Copper Canyon is the popular name for what is actually a complex of canyons, one of which is named Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon). The other two primary canyons are Urique, the deepest canyon in North America, and Sinforosa.

Others that are known for their beauty and unusual features are Batopilas, Tararecua, Munerachi, Rio Verde, Oteros and Chinipas. Candamena Canyon features the world’s tenth highest waterfall, Basaseachic Falls.

The relatively young mountains and plateaus of the Sierra Madre arose over a 10-million-year period of constant volcanic activity during the tertiary era. Untold millennia of tectonic activity caused tremendous fractures in the earth’s crust, and when you add summer rainy seasons of monsoon proportions you are left with a sculpted landscape in constant flux.

It is impossible to separate Copper Canyon from its indigenous inhabitants, the Tarahumara, or Raramuri. Because of the ruggedness, remoteness and lack of navigable rivers through most of the system, much of it remains unexplored except by those who make it home. In the parts that are more accessible and heavily populated, much of the original ecosystem has been damaged due to overuse and overgrazing.