BajaNomad

Los Hornitos

white whale - 1-21-2020 at 07:11 PM

I guess the "male " part of Conception Bay. This is what they call it on the map for the Baja Divide bike route - los hornitos. An easy to get boat will take you across from Mulege - according to other riders. Does anyone have info about this area?

Via a glance at the SAT images no development of any kind. A short ride south to the next supply stop. If worthy for another day(s) to explore I'd plan for that. Some buildings at 26.733029 -111.627856 but on the other side -eastern so I expect a massive climb over the ridge. If you look up the co-ords just nearby is what looks like a lake - bizarre. or ???

[Edited on 1-22-2020 by white whale]

David K - 1-21-2020 at 08:19 PM

That land is called the Concepción Peninsula. There is a ranch about midway up, a fishing camp at the end, and an abandoned manganese mine on the east side, near the tip.
Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason creator) was fascinated with the peninsula and explored it in 1966.

After my little group went out there in 2016, I wrote about it here and for Baja Bound.

Let me know if you want to see what I have, posted again here.

4x4abc - 1-21-2020 at 09:54 PM

26.733029 -111.627856 is Rancho San Lino
lotsa history
but not really worth visiting

it was a stupid decision by the Baja divide people to cross over from Mulege
the ride along the beaches at Concepcion is 100 times more beautiful than the super boring drive on the east side of the bay

but that's what humans do - one guy leads and everybody follows blindly
no relation to politics intended

white whale - 1-21-2020 at 10:57 PM

David K - sweet info, would like to read the tales from the trip. thanks. Would love to try and hike for a few hours.

4x4: I think the route decision was probably meant to avoid the pavement as much as possible. Don't know about trails on that west side.


So Rancho San Lino- still active? and that is a lake there?

white whale - 1-22-2020 at 10:40 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
That land is called the Concepción Peninsula. There is a ranch about midway up, a fishing camp at the end, and an abandoned manganese mine on the east side, near the tip.
Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason creator) was fascinated with the peninsula and explored it in 1966.

After my little group went out there in 2016, I wrote about it here and for Baja Bound.

Let me know if you want to see what I have, posted again here.


Well this guy - Erle Stanley Gardner - is the real deal, what a life he must have had. His wiki page is amazing. He was a writing machine. Dig deeper lo and behold his "off the beaten track in Baja" has been digitized and available on the internets library - Internet Archive. Another library card and password to get now. Even his first name gets a mention because how unique it is. Definitely had much love for Baja, he's blowing in the dust somewhere to this day.

David K - 1-22-2020 at 10:47 AM

Quote: Originally posted by white whale  
David K - sweet info, would like to read the tales from the trip. thanks. Would love to try and hike for a few hours.

4x4: I think the route decision was probably meant to avoid the pavement as much as possible. Don't know about trails on that west side.


So Rancho San Lino- still active? and that is a lake there?


My trip report there is in the Baja Extreme 2016 report: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=84056

My article about the peninsula drive: https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/bahia_co...

David K - 1-22-2020 at 11:06 AM

Quote: Originally posted by white whale  
Quote: Originally posted by David K  
That land is called the Concepción Peninsula. There is a ranch about midway up, a fishing camp at the end, and an abandoned manganese mine on the east side, near the tip.
Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason creator) was fascinated with the peninsula and explored it in 1966.

After my little group went out there in 2016, I wrote about it here and for Baja Bound.

Let me know if you want to see what I have, posted again here.


Well this guy - Erle Stanley Gardner - is the real deal, what a life he must have had. His wiki page is amazing. He was a writing machine. Dig deeper lo and behold his "off the beaten track in Baja" has been digitized and available on the internets library - Internet Archive. Another library card and password to get now. Even his first name gets a mention because how unique it is. Definitely had much love for Baja, he's blowing in the dust somewhere to this day.



Some of Erle Stanley Gardner's Baja and Desert adventure Books:
1948:




1960:


1961:


1962:


1963:


1967:


1968:


There was one more, not in my collection called Host with a Big Hat (1969?)... Only a little about Baja. I believe Erle died in 1970?

