Rancho Parral

Posting some pictures with the knowledge then very few of any off roaders will ever get to the place. This is due to a very difficult arroyo crossing. Yes, I got across and back, but I had to stack rocks differently going each way. Both front and rear lockers and 4 low was needed. Took me 45 minutes each way for the crossing.
The Parral compound is surrounded by a significant wall. The wall is 5+ feet high, with concrete 2’ wide top, and a base about 4’ across. Some of the lower rocks are huge and would require equipment to move around. See the yellow lines where the wall is located.

See the walls in Yellow with Road

Behind the wall to the N is the ruins of a building and other debris. Water source is nearby.




Along the road

Rancho Parral

More along the road




Rocks at the gully crossing




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[Edited on 3-28-2022 by PaulW]

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Posting some pictures with the knowledge then very few of any off roaders will ever get to the place. This is due to a very difficult arroyo crossing.

cool trip - i always wanted to go

the wall is best on the 2009 images

where is the gate?

2004 trip to Rancho El Parral

From our camp in the corral, the road can be driven 0.6 mi. to a major washout where the hike begins. Almost a mile up the trail this was the view.



The view back east, down Parral’s arroyo and on to Valle Chico.



Water flow increased as we neared the site of Rancho El Parral.



Several hundred feet of rock wall enclosed the coral area above the ranch.


RANCHO EL PARRAL 30° 29.43′, -115° 07.02′

Named for the grapevines (parral) growing just up stream, the ranch is abandoned. Perhaps the flash flood that wiped out the road, a mile away is why this beautiful location at 2,901′ is unoccupied?


BEHIND THE RANCH…

…was this beautiful scene.



A granite pinnacle and more rock walls are southeast of the ranch.



Going downstream, along the creek, is a different route back.





[Edited on 3-28-2022 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Blueroadrunner is back, alive with lots of archived content. Some what difficult to date many of the links. Here is the Parral link many of us remember written by Lou Wells http://www.blueroadrunner.com/Writing/parral.htm I think it was the 2004 trip? Shows some changes with the Parral building and some pictures I left out

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   Posting some pictures with the knowledge then very few of any off roaders will ever get to the place. This is due to a very difficult arroyo crossing. Looking at you map, it would have been faster to walk than spend 45 min each way driving across hard spot. Also, walking is much less destructive than driving off established, maintained roads.

your nobody to tell people to walk when they want to off road . Are you a idiot yes you are

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Harald where is the gate? 30 30.99, -115 6.27

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   Harald where is the gate? 30 30.99, -115 6.27 not locked, I take it?

Quote: Originally posted by David K

From our camp in the corral, the road can be driven 0.6 mi. to a major washout where the hike begins. Almost a mile up the trail this was the view. The view back east, down Parral’s arroyo and on to Valle Chico. Water flow increased as we neared the site of Rancho El Parral. Several hundred feet of rock wall enclosed the coral area above the ranch. RANCHO EL PARRAL 30° 29.43′, -115° 07.02′ Named for the grapevines (parral) growing just up stream, the ranch is abandoned. Perhaps the flash flood that wiped out the road, a mile away is why this beautiful location at 2,901′ is unoccupied? BEHIND THE RANCH… …was this beautiful scene. A granite pinnacle and more rock walls are southeast of the ranch. Going downstream, along the creek, is a different route back. [Edited on 3-28-2022 by David K]

More
A Parral summary
BAJA LOU 2004

Also at the Parral gate was the gang from El Dorado Ranch, led by Baja Lou. The San Pedro Mártir group headed down to Matomí Canyon to camp and the rest of us went up to the big corral, 3.0 miles from the gate at 30°30.65′, -115°6.53′.
David Said


I met Lou and Teina Wells at Parral Canyon on Easter week 2004 as he was leading a 2-day group trip to Parral and Berrendo canyons.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Check the year, Paul. Not yet "summer 2024". I love the Valle Chico canyons, keep posting about them. Shall I repost the bajalou article?

