Three Summits Study

Summits
Summit #1) The 1962 edition of Gerhard & Gulick's Lower California Guidebook (where we all learned about the Pole Line Road) makes it clear that after crossing Arroyo El Saiz that a spectacularly steep climb the pole line road arrives at the Portezuelo de Jamau at 4000’ (actual 4160’, 1268m). Coords are N31 37.63, W115 6.624. This summit is commonly known as the Race summit. After the summit the road enters the upper Canon el Alamito then on to Hwy 3 by way of Nuevo Junction.
Summit #2) At a location near the famous locked gate is Canada el Saiz. This track is shown on the map and goes thru the fence gate near the lock gate and is used as the bypass of the lock gate. This track has a very steep place that consists of loose dirt and loose rocks and is very steep and would challenge any 4wd vehicle, and even a bike. It was a difficult hike to its top of the hard place where the track beyond looks to be easier. The track goes to its summit Saiz Summit at elevation of 4660’ (1411m). Coordinates are n31 35.955, w115 36.495’. This summit is commonly known as the Middle Summit. After the summit the track enters into Canada Cantilar where it meets the road at the same place as does Summit 3
Summit #3) After passing the white tank heading west across the plateau the PLR comes to the place called Jamau where Canon Jamau can be followed to its summit at elevation 5300’(1610m). This has historically been called the South Summit or Jamau Summit. Coords are N31 33.399, W115 34.533’. At this point the map shows an existing road rather than a dashed line track. The road follows Canada la Pintada, then crosses Canada la Carrizo to arrive at Canon la Cantilar where the Saiz summit track and the Jamau road join, then on to the road to Canon Seco.
= = = =
1962 map of the Pole Line Road by Howard Gulick (Lower California Guidebook)...


= = = =
North image



South Image



It was Neal Johns who got curious while reading the Lower California Guidebook...




Here is the page with the road from La Ventana on Hwy. 5, west to the Pole Line Road, then following it west to the summit:

I need to call the Squarecircle, who I recall told me about the 3rd summit road.

North to South:
1) Original Summit, Pole Line Road, 'Portezuelo de Jamau' (visible from Pole Line Road below and on Google Earth)
2) Cañada el Sáiz Summit Road (this is just south of #1, and easily visible from PLR below and on Google Earth). This seems to me the main route used by Rancho Huatamote (Guatamote).
3) Cañon Jamau Summit Road, on INEGI map but not complete to the bottom on Google Earth. This goes from the 'Left at Y' on the PLR via Rancho Jamau (abandoned?) up the mountain.



