The canyon district is actually six large gorges and about a dozen smaller ones, all formed by rivers entrenched as the land around them was lifted by tectonic plate displacement. Four of the six large gorges are deeper than the canyons of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.
The center of the Copper Canyon region is about 400 miles south-southwest of El Paso, Texas, but the route driving overland is longer and not a modern highway after Chihuahua City. Entering the area from El Paso, the canyon region gateway is at Creel, Chihuahua.
A train leaves the west coast town Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and travels east through the canyons into Chihuahua City, with a stop inside the canyons at Barrancas, Chihuahua. The Copper Canyon Railway (Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico, literally Chihuahua Pacific Railroad) travels slightly more than 400 miles through the canyon district, passing through 86 tunnels and over 37 bridges.
The region is named after the pale green tarnished copper color of lichens growing on rock in the canyons.
Tourist industry in the town of Barrancas inside the canyon offers adequate accommodations and hikes or trail rides through vegetation zones that range from moist tropical to desert as the elevation changes.
