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Mexico’s Northern States

The Chihuahua Desert stretches across several Mexican states, as well as across the border and into the United States. This fishhook barrel cactus thrives in Nuevo León.

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blocked transportation between the plateau and the west coast, forming a natural barrier. Paved roads and a railroad were not built across it until the 1900s. This range includes some of Mexico’s most rugged land. Short, steep streams flowing to the Pacific Ocean have cut

canyons more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep through the mountains. Higher in the mountains, the weather gets colder. Here bear and sheep live. In the winter the forests at the tops of the mountains may be covered in snow, while the valleys beneath are still tropically warm. These western mountains climb to the height of 9,200 feet. The Tarahumara Indians migrate from the caves where they live in the summer, down to the warmer areas when frigid winter winds arrive. The state of Durango is also famous for its huge desert scorpions. The Sierra Madre Oriental, the plateau’s eastern rim, runs through the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León. These mountains are actually a series of