[Edited on 5-24-2015 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Summit #2 was marked by SCORE for use in a Baja 500 race in the mid 90s. The course would go over Summit #1 and return over Summit #2 then down the Goat Trail and over to Mikes Sky Ranch. A lot of the car guys complained so much about how rough it was that Sal changed the course and bypassed both summits. My brother and I pre-ran the course over both summits in my 93 Toyota 4x4. Later that year two friends and I went down Summit #2 camped, I was in my Toyota and they on MCs. The next day we all rode MC up and over Summit #1 west to east and around and over Summit #2. I was on a Honda CT110 and coming down Summit #2 was a wild ride, I ended up bull-dogging the bike down.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Paul it was the 95 500 race. I'll look to see if I can find the original map using the two summits. The Murdock map is what the race was changed to. Here is the notes I made on the 2 summit loop when I drove it in December 2004. Summit Loop For reference use the Baja Almanac page 8. On hwy 3 turn north at KM108. You’ll cross a cattle guard onto a graded road. GPS readings are Datum 27 in degrees-minutes –seconds, followed by elevation. Hwy 3 at KM108. 0.0 31-29-29 x 115-46-39 3514ft Jct. Sign Jamau y Sonora 2.8 31-29-55 x 115-43-59 3339ft Bear left. Nuevo jct. turn off to left 3.6 31-30-26 x 115-43-41 3350ft Continue straight At this point you’ll go about 6 miles total looking for a road to the left. If you come to a locked gate turn around and go back looking for a road to your right with in a mile. I’m going from memory so please bear with me. If you look straight ahead you can see the summit road running left to right at the base of the mtns. The turn off road will take you to the summit road access at 6.9 miles from hwy. Summit road access 6.9 31-33-09 x 115-43-31 3484ft Fence and cattle guard 9.7 31-34-55 x 115-43-05 3736ft This starts Summit run. Sum. Rd .2 miles pass Dam 12.1 31-35-24 x 115-41-07 3761ft Wash near house 14.2 31-35-49 x 115-39-49 3787ft Note. This is El Jamau on topo map ** Top of Summit 19.0 31-37-38 x 115-36-37 4186ft Wash at bottom of Summit 20.7 31-37-57 x 115-36-09 3088ft Note: Turn right up out of wash. Watch carefully. You can see road to south coming down Summit. Turn right for South Summit 21.8 31-37-07 x 115-34-48 3220ft Hill top up South Summit 24.1 31-36-10 x 115-36-04 4033ft ** Top of South Summit 24.6 31-36-03 x 115-36-24 4588ft Gate at top of South Summit 25.0 31-35-52 x 115-36-31 4639ft Y in road bear right 28.7 31-34-03 x 115-37-41 4448ft Y in road bear right 31.0 31-32-21 x 115-38-19 3829ft Note: Your now on Graded Road to village of Jamau. Cattle gate 32.9 Cattle gate 33.4 Jct. Sign Jamau y Sonora, same as line two above. For Ref. Cohabuso Jct. 31-55-44 x 115-36-17 @ 952ft

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

Have you looked at the road coming from and going to the top of this hill, can it be another summit route?: 31 34'35.20 N 115 34'30.79W 1610 meters in altitude. Check it out...

Hi Emerson, your waypoint is on the opposite side of the Cañon Jamul road... (see topo map above), yes?

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

Have you looked at the road coming from and going to the top of this hill, can it be another summit route?: 1610 meters in altitude. Check it out...

Quote: Originally posted by David K

I just got off the phone with The squarecircle (Roy), whom has been exploring the Pole Line Road and the summit roads since 1984. The Jamau Canyon (3rd or southernmost) road was not passable when he with a group from Tierra del Sol investigated the canyon. From the top, the road becomes impassable a few hundred feet before an area where a ranch may have once been. On the bottom end, coming up from the "Jamau Y" the road goes to an abandoned ranch and then was washed out or overgrown beyond. So the gap we don't see a road on today, on Google Earth is correct, but it may have once been a through road as the INEGI topo map shows?

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Can you use your bing expertise to see if there is anything the might be a road? ==== Quote: Originally posted by David K   I just got off the phone with The squarecircle (Roy), whom has been exploring the Pole Line Road and the summit roads since 1984. The Jamau Canyon (3rd or southernmost) road was not passable when he with a group from Tierra del Sol investigated the canyon. From the top, the road becomes impassable a few hundred feet before an area where a ranch may have once been. On the bottom end, coming up from the "Jamau Y" the road goes to an abandoned ranch and then was washed out or overgrown beyond. So the gap we don't see a road on today, on Google Earth is correct, but it may have once been a through road as the INEGI topo map shows?

My pleasure...

North at top, Pole Line Road Y to canyon entrance:



West at top, almost same as above, to just before road end:



More into canyon:



Just to the left of above map, see the end of the road and trail coming down the mountain:



From trail end bottom to trail end top, I see about 600 meter gap (less than 1/2 mile). Another 600 meters added for the gap between the upper road and the lower road (1.2 km.). Of course that is just what looks obvious tom me... on the ground we can better see what happened or what is?

Thanks for your effort. Not much new
Meanwhile I gave it a try again from the topo side

Well, I dug up my graphics stuff from a long time ago and I have a tool to measure between two points or lines with scaling as good as possible.
I the picture below I grabbed the cords from GE and removed my red trail line where it cannot be seen on GE
So, what is noticeable is at the S end there is some easy terrain if crossing the drainage is possible? Then one could get closer to the narrows further north.

