BajaNomad

El Camino Real (Again) Part 3

Fatboy - 1-15-2023 at 04:40 PM

After a few minutes I decided the bee sting was not bothering me other then a puffy eyebrow so I continued onwards across the hillside.

Being a little distracted I kneed a barrel cactus and was lucky to only have one thorn stuck deep into my kneecap. Dropping my pants and grabbing my pliers I gave a quick jerk and pulled out a string of cuss words along with the thorn.

30 minutes later I give up, the vegetation was just too dense, the trail was just too far away and it was too late in the day.

Heading back through the valley and back on the trail I became a little careless and let my hand brush up against a cactus and come away with a piece stuck in my hand. I have to remove my pack to retrieve the pliers.

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This took a strong jerk to remove, and for miles around birds took flight to my cussing.

Being more careful I retrace my steps all the way back to my cache from the morning and then on down to San Sebastian where I set up camp for night number 3.

Like Tres Palmas, there is not much left of San Sebastian.

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Day four finds me heading downstream in a much easier wash than the one I came up two days before.

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The only real problem was all the quicksand, 6 or 7 times I was suddenly up over my knees in it. My boots were soaking wet and full of sand and I would stop to get the sand out and drain some of the water out only to have it happen again.

All in all it was some of the easier hiking of the trip with lots of flowers and nice views.

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Turns out this is called a Baja Fairy Duster…

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Hiking until dusk, I set up camp as the wind starts blowing.

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I figured the wind would blow for a few hours until after sunset then it would be calm again. No such luck it blew hard all night almost flattening my tent and was still blowing in the morning after I had packed up and started my 5th and final day.

5 miles and 2 hours later I was back at my car.

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

Read Part 4 here



[Edited on 1-17-2023 by Fatboy]

David K - 1-16-2023 at 09:36 AM

Just great adventure reporting and photos!

Here is what San Sebastian looks like, from space... Just a large stone corral and several trails leading off...


Fatboy - 1-16-2023 at 12:15 PM

From La Rabia the trail passes over a small saddle and heads down to the much lower San Sebastian drainage.

Part way down you can see what appears to be a much older and more used trail going more to the left or north. It is now washed out and the trail I followed down went to the right or south and was much newer and it also comes out much further down stream.

David K - 1-17-2023 at 05:43 AM

San Sebastian was a big deal at one time... Map seems to be from the 1800s (before Santa Rosalia or even Ensenada deserved mention), but San Sebastian and the El Camino Real are shown!

Update, improved map.
Sized here to fit Nomad... go to VivaBaja.com/maps for the full size version.



[Edited on 1-17-2023 by David K]

4x4abc - 1-17-2023 at 09:07 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
San Sebastian was a big deal at one time... Map seems to be from the 1800s (before Santa Rosalia or even Ensenada deserved mention), but San Sebastian and the El Camino Real are shown!



is that map on your site?

4x4abc - 1-17-2023 at 10:15 AM

no, I don't

mtgoat666 - 1-17-2023 at 03:23 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  


I am calling it the '1860s' map (for now), as it uses leagues (something that was being phased out, starting in the late 1850s) , and is after the Gadson Purchase of 1853.

1860s Baja Map


Where did you find the map? If you don’t have a citation for the map, perhaps you could provide the repository where you found it. What was the map called where you found it?

4x4abc - 1-17-2023 at 04:09 PM

your favorite, the lost mission Santa Isabel, is on it

David K - 1-17-2023 at 04:25 PM

Out of respect for Fatboy's El Camino Real hiking post, unless it is an El Camino Real map, let's continue on the map discussion forum, here:

Baja Historic Interests & Literature
Natural History - Missions - Rock Art - Books - Maps


Click: http://forums.bajanomad.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=24