My parents and I went to meet him at his Temecula ranch. We missed him, he had just left to Baja but did meet his wife, Jean. I think that was around 1967/68?

white whale - 1-22-2020 at 01:19 PM

No doubt you are a fan. That ranch is now in the historical society registers of Temecula. I expect he had quite an estate when he passed. Cool that you went to visit. Perry Mason is the third most published novel series - the wiki page shows behind Goosebumps and Harry Potter 300+ million copies. Says the ranch was 1000 acres and the legacy of a giant oak tree to this day.

you can hear him talk in this game show clip
https://youtu.be/kHEbSAtVOMQ

will keep my eyes open at garage sales and used bookstores for his name. A true pioneer - he used a helicopter we use our keyboards to explore.

Was never into Perry Mason, catch clips now and then on the oldies TV channel. Canadians get minor credit - Raymond Burr born in BC.

David K - 1-22-2020 at 01:38 PM

I love BTO and they're Canadian, too! LOL

The Temecula Valley Museum had a special Erle Stanley Gardner exhibit a few years ago... The now late Neal Johns, and his wife, Marian met us there with another Nomad, The Squarecircle...

From Nov. 2005:











Life size Erle Stanley Gardner and David K.


Baja Angel and Neal Johns


Warming up for a marriage in our future!


Enjoying a Squarecircle (Roy) story at lunch in Temecula is Neal and Marian Johns and Baja Angel (Elizabeth).


I also made a web page for photos from Choral Pepper, who was on several Gardner expeditions: http://vivabaja.com/choralpepper/



Choral Pepper (Desert Magazine Publisher/Editor) listens to one of Gardner's fireside stories on a Baja expedition (circa 1966).

white whale - 1-22-2020 at 03:21 PM

BTO - Takin' care of Business since.... early 70's and still gets decent play on classic rock stations here because of the Cancon requirements. So they are still getting paid. ...and more BC connections to boot. CBC radio Vinyl Tap show , plays the intro every week by the head BTO'er Randy Bachman - its his show.

The hidden heart cover - the mural painting , is that in this region? Must be protected somehow? I'm sure the most impressive ones are guarded or just known to locals.

4x4abc - 1-22-2020 at 06:49 PM

Quote: Originally posted by white whale  
David K - sweet info, would like to read the tales from the trip. thanks. Would love to try and hike for a few hours.

4x4: I think the route decision was probably meant to avoid the pavement as much as possible. Don't know about trails on that west side.


So Rancho San Lino- still active? and that is a lake there?


staying off pavement is a good point

San Lino has an Estero (salt water lake)
the ranch seems to be active plus another rancho about 2 miles south-east (have no name for that one)

Sr.vienes - 1-22-2020 at 07:24 PM

I loved some of the Earle Stanley Gardner/ Jimmy Smith stories in Jimmys’ book. Drank a few beers with Jimmy on our porch in the east cape and figured out I used to fuel his Piper Cub when he was flying pipeline patrol and I was about eleven years old. We are starting to run out of those old Baja legends, stay healthy DK your almost there.

mtgoat666 - 1-22-2020 at 10:25 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Believe me, I was a young guy until last year, lol! It happens fast.
I want to continue to be the bridge between the pre-pavement generation and today's Baja travelers who think of Cabo as a 2 day drive vs a 2 week one!
I have been blessed with getting my bucket list fulfilled. I still have a lost grave/ rock pile to find and one mission to visit.


You are young (people live to 90 nowadays, with health care - let’s not talk about those trying to take away our health care])

You are retired and got nothing but free time

Why aren’t you in baja full time? Camping is cheap

Why don’t you hike the ECR? The physical activity will make you healthier. Hiking is cheap.



[Edited on 1-23-2020 by mtgoat666]

Alm - 1-26-2020 at 12:32 PM

Quote: Originally posted by white whale  
This is what they call it on the map for the Baja Divide bike route - los hornitos. An easy to get boat will take you across from Mulege - according to other riders. Does anyone have info about this area?

Haven't seen that bike map. There is "Punta Hornitos" at the North tip of the peninsula with the coordinates different from what you provided. Anyway... there is nothing there worth seeing. Muddy bluffs, shallow sandy beach, local fishermen with (illegal) nets. Manganese mine ruins are on the North side of the peninsula in the place called Punta Pilares and are equally unimpressive, with pebble beach.

IMO, there is nothing created by humans on the entire Concepcion peninsula that is worth seeing.

