The Great Sierra Madre Horse Expedition
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Adventure SpecialistsAdventure Specialistsinc

Dear horse adventure friends:r

TThis is a very exciting and unique, rugged adventure on solid, no nonsense local ranch horses. We offer the program as a custom designed journey for 4 to 8. If you have two or more, we likely can gather others from our friends and past guests to make a going trip. We also can give a good discount if you organize your own group. phone or e-mail us to get rolling.

We also

The Trip is a smashing grand adventure! Read Amy's Report

We camp on a sand beach beside the small River. Colorful acorn woodpeckers and Jays dart through tall pine trees, squawking displeasure at this interruption of canyon solitude. Sparks leap from the glowing embers.Shadows flicker ominously about the tall stands of long needled pines as we hunker down around the fire, cups in hand. Was it here perhaps that General Crook cornered Geronimo and his band of marauding Apaches in the summer of 1883? Could this be where Pershing’s army corps chased Pancho Villa’s rag tag bandits fleeing from the attack on Columbus New Mexico in 1916?

Heads full of mysteries and legend, we slip off to our bedrolls as a distant owl hoots a forlorn cry. Or...could it be the ghost of Coronado still searching for lost cities of gold ?

Meeting in El Paso, we drive through the Chihuahua desert then over a winding mountain highway to overnight at the cow town of Cuauhtemoc. We ramble on, up through the Sierra Madre, to arrive early at our isolated mountain base camp over lookling the famous Copper Canyon

The Mancinas family meets us for evening margaritas and a traditional Mexican ranch meal around the big bunkhouse fire place. We are guests at Lola Mancinas' rustic, log cabin mountain Lodge.

Anda le Muchachos...Huevos rancheros and stout cook stove coffee sends us on our way. We choose our mounts and test out saddles. Pack ponies loaded, we trot off across the high sierra, soon dropping over the rim of the great Oteros Canyon (part of the Copper Canyon system) to descend several thousand feet over the next several days.. Teresa Mancinas, our seasoned trail cook treats us to a Mexican dinner and round of freshly made margaritas beside the evening campfire.

During the next days, we ride through some of the wildest terrain on earth, making camp along side the Orteros below towering andesite cliffs deep in the great canyons. Climbing out on ancient foot and mule trails we finally arrive at the sleepy village of Arepunapuchc. Founded in the 1700s, the place has not changed much since Pancho Villa and his Division del Norte recruted riders here to fight General Huerta's Federales in 1914.

Spurs jingling, horse shoes echoing on the rocky path, we tie up for a warming shot of Tequila then corral our tied ponies for a much needed graining and rest.

Loading back in our dust covered van, we bounce along the rutted back road to reach paved highway setting out for home. The scenery is striking, vast forested high lands punctuated abruptly by steep volcanic peaks. The day's end finds us reluctantly back in El Paso.

So the story ends...for now. (of course you will want to ride again with us in Peru or Colorado)

Horse Packing In The Remote Mountains And Canyons of Mexico'sWild West

Suitability: This is a rugged adventure. Although the horses are`no nonsense', well trained and sure footed, you should have some experience with and are comfortable around horses. We spend long hours in the saddle and hike some steep or rough sections. Be prepared to cheerfully accept the unplanned and unexpected. This is the real thing....like riding through Colorado in 1880!