Espinazo del Diablo (458 km)
Durango to Mazatlan · one way, about 458 km back to the start
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Why this ride
From Victoria de Durango it runs 458 km to Mazatlán; allow about 6 h 10 of riding. On the way it passes El Salto and Espinazo del Diablo. The highest point is about 2,500 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Roadbook
- Durango
start
Durango is a handsome colonial city in the north of Mexico, set on a high plateau at about 1,900 metres, with a baroque cathedral, tree-lined plazas and a relaxed, small-town pace for a place of half a million people. It was founded in 1563 by Spanish settlers, who came for the silver of the Sierra Madre, and for centuries it was a mining and ranching centre. In the twentieth century, Hollywood found the dry country around the city, and dozens of Westerns were filmed here, with John Wayne among the stars who came. Film sets still stand outside town and are open to visitors.
The roads from Durango head west toward the Pacific, and the most famous is the Espinazo del Diablo, the Devil's Backbone, a stretch of highway 40 that climbs the Sierra Madre Occidental toward Mazatlán. It is a legendary piece of road, with hundreds of bends carved into steep mountain terrain, narrow in places and dropping into huge valleys, with views of pine forest, rock walls and distant peaks. The modern toll highway now bypasses much of it with tunnels and bridges, including the Baluarte Bridge, among the highest cable-stayed bridges in the world, but the old road is still there for riders who want it.
Be careful on the old road: it is narrow, the surface varies, and lorries are slow on the uphills and quick on the downhills. Fog and rain can reduce visibility, especially in summer, and rockfalls occur. Start early and avoid the dark. Fuel is available in Durango and in the larger towns on the way, but gaps exist in the mountains, so keep the tank full and do not rely on small villages.
Durango has a rich food tradition, with caldillo durangueño, a beef stew with chile, and the famous local cheese, and mezcal is made in the region too. Walk the plaza in the evening, when the cathedral is lit and families come out to eat ice cream. The dry season is October to May, with cold nights in winter at that altitude. Pack layers, because the temperature changes dramatically between the plateau and the coast.
- El Salto
scenic
El Salto is a lumber town in the pine forests of Durango, high in the Sierra Madre Occidental, and it is the point where the road from Durango begins its descent toward the Pacific. The altitude is well above two thousand metres, and you feel it in the cool, thin, resinous air. Sawmills line the approach, logging trucks grind up and down the highway, and the smell of cut timber and woodsmoke is part of the place. The name means the jump or the waterfall, and the little cascade nearby is the origin of it. Nobody comes to El Salto for the architecture, but it is a useful, friendly town and a good place to prepare.
Prepare you must, because west of here lies the Espinazo del Diablo, the Devil's Backbone, one of the most famous roads in Mexico. The highway to Mazatlán twists down the spine of a narrow ridge with deep barrancas on both sides, hundreds of bends, tunnels and long bridges, and the views, when the cloud lifts, go on for ever. Up around El Salto the road is more forgiving, with pine and oak, wide curves and long, climbing sweepers. The surface can be broken by logging trucks, and diesel patches sit in the bends. In winter there can be snow and ice, and fog at any time of year, so check the weather and leave early.
The Devil's Backbone was a feat of engineering in its day. The highway, finished in the 1990s, replaced a notoriously slow and dangerous mountain road, and it opened the western slope to trade. You will see crosses and shrines along the bends, a reminder of the old road's toll. Truckers use the lay-bys, and ride-outs of the sort we like are a normal sight on weekends.
El Salto is big enough, with about twenty-four thousand people, to have fuel stations, small restaurants and shops, and you should fill up here because the stretch ahead has few services. Eat well before you leave: a plate of carne asada, beans and tortillas will keep you going. In the dry months the days are mild and the nights cold, so a warm layer is no luxury.
- Espinazo del Diablo
scenic · 2400 m
The Espinazo del Diablo, the Devil's Backbone, is a ridge of the Sierra Madre Occidental that the old highway between Durango and Mazatlan followed for decades along its crest, with the ground falling steeply away on both sides, and the narrow road with few barriers seemed to hang between two valleys. At about 2,400 metres, the air is cold and the pine forest thick, and on a misty morning the road disappears into cloud. Truckers called it the most frightening road in Mexico, and the name stuck.
The road has changed. In 2013, a new toll highway, the autopista 40D, opened across the sierra with a series of long tunnels and bridges, including the Baluarte Bridge, a cable-stayed span that is one of the highest in the world, standing about 390 metres above the river. The journey that once took six hours or more is now about half that, and most traffic uses the new road. The old highway remains, and riders who prefer curves to speed can still take it, though it is narrow and sometimes in poor condition.
The country is wild and beautiful. The sierra is covered with pine and oak forest, with deep canyons, waterfalls and small mountain villages, and the air smells of resin. La Ciudad, a lumber town about eighteen kilometres away, sits in the forest, and the logging trucks that rumble through are a reminder of the main industry. Farther west, as the road descends toward the Pacific, the vegetation changes to tropical, with mango trees, banana plants and warm, humid air.
Services are scarce along the high section. La Ciudad has a small supply of fuel and food, but you should not depend on it, and it is wise to fill up in Durango or El Salto before climbing, and carry a little extra if you can. The toll road has fuel stations at intervals. Fog is common, sometimes thick enough to reduce visibility to a few metres, and the road can be icy in winter, so check conditions. Trucks and buses use the old road, and they often take the middle of the bends. The best season is spring or autumn, and the best time of day is mid-morning, when the mist clears.
- Mazatlan
finish
Mazatlan is a Pacific port on the coast of Sinaloa, with a long beach, a historic centre and a seafront promenade, the malecon, which stretches for more than twenty kilometres and counts among the longest in the world. It has a population of about three hundred and eighty thousand, a fishing and shrimping fleet, a ferry to Baja California and a reputation for fun. Old Mazatlan has restored plazas, a cathedral from the nineteenth century and a lovely opera house, and the street food, especially the shrimp, is excellent. Pacifico beer has been brewed here since 1900, and the carnival, held before Lent, is among the largest in Mexico.
The seafront has some surprises. On the headland of Cerro del Crestón stands a lighthouse, said to be one of the highest natural lighthouses in the world, a steep climb rewarded by a view over the city and the ocean. On the rocks below the malecon, cliff divers launch into the surf for tips, and the beaches fill with families at weekends. In winter, humpback whales can be seen offshore.
For motorcyclists, the road east from Mazatlan is the draw. Highway 40 climbs into the Sierra Madre Occidental toward Durango, crossing the Tropic of Cancer, and the stretch known as the Espinazo del Diablo, the Devil's Backbone, runs along a narrow ridge with drops on both sides. It is a legendary road with hundreds of curves, tunnels and sweeping views, and the Baluarte Bridge, opened in 2012, is a cable-stayed span over 390 metres above the canyon floor, one of the tallest of its kind in the world. The climb takes you from tropical heat to pine forest, and fog and rain can reduce visibility. Trucks are slow on the grades, and rockfalls occur.
Mazatlan has fuel everywhere, and the road has stations at intervals, but fill before the climb. Tolls are collected on the new highway, and an older free road runs alongside in sections. Start early to avoid the afternoon storms in summer. The best season is winter and spring, when the days are warm and dry. Allow a full day to enjoy the road, and eat a plate of fresh shrimp at the end.