[Edited on 1-26-2020 by Alm]

David K - 1-26-2020 at 02:39 PM

The pictographs in Arroyo los Pintados were man-made and an attraction written about in other books, after Erle Stanley Gardner's. I think old mines are interesting, too... I was hoping to see it in 2016, but we couldn't get through so soon after a chubasco hit the area.

Baja has something for everybody and that (driving the Concepción Peninsula) was just one more item to check off the 'Baja bucket list'...

Edited to correct terminology, thank you Baja Buddha. I have not been there and did not see what kind of rock art it was. 'The facts' are what is important!

[Edited on 1-26-2020 by David K]

bajabuddha - 1-26-2020 at 03:20 PM

I spent most of my time on Concepcion, and the 'far side' or 'otro lado' is as magical as anywhere else in Baja. Alm's "IMO" is just that; mine says there's lots of 'man made stuff' over there worth poking around for, especially the pictographs in Pintura canyon, taken dozens of people over to see 'em.

There's also an old abandoned house (I believe it was called 'Peppermint Patty's' or some such) about half way up from the bottom. The old ranchero that's in the mouth of a canyon about 2/3rds of the way up has wonderful springs up a side canyon hike. A large cove about the same place has a good mooring for sails, a steep drop off at the point of the cove, and good shore fishing there.

Alm - 1-26-2020 at 03:35 PM

Relax, BB.
The beauty of springs, sheltered coves and fishing has nothing to do with humans - it exists despite our presence.

Pictographs, alright. If you're into this kind of art. At least, tribes at that level didn't build anything ugly...

bajabuddha - 1-26-2020 at 04:11 PM

:rolleyes: I'm very relaxed, alm. Just like the fly said standing on a mirror, "It's another way of looking at it".

BTW, the pictograph gig wasn't about anything you wrote. :coolup:

[Edited on 1-26-2020 by bajabuddha]

white whale - 1-30-2020 at 03:45 PM

Quote: Originally posted by bajabuddha  
I spent most of my time on Concepcion, and the 'far side' or 'otro lado' is as magical as anywhere else in Baja. Alm's "IMO" is just that; mine says there's lots of 'man made stuff' over there worth poking around for, especially the pictographs in Pintura canyon, taken dozens of people over to see 'em.

There's also an old abandoned house (I believe it was called 'Peppermint Patty's' or some such) about half way up from the bottom. The old ranchero that's in the mouth of a canyon about 2/3rds of the way up has wonderful springs up a side canyon hike. A large cove about the same place has a good mooring for sails, a steep drop off at the point of the cove, and good shore fishing there.


Bud - the description sounds great. I assume this Pintura Canyon is only known to Baja regulars to this peninsula. Springs too? I'd be happy to hike to a summit point. It's tough to gauge from a photo how steep and elevation numbers involved. On the SAT images you see many washout spots at the sea edge with what seems to be trails higher up leading from them. Would these just be the dry runoff portions?

bajabuddha - 1-30-2020 at 04:54 PM

Pintura canyon is no secret, it's noted on many different Baja maps of the peninsula. It's about a mile and a half up from where the road turns north after you cross the southern flats. However, the turn-off eastward from the main northern road is a bugger to find, easily missed. It goes in (eastward) also about a mile and a half, good to have 4x4 to get to the mouth of the canyon.

Once at the mouth, some people (lazy?) tend to keep driving up the canyon wash; do-able but not recommended. when you get to the mouth of the canyon park (so others may pass) and walk the rest of the way; you'll see dozens more pictographs all the way to the rock fall, in about 3/4 of a mile. I've climbed above it and followed the upper canyon quite a ways; no more rock art above the rock fall. We'd always pack a cooler with cold ones and some snacks for the after-hike ooh and ahh session (and lawn chairs).

The ranchero with the springs is farther up the east road.... I'd say at least another 5 - 6 miles past Pintura canyon. It's marked as 'San Ignacio' on my Baja Almanac. it's about a mile or so off the east road as well, the track to it is more defined than Pintura's. Goes up a long alluvial fan to the base of the mountains, a large open canyon behind it. Haven't been there in many years, dunno what shape it's in now. Used to was, good poking around territory. There was a spring seep, large concrete stock tanks full of water back when.

Word to the wise; if there has been any precipitation in the area within the last two weeks of your trip, DO NOT try to cross the mud flats at the south end of the bay..... many a good 4x4 has been mired out there for a looooong time right up to the frame. If it looks greasy at all, it is. And bottomless.

