We’d left this ride to the bitter end as we wanted it to be a warm day.
Today was it.
Big Red is all washed and polished up.
I’m ready….
We left the park at about 10:15 for our 90 mile ride to the bridge.
A quick trip on the Mazatlan bypass (love it!), east on the free road to Concordia for fuel and then….
Right to Mex 40 D and east to the bridge.
But first…
Heading up the highway towards the first of the tunnels. There are 63 tunnels with one of them just after the bridge and the rest before.
I picked out interesting ones….and here we go!
The first of many.
They are lighted inside.
This one goes around a corner.
Big trucks, cars and what have you.
We are rapidly rising and you can see the landscape is a huge challenge for the road construction.
Tunnels through solid rock.
And around every corner. They come up fast and there are so many and there is always one more.
This one has natural lighting. Kind of architectural. A rock shed for slides.
Here you can leave Mex 40D and return to Mazatlan on the free road or Mex 40. This is where we got off two years ago as the road was still under construction. It was a lovely ride through pine forests but today we are heading for the bridge.
This is the longest tunnel at 2,799 meters. Close to two miles in length and….
it seemed to go on forever. Kind of creepy in a way. A huge job for Eric to stay focused as he is wearing sunglasses and there were manhole covers missing in the travelled portion of the road as we rode along.
Finally, daylight at the end.
You can see the road up ahead turning to the right.
Two tunnels in rapid succession.
This tunnel had a convoy of Federales heading back toward Mazatlan.
Right behind them….a slow moving backhoe.
Sierra Madre Occidental mountains.
The first suspension bridge with only one tower.
Up ahead more road and more tunnels.
Looking back at the first bridge.
And always another tunnel.
Up ahead the Baluarte bridge.
It looks like a sculpture and not a bridge.
“The most important is the Baluarte Bridge (finished in 2012), which is now the highest bridge in North America at 390 meters. The bridge is located at the border between Sinaloa and Durango states formed by the Baluarte River. The clearance from the river bottom is over 1,300 feet (400 m), and at over 3,600 feet (1,100 m) long it is the highest suspension bridge in the world. The route from Mazatlan to Durango has 115 bridges, eight over 900 feet (270 m) high, and 63 tunnels nearly 11 miles (18 km) long in total.”
There she is!
The motorcycle gives you a unique opportunity to take a picture straight up.
You are off the bridge and immediately into another tunnel.
The border between Sinaloa and Durango and to the left you can see some taco stands where you could get off and have a look. It would have been nice if they’d built a good pull off for viewing the bridge.
We turned around in the truck runaway lane just past the taco stands and headed back. Not too hard to see how far down it is to the bottom.
The bridge is up ahead heading back.
Impressive!
Not too far along we passed a loaded logging truck. Not sure what the wood is but it reminded me of home!
Everyone needs a loose cow at the edge of the road on a major highway…..don’t travel at night!
We are now back at the toll booth at Mesillas where we will get off and head to Concordia for lunch but first another 48 peso toll to get off.
Parking across the street from El Granero in Concordia where we’ll have lunch.
Guess where all the Federales we passed in the tunnel are having lunch!
We’ve eaten here many times and it’s always good.
Chicken fajitas….delicious!
So….a good day and we were tired by the time we got home at 4pm.
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