BTW there are very noticeable discrepancies between the topos and GE. From last weekend’s trials when we tried to overlay topo onto GE even when we stretched the two images and locked them with the coords, it was clear that the trails were way off. Now we all know that the GPS trails are the gold standard so the manipulation done by both the GE software and the topo people’s software is obviously approximate. We now know how to do the manipulation to match only 2 of the 3 sources and we were disappointed because the time required was huge. And yes by manipulating the GPS track (stretch and rotate) we got a visibly acceptable match. However that is not fair because the GPS track is correct and should never be adjusted.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   Can you use your bing expertise to see if there is anything the might be a road? ==== My pleasure...

Mano canyon

Minute 1:29, 1:46-3:05

Quote: Originally posted by David K

At what minute in the video is #3 spotted? [Edited on 4-27-2015 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote: Originally posted by David K   At what minute in the video is #3 spotted? [Edited on 4-27-2015 by David K] Summit Road #3 is traveled up before we turned around and drove back down it (for fun). From Cañon Alamito, we drove past the (open/unlocked) gate to the Pole Line Road. In 2005, it was simple w/o gates being locked. [Edited on 4-27-2015 by Ken Cooke]

#1 is Portezuelo de Jamau (original summit/ pole line road)
#2 is Cañada el Sáiz (new summit) and
#3 in Cañon Jamau, and not passable for many years as far as we can tell and what Roy told me when he went there in the '80s. Is that what you drove up and back down?



Saw the video of the rough climb and unlocked red Jeep with just left side tires turning... looks like Summit #1 (race road/ original PLR) as you can see the area where we camped and the road to Huatamote in the background?





[Edited on 4-1-2019 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

I wish Bing had some tools so we can see a ruler (for point or path distances) or add push pins, etc. If anyone knows a way to get the same Google Earth features on the newer/ clearer Bing satellite images, please let me know.

Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Mano Canyon - beyond the unlocked gates Update: Mano is now locked up. My buddies drove up there from SF in late March or Early April. They backed down and drove to the ranch and after hearing the rancher tell them it is private property and he wants nobody to trespass. The rancher drove up to the gate and unlocked it for $20US. After all the SF guys had no choice due to lack of fuel (so went the discussion). Paul

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Update: Mano is now locked up. My buddies drove up there from SF in late March or Early April. They backed down and drove to the ranch and after hearing the rancher tell them it is private property and he wants nobody to trespass. The rancher drove up to the gate and unlocked it for $20US. After all the SF guys had no choice due to lack of fuel (so went the discussion). Paul

Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke

I drove my '03 short-wheelbase Rubicon *up* Summit #2 along with a similarly-equipped short-wheelbase Wrangler along with an additional '05 LJ Rubicion up the super-steep grade - and lived to tell about it. My Pole Line Group Facebook page contains photos of the run after leaving Palomar Canyon en route to Hwy 3. I drove a similarly steep grade out of Horsethief Canyon in August '14 and came close to flipping/rolling due to rocks in the trail that I tried driving up and over. Summit #2 was the craziest driving I had ever done in Baja, but with front/rear locking differentials, and 4:1 low-range gearing, my Jeep handled the trail like a champ. One run I will consider for my 'Idiot Files.'

Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke

After passing the gate in Cañon Alamito, you ascend an escarpment which leads to a corral and into the Sierra Juarez region. That is where a portion of the 'Wrong Way Enmedio' video was recorded. Our Jeeps took some spur trails which connect with the main trail which runs up El Jamau. November 2014 - after a series of rainstorms (and a light snow dusting) that fell in the Sierra Juarez, we drove our Jeeps up Mano Canyon due to rains that fell throughout the Mexicali Valley - reducing the Laguna Salada into mud pit. The route was very steep and rugged, requiring front and rear lockers in some places. After climbing the steep shelf road, we encountered an Indigenous reservation and saw men with machetes collecting what looked like large agaves from the mountainside for what they told us was the production of soap ('Jabon') - Victor (whose family originally comes from Ciudad Chihuahua) spoke with the men as they took a break from their work. Mano Canyon Jeep Run Lower Mano Canyon Prep/Campout

Wow, this thread is really nice... I wanna play too...