David K - 1-30-2020 at 06:21 PM

Exactly as Buddha says...

In 2016, just after a little hurricane passed by we went up the peninsula and while three of us were going around that mud flat, one had to gonzo across it, only to bog down... Just a pull got him out. I logged both the Pintados junction (its by three cardón cacti known as the 3 Musketeers) and the Rancho San Ignacio junction as we drove north as far as we could. The next day, heading back south, we turned east at the 3 Musketeers but with the recent flash flooding in the area, no tracks to follow but I had a feeling on where to go... but before reaching the canyon another in our group of 4 vehicles saw a diffinate road and I turned back for the good news... only that road went up the next canyon Tres Marias. It was beautiful in there but it was not Los Pintados!

Road east from Hwy. 1 at Km. 74:
A cattle ranch is passed at 0.4 mile.
At Mile 1.0 we join the old, pre-1970 main Baja road, that comes in from Km. 76 off Mex. 1.
At Mile 3.7 the main route of travel forks left for the bay.
At Mile 4.7 the road closest to the bay from the trailer park comes in from the left.
At Mile 5.6 fork to the left heading north.
At Mile 6.6 the road is next to the bay and going northbound.
At Mile 8.2 a road we used on the return meets the coast road.
At Mile 9.9 (just north of three cardón cactus growing side-by-side (and called The Three Musketeers) is the wash/ route to Los Pintados rock art.
Around Mile 13, the road goes inland as the coastline curves off to the west.
Mile 15 come close to the bay again briefly, then head towards the mountain.
Mile 16.8, curve left and head back downhill towards the bay.
Mile 19.4, reach a salt flat-like area near Punta Amolares. We camped near here about midnight
Mile 25 End of the road for us, a "grand canyon" gully stops us about 11pm+

See photos and GPS track in my trip report The Baja Extreme 2016: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=84056 (go to Day 5 of the report)




Concepción Peninsula Video by Pat (loud music begins at 26 seconds):

white whale - 1-31-2020 at 12:20 PM

Honored and Elited to have this input - David and the Buddha - modern day Indiana Jones'. Maybe I can repay with a report of my own one day. This is wayyyy off road territory. If my trip goes I could see spending a couple of days and camp near one of these washes and explore higher up.

Just for my own curiosity:

is there any wild life/reptiles in this area?
missed? photos of the spring mentioned - are talking just a small pool or hot spring / drinking water?

what is the ownership status of the peninsula? Is this all "public" property?

bajabuddha - 1-31-2020 at 01:17 PM

Wildlife, yes. Reptiles, definitely. Hot springs, nope. Drinkable, definitely NOT.

Ownership? Probably, but not posted, at least used to wasn't. And you're right about the wayyyy off road territory; take extra stuff, and water. If you wanna do the whole peninsula remember the road is very slow going the whole way... 4x4 advised. You're a long way from nowhere out there. More than one rig, I used walkie-talkies.

David K - 1-31-2020 at 01:23 PM

The north end of the peninsula has cell and Internet from the Mulegé cell tower. We always recommend you have a satellite communication device such as an inReach or SpotX or a sat phone.

white whale - 1-31-2020 at 04:49 PM

Forgot to ask , DK , in the video link above @ 2:35 first I thought busted rad with that lime green water. What was that? Mining chemical runoff?

My adventure will be 2 wheels instead of 4 so less worry about mechanical and terrain mucky mucks. Just learned about the inReach unit, planned on some extra safety back up. Can imagine this was more typical of the mainland from the the 60/70's and your adventure into territory still unchanged from Gardners day.
History and adventure...and no other humans. Like it.

Another 25+ years before an OXXO sets up here?

David K - 1-31-2020 at 05:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by white whale  
Forgot to ask , DK , in the video link above @ 2:35 first I thought busted rad with that lime green water. What was that? Mining chemical runoff?



Oh heavens no, that is a natural stream and the green is the algae growing on the bottom. We hiked up to where the water came seeping out of the boulders... so so cool! I photographed it.. in my trip report: The Baja Extreme 2016. http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=84056











The water oozed out the boulder... amazing!

[Edited on 2-1-2020 by David K]

BajaRat - 2-1-2020 at 10:39 AM

Loving the motorized trike that local was riding
Lionel :cool: