Mexitron - 9-21-2003 at 09:28 PM
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Bud Bernhard, the Baja hiker/mountain climber/explorer who rescued the couple lost on Pichaco Diablo in the 60's?
Last known address was in San Diego. Is he still alive? I'm trying to find info on the WW II plane in the Mesa Avion area.
Don't know about Bud, but.......
Anonymous - 9-21-2003 at 09:35 PM
your question sounded familiar. There was a thread a while back that might be of interest.http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=443
Bud Bernhard
BajaTim - 9-22-2003 at 09:44 PM
I asked about Bud tonight in a bar in Coronado. He is still around, maybe 80 years old, still working. MAYBE, just maybe, you can find out how
to get hold of him through:
juandecoronado@hotmail.com ........
Bud Bernhard
Mexitron - 9-23-2003 at 01:29 PM
Thanks for the info and for asking around...what I know of Bud I know from his old friend Myron Smith, who died a couple years ago--the both of them
went on quite a few Baja adventures in the 60's. Anyway, Bud is the only person I know who hiked in to see the WWII plane in the high mesa country
around Pico Matomi....I went back there in March, hiked until we ran out of water, and couldn't find the plane
Finding Bud Bernhard
Baja Bucko - 9-23-2003 at 09:18 PM
Contact me at o2bnbaja@eoni.com
I found out where he is this past April after not seeing him since 1975. I backpacked w him in the San Pedro Martir in 1973...he is pretty private!!
Don Jorge - 9-29-2003 at 10:08 AM
Myron Smith, now there's a man who traveled Baja in the days gone by. His stories and humble matter of fact way of description were a highlight to
any day our paths crossed.
In San Juan Capistrano he was well known and loved. His kind are fewer in these parts today as are the avocado groves he farmed.
Ah yes, the oldtimers do delight in feeding misinformation at us younger ones and really enjoy it when we bite the bait and run with the hook.
Good luck, hope you find it!
Mexitron - 10-8-2003 at 09:37 PM
Don Jorge--you're name sounds familiar--how did you know Myron Smith? I was his neighbor in Three Arch Bay ( my real name is Steve Mudge)and in the
late 80's I started going to Baja with him and his family--can't recall how many times we went together...in fact I(with Frank Nordhoff, grandson of
the infamous Antonio Fiero Blanco-aka Walter Nordhoff) had the dubious honor of going on his last trip to Baja--amazing, 78 years old and still
leading us into roads and country very few people are willing to drive into...we got back from that trip and within 2 days he was ill and in a week he
went into a shutdown which he never recovered from--all from a staff infection that the doctors thought was the flu until it was too late....
By the way, did you know the Smith Ranch has been sold? I think it was in the family since around 1910.....sad.
Bud Bernhard update: thank you to all who contacted Bud about the WWII plane--Bud says the Mexicans packed the plane out piecemeal years ago--so it
still exists, but in a very different form, I imagine!
Don Jorge - 10-9-2003 at 07:07 AM
Steve,
I knew Myron from here on the farm. Old farmers love to shoot the breeze. I farm the old Kinochita piece and met Myron as a customer. His old rig
reeked Baja, as did he. He would come in and visit and as we got to know each other we swapped stories of Baja. I have probably met you, maybe with
Myron or Mike Evans (Tree of Life Nursery) who used to collect seeds and plants from Baja, with permits, and thought a lot of Myron and mined his
knowledge. Or maybe you buy strawberries here?
Yes, I knew his ranch sold. I used to farm the Forster property which sold and then was swapped with Myron's property where the private school is now
and 300 houses are on the old Forster piece which produced the best strawberries I ever grew.
I heard about Myron's illness from Mike and I knew to have not gone to Baja with Myron was an oppurtunity missed and gone forever.
Staph infection is all to familiar to me. My father is fighting for his life against one now and I fear the worst.
You were lucky to have travelled with him in Baja, in the parts of Baja which are still relatively untouched!
My name is George. Come on by and bring some pictures of your adventures!
Little known fact
Stephanie Jackter - 10-9-2003 at 08:13 AM
30 to 40 thousand people die a year in this country from nosocomial (hospital acquired), infections, staff and strep being the two most common.
That's not counting the one's who get these diseases, but scrape through the ordeal or many elderly whose deaths still get listed as natural causes.
It's really scarey to know that the hospital environment may be as likely to kill you as what you went in for. I'm scheduled for surgery in the
spring, so am thinking about those numbers a bit more lately. Hope your dad makes it. - Stephanie