OK, so Google Earth and Bing pictures have been shown, let me add the ones from Apple Maps, with similar resolution as Bing.

I measured the part without a clear visible road, it sums about 1.4km measured directly in the wash bed.
Altitude changes from 1040m to 970m (in the part without road).

Since theres no evidence of bypasses from the main wash bed, its possible that the original road in the wash itself.

Heres a print screen from the north part of the canyon.



Here, the evident road fades into the wash...
The dotted line is just to indicate the route possible in or out the wash



Now, the rough part is this one, the lack of bypass road really makes me believe this road was intended to be in the wash bed. In any case the west side of the wash looks like the least aggressive to climb out from.
In the bottom of this pic, you can see a potential trail end, it looks to smooth to be a arroyo path, maybe?



On the southest part, the arroyo bed becomes smoother, or at least it seems so, there is a bypass on the east side of the wash, that later dives down again into the wash and out again in the west side to connect to the good road that connects all the way to the main roads.



Can anyone confirmed the last time they travelled this road? And if they found it unpassable, can they add details why?, or what was the obstacle(s) encountered?, and if its possible to re-open this road without a D6 Bulldozer.

Me and my 94 FZJ80 will be more than happy to join a expedition team to check this road out.

In other subjects, Im surprised to learn that el Mano Pass is gated and locked!
Im leading a team on May 8th thru Laguna Salada, sleeping at the Isabel Canyon, and going up El Mano on Friday ending at Laguna Hanson, if the locked gate is confirmed then we might have to re-route the trip.

Happy week to everyone!

Lets keep this Summit study alive!

-Emerson


[Edited on 4-28-2015 by BajaNomad]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

As I mentioned earlier, Roy was on it about 1984 with Tierra del Sol 4WD Club... It was impassable then... a gap between the lower and upper roads. The INEGI map shows it going through... not that INEGI doesn't make errors, but maybe it got washed out after the map research was made... or no field check was ever done?

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Forgot about that report. Did they have the date correct? Latest H11B25 Fecha de Vuelo Julio de 1993 (When the last picture was taken) Latest map revision 2003. Of course INEGI had no new data and made format and typos corrected like the Enmedio label up north). However tools get better all the time so the real topo data could have been updated/corrected. Anyway, 1984 report vs 1993 picture is something to contemplate. Paul ============= Quote: Originally posted by David K   As I mentioned earlier, Roy was on it about 1984 with Tierra del Sol 4WD Club... It was impassable then... a gap between the lower and upper roads. The INEGI map shows it going through... not that INEGI doesn't make errors, but maybe it got washed out after the map research was made... or no field check was ever done?

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

Wow, this thread is really nice... I wanna play too... OK, so Google Earth and Bing pictures have been shown, let me add the ones from Apple Maps, with similar resolution as Bing. I measured the part without a clear visible road, it sums about 1.4km measured directly in the wash bed. Altitude changes from 1040m to 970m (in the part without road). Since theres no evidence of bypasses from the main wash bed, its possible that the original road in the wash itself. .... Im leading a team on May 8th thru Laguna Salada, sleeping at the Isabel Canyon, and going up El Mano on Friday ending at Laguna Hanson, if the locked gate is confirmed then we might have to re-route the trip. Happy week to everyone! Lets keep this Summit study alive! -Emerson

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

For completeness let me say Another summit can be found between San Matias and Arroyo Grande I am sure it will pass thru the Indian village and then dead end somewhere along the way. The gates that Harald found will be at the east end if one can get that far. Roads/trails are visible on GE so one could make some tracks to follow. Lots of options on the N side to deal with all the farm plots. Paul

Quote: Originally posted by David K

We hope to have a close up view of #3 to see if it is indeed washed out or if it looks like it did go through at one time, as the INEGI map shows.