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Update 3-26/27-2024 Summary - The track to get to the Parral ruins is pretty grim now days. And has become one of the more difficult near San Felipe. Was worse than my 2022 trip which stayed out of the arroyos. Directions: travel from San Felipe is Morelila road – east valley road – west valley roar to Carricitos corral and onward. Since 3-2022 big summer storms and flooding the track after Carricitos corral (30 35.6191, -115 07.0336) was undefined. The GPS track from 2022 was used, but now was missing. Soon I found some cow tracks that led me around bushes and debris to my GPS track and my road from 2022. The road soon disappeared as it became a rocky arroyo. I had to rock crawl up the arroyo. The arroyo got better as I traveled, then came to a dead end. I hiked for several minutes and found a parallel arroyo and proceeded to rock crawl the crossover over the debris and boulders to the next arroyo. From there I traveled until I came to where the gate was marked on my GPS as at another arroyo dead end. I took a short hike and found the gate in a pile of debris. I now carry a pruning saw and a small chain saw and the blockage was quickly removed to allow passage using my pruning saw. A hard turn around the gate debris led me back to my track and the road. I took a side trip to the main Parral corral (30 30.6279, -115 06.5434) which is fenced with no outlet then returned to my faint road. Approaching the arroyo crossing I used in 2022 I investigated both up stream and downstream and found it was not possible to cross anywhere else. The big boulders from 2022 were buried so I was able to get a good approach to the bank. The bank was steeper than 2022 and as soon as I tried to go up the bank I found very soft sand and dirt mix with very large rocks. I proceed to get stuck which took a little back and forth to backup and try again. Nothing above to attach a winch to and after several more attempts I turned around hand headed back to San Felipe. Then I made a wrong turn at a Y where the two tracks join. I followed my 2022 track instead of the new 2024 track I had just made. I cannot imagine why I did that - really dumb. Got stuck and after several hours I sent several emails and text messages to my wife a daughter to tell them to get help. Time around 1PM. That place is 30 32.244, -115 05.6554. I use my winch every which way and proceed to kill my battery. Easily corrected with my lithium jump start. (The battery never recovered and I had to buy a new one). My winching effort was defeated because I needed three snatch blocks to be able to pull from the rear and I only carry one of them. Yup, more stuff to carry. I ended up with no traction on front due to the soft sand and in the rear the tires were buried. To make it worst a big Palo Verde tree that had to be cut down to the ground to make a possible path to back up. The battery powered chain saw took care of that in a few minutes. Four big 4” trunks and then the base was 8-10” diameter. Dragging the tree limbs aside took longer. My wife called Rich Tiesso and he and Harvey Schuler headed to where I was. Before Rich left my house he examined my inReach map share image and copied down certain important way points. I guess that was around 4PM Yes the two guys spent a lot of time looking for my tracks at Carricitos corral just like I did and they did the same thing for the arroyo crossover. At 1:30 AM Rich and Harvey arrived at my location wan woke me up. A simple pull got me unstuck. Got home at 4:30AM [Edited on 4-12-2024 by PaulW]

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

That straight road to the corral is what I used to get to the corral. It is in good shape. good enough for a small plane. Trees on the sides of that road would inhibit a plane. Did not see an exit from the corral to the south.

Look at Google Earth (north at top):

Parral latest trip Details
At the beginning of 4x4 entering the wash. The approach road was OK
Leaving the wash at the destroyed gate.
The road was ok after the gate area

Notice the straight lines that were not investigated east of the old gate
To get to the wash east of the gate area would be a challenge due to debris and large rocks. Then one would be confronted with another tall bank?


fotos gratis internet


Moving west going from wash to wash.




Last trip tracks at the difficult crossing.
Shows a little amount of uncertainty and investigation of possible wash crossings.
I could not get up the wash bank on the recent trip
After the crossing the wash the road is good recently all the way to the ranch because the road is on high ground.