BajaNomad

Can you take a truck South of Santa Rosalillita along the coast and then cut in to Hwy 1?

JZ - 5-26-2018 at 10:29 PM

Looks like you can on GE. About 20 miles or so?

One 2 mile stretch I haven't found the route yet. So wondering if it goes through?






[Edited on 5-27-2018 by JZ]

[Edited on 5-28-2018 by BajaNomad]

motoged - 5-26-2018 at 10:54 PM

Isn't the south end of that track a "haunted" beach where cars batteries mysteriously die? And where stone circles and weird things happen? :?:

playa azul - 5-26-2018 at 11:04 PM

yes. 2wd is fine. a fun short run. when you pop out on hwy 1
go north 6 miles to Nuevo rosarito and stay at the Baja cactus motel. great seafood restaurant next door.

David K - 5-27-2018 at 08:03 AM

Good morning.
JZ, it is 18 miles from Sta. Rosalillita to Hwy. 1 at km. 62.5 (6 mi from Nuevo Rosarito).
I drove it in 2007 and it was a pretty slow drive. It passes the access road to Punta Rosarito (The Wall, in surfer code) and a former known grave of a child where it leaves the coast. Old maps call that place El Muertito (if I am remembering the name correctly). That may be the confusion with El Tomatal that Ged is thinking of.

Ged, you are thinking of El Tomatal which is just south at km.69 and on the coast. The mystery there was told to us by Michelle, see www.vivabaja.com/et .

Playa Azul, the motel in Nuevo Rosarito (km. 52) is the Hotel Cactus next to Mauricio's restaurant. Baja Cactus Motel is in El Rosario.

Keep up the Baja love!

motoged - 5-27-2018 at 10:31 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
....

Ged, you are thinking of El Tomatal which is just south at km.69 and on the coast. The mystery there was told to us by Michelle, see www.vivabaja.com/et ....


Thanks for the clarification....hope to see that area this coming winter....

chippy - 5-27-2018 at 10:34 AM

Easypeasy when dry. More fun when wet.

screen grab

The wall (punta rosarito)









[Edited on 5-28-2018 by BajaNomad]

hermosok123 - 5-27-2018 at 12:18 PM

Long wheel base vehicles will have to watch the bottom out factor or should I say the rear bottom out factor. A couple of sharp arroyos that require taking the angle approach. Doable as long as we don't get some Summer rain.

Archie - 5-27-2018 at 12:28 PM

In the track you created you cannot go the last miles from "El muertito" beach to "El Tomatal" fish camp. There's a single track doable on a bike or quad, but i´ve never seen a biker coming or going.

I´ve tried twice, the first time i came all the way from laguna Manuela driving on the beach and tried to go up north from el tomatal up the hill behind the fishermen shacks, a humvee full of soldiers catch up with me very quick and scolded me for trying to bypass the checkpoint. Not fun.

The second time i got a permit from the ejido Nuevo Rosarito as i was doing some land survey and checked first with the personnel at the checkpoint, got clearance and went on, but this time a mexican navy patrol in one of those sweet unimogs was waiting for me on the beach and got the same treatment. They were surprised i got that far, i was on my jeep cherokee on 35's, long travel suspension and lockers front and rear.

It happens that this is a very popular place for drug traffic, refueling boats and loading/unloading goods.

To go to "El muerttito" beach there´s a dirt road that takes you there just a few miles up north of the military checkpoint to Hwy 1. Used to be a very good spot for shore fishing, now its popular among surfers and weekend campers.


[Edited on 5-27-2018 by Archie]

JZ - 5-27-2018 at 12:47 PM

Archie, that was exactly my question.

So you are saying the section with the arrow isn't passable and I need to take the Northern route up to the hwy, correct?

Is what I labeled "beach" the El Tomatal fish camp?





[Edited on 5-27-2018 by JZ]

[Edited on 5-28-2018 by BajaNomad]

woody with a view - 5-27-2018 at 01:21 PM

Correct. Your upper road heading to the beach comes out at a surf spot called Wimps and Gimps and goes north from there. Go to the military check point and go towards the ocean and hang a left along the coast.

JZ - 5-27-2018 at 01:29 PM

Thx. We are coming down from the North. Going to ride the entire Seven Sisters and then head down to Loreto. We'll cut back over to the Hwy here.

Gonna do it in July.

David K - 5-27-2018 at 01:30 PM

Beach (on your map) is Campo Esmeralda which is a couple miles north of El Tomatal. Tomatal is a fishing camp and several abandoned-looking homes. Esmeralda is a campo for tourists. Photos and details all posted last year in my trip reports... #4, I think?

Archie - 5-27-2018 at 01:56 PM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ  
Archie, that was exactly my question.