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   For completeness let me say Another summit can be found between San Matias and Arroyo Grande I am sure it will pass thru the Indian village and then dead end somewhere along the way. The gates that Harald found will be at the east end if one can get that far. Roads/trails are visible on GE so one could make some tracks to follow. Lots of options on the N side to deal with all the farm plots. Paul Hi Paul, yes, you are right, there are some trails South-East from Summit #3, but I spent a couple of hours looking for a road that climbed down to the north side desert floor and near the PLR, and I was not successful, there either dead ends or they connect back to the main road that gets you into Arroyo Grande. It almost looks like the someone can travel from Arroyo Grande ranch cross all the mountains west up to Santa Catarina, somehow parallel to the main Hwy3; but only summits 1 thru 3, and the Arroyo Grande trail can get you all the way down into the northern desert floor. -Emerson.

David, what INEGI app are you using?
I quickly searched in their interactive map app, and added GE layers with the roads in their archive and seems the original (at least according to INEGI) does run into the wash in the section in question.

Heres a zoom out from the #3 Summit with the white road from INEGI reference.



And here is the zoom in on the unknown part of the trail.



So when are we visiting the area?

I have done all the roads and trails east of the summits (west of Arr Grande)
one of them is particularly interesting as it leads into Cañon Jaquegel
with a little trail work one could make a new connection to PLR

here is the new road to get into Arroyo Grande from the west

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

David, what INEGI app are you using? I quickly searched in their interactive map app, and added GE layers with the roads in their archive and seems the original (at least according to INEGI) does run into the wash in the section in question. Heres a zoom out from the #3 Summit with the white road from INEGI reference. And here is the zoom in on the unknown part of the trail. So when are we visiting the area?

Looked through my pics but I didn't take any of this section, though we did visit it and it looked very washed out...we couldn't see any way through. I was kind of glad since the road up the canyon in the distance looked really steep and we probably would have had to investigate it Unfortunately Brooks (Taco de Baja) or his sister Libby might have taken some pics but they are on a family vacation in France for a couple weeks.

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

David, what INEGI app are you using? I quickly searched in their interactive map app, and added GE layers with the roads in their archive and seems the original (at least according to INEGI) does run into the wash in the section in question. ... So when are we visiting the area?

Hi Emerson,
H11B25 2003 edition...



ZOOM IN on the area of interest:



Going down the canyon the major dirt road (pair of solid lines, white inside) turns into a medium dirt road (big dashes)... the Pole Line Road east of the Jamau Y Junction is shown as a minor dirt road (small dashes).

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

I have done all the roads and trails east of the summits (west of Arr Grande) one of them is particularly interesting as it leads into Cañon Jaquegel with a little trail work one could make a new connection to PLR

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Baja is such a great place to explore, thanks to the dirt roads and beautiful desert, and history everywhere there!

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

I have done all the roads and trails east of the summits (west of Arr Grande) one of them is particularly interesting as it leads into Cañon Jaquegel with a little trail work one could make a new connection to PLR

More History on Summit Route

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

some in that area: PLRarea

Quote: Originally posted by GonzagaBayMan

Just some more history: The Summit and the Jamau wash were explored and completed out to La Venatna by myself and 4 other members of the Los Ancianos Motor Cycle Club (Founded in 1960 and still active in Baja) of San Diego late 1963 and 1964. We used information discussed earlier in this post to find the route under the leadership of our President and head explorer Bill Steider. It was very difficult. Remnants of the pole line were still visible at that time and the wash was very difficult to ride even headed down the wash as I remember it, and we literally had to work together to lift these very heavy bikes (Triumphs, Matchless and AJS) over many boulders and other obsatcles, we were in the ash for over 5 hours and it was hot. The exit out of the wash was very technical and it took several attempts by each rider. The planned one day trip starting out on the El Compadre Road out side of Tecate to San Felipe turned into two days with a dry overnight campout without camping gear extra food and water. Two of the bikes ran out of fuel and needed to be pushed (foot into the rear shock) into La Ventana where we found gas and Balogna sandwiches. The route was then used later for the famous and very difficult Los Ancianos Tecate 500 Enduro in 1971and 1972 from Tecate to San Felipe and back via the summit and the Jamau wash and Arroyo Grande to Diablo Dry Lake and onto San Felipe .Later, SCORE and others used parts of the route for their events. That what I know.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Harald, ThankYou Paul ====== Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc   some in that area: PLRarea

