El Marmol Gieser ?

Quote: Originally posted by Aldervale

Does anyone know about a geiser in the drainage below and east of the El Marmol site ? We visited several years ago and there was evidence of thermal and mineral action but never saw any real activity. Perhaps it is more active in a particular season? Has anyone explored further past the geiser site toward the gulf ? We hope to hike further down in January Many thanks Aldervale

YES!! Both the geyser and miles down the arroyo towards the gulf... (a dry waterfall prevents vehicles from crossing Baja in this arroyo, sadly)

Welcome to Baja Nomad!

The geyser (a cold water geyser) is called El Volcán... It is in the arroyo that is crossed 4.0 miles northeast from El Mármol on the road (now graded) to the La Olvidada barite mine (6 additional miles beyond).

We took many photos and videos of the bubbling soda springs... no geyser eruption, sadly. It happens only once a month, it is reported. You would need to be REAL lucky! No photos of the geyser erupting are known.

Here is El Volcán, up close... and on top. It is along the right hand side of the arroyo gorge, about 1/2 mile hike south from the road crossing. You can see it easily on Google Earth, too. These photos are from 2006. More from 2011 in a blog page I made then: http://vivabajablog.blogspot.com/2011/07/lost-mission-expedi...











[Edited on 11-18-2015 by David K]

Baja Lou's trip report of the hike down Arroyo El Volcán to search for a lost mission in 2011: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=52928

Here is Part 1 of our huge, detailed trip report from 2011: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=52696

Loads of photos and video clips of the bubbling soda springs at El Volcán included. We were having a fun search to find a point that a Nomad thought could be ruins of the Lost Mission of Santa Isabel!


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Most of us first saw El Volcán on a map in the 1962-1970 editions of the Lower California Guidebook:





Or the newer 1975 'Baja California Guidebook' that included the new highway:




You may see that the Mexican topo maps (and Baja Almanac map) have the arroyo misnamed as "Zamora" and another minor arroyo is misnamed El Volcán.


Click on this picture and it becomes a short video with sound of the bubbling spring at El Volcán:




[Edited on 11-18-2015 by David K]

Oh no....More maps!

David,
Good pics and enough maps ( i.e not a "ton" of them).

My first trip into El Marmol was in '94 by moto. Went past the school house to a quarry area and chatted with an older fellow (gringo)who was there picking up rocks for his garden (he said).

I guess you could say I saw the El Marmol geezer spouting

Quote: Originally posted by Aldervale

any thanks for the info. The new barite mine operations means we will probably take a pass on El Marmol this trip. There are a few other mines or places named Marmol. I would like to find a reasonably easy to access Turquesa mine but needs to be hike able. We have an old Toyota T100 and try not to abuse it. Thanks again. Aldervale

I bumped up a long running thread on the turquoise mine and the 4WD route between Hwy. 1 and 5 there.

Here are the mileages south from Gonzaga with the turquoise mine road:

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

This was pre-pavement, but should be very close since the pavement is over the same road the first 12 miles south.

From 1970:




[Edited on 11-19-2015 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

we need to set up a game camera to catch an eruption.

That would be cool...