So you are saying the section with the arrow isn't passable and I need to take the Northern route up to the hwy, correct?

Is what I labeled "beach" the El Tomatal fish camp?



[Edited on 5-27-2018 by JZ]


Yes and yes.

I think DK has his map upside down, La Esmeralda its a few kilometers south of El Tomatal and its indeed a fish camp. I have some friends living there full time.

I guess he's taking his notes from the Almanac, wich by the way names the long stretch of beach as "Playa Pacheco" but nobody around here calls it that, here we know it as "El playón". We don't even know who that Pacheco guy is, although i remember reading somewhere on the web some text that he claims it was named after him.





[Edited on 5-28-2018 by BajaNomad]

David K - 5-27-2018 at 03:01 PM

When you finish getting inspected at the checkpoint, the road for El Tomatal goes west and partway in is a signed fork right (northwest) for Esmeralda. A second road to Esmeralda north is crossed before passing the date palms and arriving at the beach. Turning south at the beach soon takes you to El Tomatal. Campo Esmeralda is indeed north of Tomatal at the base of the hill.



WestyWanderer - 5-27-2018 at 03:17 PM

JZ, drove the route south from Santa Rosalilita to the wall and then out the wash south of the wall in November in my 4 door Tacoma. There were two spots where 4WD was needed because of washed out arroyos and it was very slow going but definitely do-able. I cannot speak to the route south of that. Hope this helps

tiotomasbcs - 5-27-2018 at 05:37 PM

And...the Spirits?!! Usually a result of leaving car stereo on all night and alittle ..Spirits. Used to camp out on the beaches there going south...empty! Except for Coyotes! Tio

Archie - 5-27-2018 at 05:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
When you finish getting inspected at the checkpoint, the road for El Tomatal goes west and partway in is a signed fork right (northwest) for Esmeralda. A second road to Esmeralda north is crossed before passing the date palms and arriving at the beach. Turning south at the beach soon takes you to El Tomatal. Campo Esmeralda is indeed north of Tomatal at the base of the hill.


I guess i´m wrong after 10 years of living and fishing the area every other weekend, and the people who lives here and the ejidatarios owners of the land, the gaxiolas from Nuevo Rosarito who i´ve been working for the last 5 yrs.

Let's try again, but this time with images:





[Edited on 5-28-2018 by Archie]

[Edited on 5-30-2018 by BajaNomad]

David K - 5-27-2018 at 07:30 PM

Ok boss! ;)

willardguy - 5-27-2018 at 07:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Ok boss! ;)


again....that road guide is gonna be a doozie!:lol:

According to several other sources and reviewing my trip notes...

David K - 5-29-2018 at 11:22 AM

My desire is to have the accurate information to assist others. I have posted the maps I made on Nomad and many have come forward to provide corrections or suggestions to make the maps better.

Nobody had a problem with Esmeralda or El Tomatal before this thread, but I want to do my best, and other books and maps agree with my observation that Esmeralda is to the north of Tomatal, at the end of the branch road to the right. Sorry, Archie, I don't want to argue, but I just don't understand why your information is so outweighed or why you didn't offer this up last April in my trip report so I could make it right if it wasn't? Not wanting an argument, only want the facts.

The signs (2) along the road to Tomatal point to the right/north for Esmeralda. Camping palapas are at Esmeralda at the north end of the road as advertised on the signs.

Here is one sign I photographed pointing right/north on the road going west from the checkpoint on Hwy. 1.



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Map from Mike & Terri Church's Camping Mexico's Baja (6th Edition, 2017):


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Walt Peterson's The Baja Adventure Book describes El Tomatal as being 2.9 miles southwest of Hwy. 1. He goes on to mention a grove of palm trees about 100 yards inland can serve as a windbreak.
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Ginger Potter in Baja Book IV mentions K69 El Tomatal: "Road right to the beach and fish camp. Reach the beach at 3.1 mi. Good dry camping in the dunes. We have a trailer out here on the point south of the camping area".

[Ginger was the character 'Blonde' in Graham Mackintosh's first book, who hired him to clean up the area. Ginger's father was Mike McMahan of the famous Baja wall maps of 1967 to the 1990s, and author of There it is: Baja and My Adventures in Baja. Also featured in the well-known film about four sportsmen traveling down Baja in 1953 and in the book Baja California by Ralph Hanc-ck.]
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Even the Auto Club show Tomatal where I found it and not on the end of that northern branch road:


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18 years ago, I was sent the following photo and was the first time I heard the name Esmeralda for a beach camp and was told it was north of El Tomatal where we had heard about the mysterious stones and dead battery in M's van. Here is the photo and the caption I was given:

Esmeralda's Fish Camp, located on the North side of the beach.

