Copper Canyon is a place that many adventure riders talk about, but seemed too far off the map to me until now. So I’m happy to be able to go off the map literally and get to see it. The National Geographic map I bought in Arizona has so far shown straight roads where there are miles and miles of twists and curves. It has shown little to no topographic change in the area I’m riding, but all I’ve done is climb and descend one mountain after another for a few days now. I think it’s related to the scale of the map not allowing it to show all the detail, but I have to say I’m feeling a little unprepared, and maybe pleasantly surprised by it.

The Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains of western Mexico are hundreds of miles long and wide. A group of ranges in these mountains, called…