways for 30 years and realised that we were on a cactus & succulent plant trip, but his colleagues were clearly expecting him to have travelled on this famous train. Here was the opportunity!  Cliff owned up to being a train spotter as well as a plane spotter and happily joined him, while I took video clips of them boarding the train. The other train, the one from Chihuahua also arrived and nearly ran Cliff down as he crossed the track to join his train.

Eunice and I looked round the Tamahumara souvenir seller’s market and then decided to drive on towards Urique, realising that we’d never get there, as the road turned from hard top to dirt and our speed reduced accordingly.

Not a bad day at all. Tomorrow we’ll look for more waterfalls and their associated cacti & succulent plant flora.