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   Harald, ThankYou Paul ====== Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc   some in that area: PLRarea Paul, I did not clean up the file - you'll figure it out yourself

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

what is USR?

here is a summit picture taken in 1986
used it for a brochure of my (back then) new company
and yes, there is some snow on the ground

before you ask, Alles Klar means: todo bien, all cool, no problem, hakuna matata
bottom line is by Exupery:

The earth teaches us more about ourselves than all the books in the world, because she resists us.

Found another gem! Howard Gulick 4-11-1960

http://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb3892031p


Guatamote cattle camp near "old pole line road"

DK

2-22-1959 Cañada Enmedio (Arroyo Jamau)

It keeps getting better! Note the phone pole in the background, pointed out...

The Summit in 1959

Pole Line Road View in 1959 from Howard Gulick

Quote: Originally posted by Mexitron

Wow, great find David! Look how nice the road through the wash is back then...

Looks freshly made near the summit, too.

Here is Rancho Jamau (1 mile from bottom of summit #3) on April 11, 1960:



[Edited on 5-24-2015 by David K]

"Bud" Bernhard, in a Cucapá canyon northeast of the Palms

On 2-12-1961, from Howard Gulick...

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by Mexitron   Wow, great find David! Look how nice the road through the wash is back then... Looks freshly made near the summit, too. Here is Rancho Jamau (bottom of summit #3) on April 11, 1960:

New Maps, placing the Jamau shack 1 mile up canyon

Hi Paul,
I am pretty sure it is the same as what we have been showing in this thread... here it is labeled as Rancho Jamau:



EDIT: RANCHO JAMAU is 1 mile up the canyon:





[Edited on 5-24-2015 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

the picture you posted is at the higher location, not the one in your map

Hi Harald, I just posted the location as given by Gulick. He has a photo up on top, just west of the summit, he calls Rancho el Alamito...

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

I just got off the phone with Roy (The Squarecircle) and he wants to put a group together to investigate summit#3. I suggested the weekend of May 30, but I'm open to other dates. Anyone interested? 4x4ABC, Fernwell, DK.

Quote: Originally posted by Mexitron

That pic of Bud Bernard is giving me incentive to urge Nancy Smith, the widow of Myron Smith (and Brooks' mom), to convert all of Myron's old slides to digital, or let Brooks or me do it. Myron went on lots of trips with Bud and most of those were the on east sides of the Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir. His first trip to Baja was in 1938 with his dad when they had to pulled across the Rio Santo Domingo in San Quintin with a team of horses because of the heavy rains that year.......so some pics could be gold.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by Mexitron   Wow, great find David! Look how nice the road through the wash is back then... Looks freshly made near the summit, too. Here is Rancho Jamau (1 mile from bottom of summit #3) on April 11, 1960:

Second photo at Jamau Cattle Camp... Gulick says "near old pole line road"...



This jives with Gulick's notes that this is the end of the trail if you turn right (eastbound) at the Y (Jamau Y).

[Edited on 5-24-2015 by David K]

Is this our Vince on Nomad?

From Howard Gulick:
Unidentified male, Vince Roth, and Ches Wood near Cucapá Palm



Feb. 13, 1961

EDIT: No, not 'our' Vince.

[Edited on 5-13-2015 by David K]

Three summits study

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by TMW   I just got off the phone with Roy (The Squarecircle) and he wants to put a group together to investigate summit#3. I suggested the weekend of May 30, but I'm open to other dates. Anyone interested? 4x4ABC, Fernwell, DK. Maybe... it is the weekend after Memorial Day (May 25), when we traditionally take our first trip of the season to Shell Island. Sadly, the moon is in quarter phase, meaning no big high and low tides.