La Turquesa Trek

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Quote: Originally posted by TW Quote: Originally posted by David K Chuck, Tom, or anyone: Did you get the mileage from the La Turquesa road to Coco's Corner or the Punta Final south road? It's 7.5 miles from the mine road turnoff to Cocos. Eureka, I found my mileage notes from 2011 and the distance to Coco's Corner is exactly the same as TW's. However, the distance to Rancho Grande/ Gonzaga Pemex is more than Chuck's...? Total (and partial) mileages from San Luis Gonzaga 00.0 (0.0) Rancho Grande Store, Gonzaga (across from Pemex) 01.2 (1.2) Campo Beluga and El Sacrificio road 04.9 (3.7) Arroyo Santa Maria 07.2 (2.3) Las Palmitas/Santa Maria Canyon road 09.7 (2.5) Punta Final road 14.6 (4.9) La Turquesa road 18.4 (3.8) Las Arrastras road 22.1 (3.7) Coco's Corner 34.8 (12.7) Hwy. 1, Laguna Chapala

la turquesa

cool trail!

Drove it for the first time about 1992 (Mercedes 300GD 4x4). Finding a path through the wash was annoying but not difficult.
Guided some friends a few weeks ago again - this time it was like a freeway. Well, kind of. Took about 3 hours for the 2 miles in the wash.

Thanks for the ribbons! Now even a blind driver can find the trail.

The short grade is about 30 degrees - not 45 as posted earlier. 45 degrees (100% grade) on dirt would not be possible to drive.

The first section after the grade is pretty rocky. No signs of recent truck travel - bikes only

Here is the latest GPS record: http://rubicon-trail.com/Rubicon.Trail.GPS/la.turquesa.GPX

The Colorado Jeep Club probably don't encounter grades of this intensity on their trails. I encountered a very steep section of the Summit trail traveling up to the Parque Constitucion - all you could see was your hood and blue sky, a rocky wall to your left, and a cliff/drop off to your right. I'll probably never forget the North Summit for this reason.

David,

link works just fine (tell your computer to save that link)
http://baja101.com/Baja-GPS/la.turquesa.gpx
http://baja101.com/Baja-GPS/la.turquesa.kmz

I recorded 1.8 miles from the mine to the grade

distance from bottom of grade to the highway is 5.6 miles

and for all you Google Earth fans - close to the road connecting to the highway is an abandoned airstrip.
No surprise, as most mines in Baja have an airstrip.

save the planet - shoot yourself

for the environmentally sensitive among you - no rocks have been moved, no ramps have been built,no spinning tires scared the ground. However, some of the bushes were in for a little pruning. They told us that they felt so much better about themselves now.

for the car lovers among you - no tires have been damaged, no parts failed, nothing was broken. However, some of the unpruned bushes (jealous bastards!) attacked our paint jobs.

since nobody cares about humans any more, I say it anyway: we had a great time, sufficient food and free flowing beer. Yes, we drank and drove. It was good, man!

Garmin BaseCamp

highly recommend Garmin BaseCamp to get more out of your gdb or gpx files - and it's free!
http://www.garmin.com/en-US/shop/downloads/basecamp

You can crunch numbers when back at home like where you stopped, how fast you were going in which spot.

My recorded track shows me that I drove the steep grade at about 1.5 mph and that it is roughly 30 feet high.

vehicles in group:
Jeep Wrangler TJ, 33" tires, ARB front and rear
Nissan pickup (no clue which model), 33" tires, rear locker only
Mercedes G500, 295/75R16, 3 diff locks

[Edited on 5-11-2014 by 4x4abc]

grade

the following image shows the steepness of the grade pretty well - it is STEEP!

[Edited on 5-11-2014 by 4x4abc]

[Edited on 5-11-2014 by 4x4abc]

Highschool trig

David,

on my Mac I would hold down the control key before clicking on the link (if no download window would open) - then I would chose "Save Link As..." to save the file to my computer.
Don't know what you would do on your dinosaur Windows machine.

the grade is nasty. It has a slight right hand side slope. With too much gas and only traction control (even though LR-3 traction control is quite good) I see future roll overs on ascent.

Originally we had planned a downhill excursion to minimize damage to the grade - but things worked out differently that day (in Baja it's very likely that the unexpected happens).
The G500 walked straight up without a spec of dust.
The Nissan needed a second run, kicking up some dust (remember, it has no front locker and no traction control)
The TJ walked almost as uneventful as the G500.

All 3 drivers are seasoned (40+ years) Rubicon veterans. 2 live in cabins on the trail. For us a little dirt hill like this isn't worth much fuss.

Here is the veteran tip: On steep inclines the CG of the truck changes dramatically (the front carries almost no more weight). To even out traction, the rear tires get 14 psi (33' to 35" tires), the front gets 5-7 psi. No bead locks needed. Bead locks are for bad drivers.

With more traffic I see the grade completely destroyed in a couple of years by too much gas and too much air (too much air not only in the tires).

I would really like the challenge! My new set of BFG KM2 Mud-Terrains would also like the challenge!

How difficult is it to find your way towards the Turquoise springs from the Hwy 1 region? Traveling west (uphill) towards the grade, I could see the route, but couldn't find the road to get there.



Baja Grande 2007 drove upstream from the Gonzaga Bay area where we had been camping the night before. It was a good time!







[Edited on 11-21-2015 by Ken Cooke]

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

does anyone have an idea what the airstrip at 29°32'29.85"N, 114°27'23.47"W was/is all about?

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Thanks Paul. It is sad that paved roads destroy so much of what once was. The other barrier is the fence they add on both sides with no openings for existing roads. They eventually get opened as we have seen north of San Felipe.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

It's not listed in my 1969 Airports of Baja California by Arnold Senterfitt. I think it may have been built for use when the hwy was paved or used by the mine owner/operators. If they would build a road up the mountain they wouldn't have any problem building an airstrip.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Thanks Paul. It is sad that paved roads destroy so much of what once was. The other barrier is the fence they add on both sides with no openings for existing roads. They eventually get openened as we have seen north of San Felipe.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

When Roy and I did the NWT in early Dec. we stopped at the bridge that crosses the arroyo and road that went back to the mine. It's still accessible now but when the Hwy is finished they will have a fence up blocking access.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

When the Hwy is finished they will have a fence up blocking access.

Why would they do that

Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote: Originally posted by TMW   When the Hwy is finished they will have a fence up blocking access. Why would they do that

In many places the fence has been cut for access. Whether it is by the officials or individuals I don't know, maybe both

Here is a GE image I drew to show where the bridge is. When we were there access was from the northwest side of the bridge, top green arrow. I assume that will be blocked off.

May have to get off the new Hwy and get on the old road and go under the bridge to the bottom green arrow.



[Edited on 1-3-2017 by TMW]

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

The outline in red and the pin is where a new bridge is over the wash where the turn off is to the La Turquesa mine north of Cocos. When Roy and I were down in Dec. we stopped at the bridge at that time there was a road from the northwest end of the bridge down into the wash and to the road to the mine. I'm sure there will be a fence up when the hwy is paved.

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My track is Green and Blue
Other possibilities depending on the bridge ends are shown in red