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In the interest of accuracy, I will continue with my observed findings from last year and will happily edit if there is an error. I just don't see one here and so I will do as the other authors have with the location of El Tomatal being west of the highway, near to and west of the palms, and south of Esmeralda.

Here is a sample page from my road log, followed by the area map, that covers El Tomatal:




If you are wondering, "Variety Beach" is a nickname I was provided by Nomad 'Whistler', it is not on any 'official' maps. Both he and I fished that beach in the 1980s and he told me his friends called it that because of the great variety of fish landed there.

TMW - 5-29-2018 at 03:31 PM

The Surfers Guide to Baja by Mike Parise agrees with you David. He gives a description on how to get to both locations.

David K - 5-29-2018 at 04:28 PM

Thanks Tom.... I saw that too.
Also, in Jack Wiliams' Magnificient Peninsula:
"Approximately 0.2 miles past the palms and southeast along the coast is the El Tomatal fish camp."

Those palms really stand out when you drive in there as they indicate fresh water near the surface. This was helpful for sailors I bet, and perhaps why Miller's Landing was nearby? In the time I had to record roads for the guide, I didn't camp there and look for blocks of onyx (if any are still around).

On Howard Gulick's excellent maps of 1962, you can see El Tomatal was historically about where the arroyo meets the sea (where the palms are) and Miller's Landing just over a mile south...

mtgoat666 - 5-29-2018 at 08:39 PM

First one gringo drew a map. Then another built on that. Now DK is building on earlier gingo maps.

Problem is that mistakes travel from map to map, since gringo cartologists live 600 miles away, so only got a day or 2 to hang out in an area and draw maps, so they mostly copy from ealier maps.

Google has a cool map collaboration tool, people adding features, correcting mistakes, global collabortion, hakuna mutata, love and tacos, etc., ... as Hillary said: it takes a village to make a map without mistakes :light:

[Edited on 5-30-2018 by mtgoat666]

Paco Facullo - 5-29-2018 at 08:57 PM

I LOVE mistakes,,,, that's often what leads to new experiences ........

David K - 5-29-2018 at 09:19 PM

The roads shown on my maps are those I have traveled and the placement is from satellite images. I am into accuracy, but I am human and that is why I am open to corrections. Even you, Mr. goat devil, found an error at Laguna San Ignacio, which I corrected and thanked you for. There were others. All maps have them, I just try to have the fewest!

I try to make this interesting and informative for everyone here and it was great that you come forward to let me know if you see anything amiss, a few months ago when I first shared these new maps.

StuckSucks - 5-30-2018 at 08:28 AM

In this case, there is a misunderstanding or possible confusion of locations (or not). I've always been intrigued with Trap Streets by cartographers -- I know that Dictionary makers use similar tactics.

PaulW - 5-30-2018 at 01:52 PM

When studying Google earth is is easy to mis-characterize washes/drainages for roads then put the darn things on a GPS background map. Some times they are drive able, but most likely big drop offs or too narrow passage prevents passage. I found these errors on most all the GPS maps I have used.
And, I have created tracks using Google Earth and when I got there I found the track impassable. Sure enough I still do it all the time for exploring unknown places.
BTW. In my experience the GPS maps of cities in Baja are pretty bad. Such as alleys full of debris that were labeled as roads. And addresses that turned out to be bogus

JZ - 5-30-2018 at 06:30 PM

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW  
When studying Google earth is is easy to mis-characterize washes/drainages for roads then put the darn things on a GPS background map. Some times they are drive able, but most likely big drop offs or too narrow passage prevents passage. I found these errors on most all the GPS maps I have used.
And, I have created tracks using Google Earth and when I got there I found the track impassable. Sure enough I still do it all the time for exploring unknown places.
BTW. In my experience the GPS maps of cities in Baja are pretty bad. Such as alleys full of debris that were labeled as roads. And addresses that turned out to be bogus


I make all my own tracks using GE. I do find myself asking that question a lot, 'Are you sure that's a road and not a wash?"

Most times is obvious, but you need to look close sometimes.

If I get routes from ppl I overlay them on what I've created to double check.

Spend countless hours mapping out each trip before we take off. Usually drinking a beer and dreaming what the road is gonna be like. Pretty fun thing to do, for me anyways.


[Edited on 5-31-2018 by JZ]

David K - 5-30-2018 at 09:42 PM

Google Earth is a great way to look for roads that are not on maps, going to new places. You just need to plan on the road you saw on your PC may not be passable when you go, or a detour was made but not showing yet on the Internet. Be flexible!

It is great to ask here but for others who may want to try and find out without asking right away, go to the Road Conditions forum and the Trip Reports forum here on Nomad and scroll down or use search to read the most recent reports.