David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64525
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Found Missions & Lost Dogs
Found Missions and Lost Dogs
by David Kier
Spring Break 2003, three vehicles were loaded and ready for the toughest short road in Baja? the 4WD trail to Mision Santa Maria.
Jim & Linda with a Toyota truck and Ross & Rose in a Jeep Wrangler joined my daughter Sarah and I (also in a Toyota) for an adventure in Baja?s
central desert.
We all met at Gypsy?s RV camp, Cielito Lindo near San Quintin and caravanned together. Our first excursion was to Mision San Fernando Velicata the
first California mission founded by Franciscan Fr. Junipero Serra, in 1769. Just west of the mission site are some cliffs that contain several
petroglyphs and we paid them a visit.
We again said goodbye to pavement at Rancho Santa Ynez, for our journey to what one author called ?Mission Impossible? due to the extremely rugged
road. The 14.5 mile road was built by the ranch. The desire was to build a road to reach the gulf at Gonzaga Bay. The attempt was abandoned less than
two miles past the mission. The road is very tough and one must allow nearly three hours for the trip.
About 8 miles from Santa Ynez I spotted a dog near the road! This was very strange to see so far from any people. The dog looked very tired and was
old, however it surprised us that it had a tag. The dog?s name was ?Inky? and there was a name and phone number. Perhaps she wandered away from some
people hiking to the mission. Oscar and Matilda at Santa Ynez did mention a group was backpacking to Santa Maria.
My daughter made a bed for Inky in the truck after she comforted the nice dog. We continued on towards the mission. The dog had to belong to someone
ahead on the trail, I thought. When we came upon the backpackers, they said they never saw the dog before! Surely then, it belongs to someone else
nearby?
Just a mile and a half from the mission, the road makes a steep drop down to the first palm arroyo. This short grade is so steep and rocky, most
people park their vehicle at the top and walk the rest of the way. My first time here, in 1999, I was on a quad with a friend (Baja Mur) on a
motorcycle. On our return up this grade, we both were thrown from our rides and left our blood on the sharp rocks! I gave this grade the name ?Widow
maker? right then and there! Beyond the bottom of the Widow maker the road drops into a deep stream before climbing over another rough ridge to enter
the mission valley.
Mision Santa Maria de los Angeles, founded by the Jesuits in 1767 here after the original site at Calamajue proved unsuitable for growing crops. This
would be the Jesuits final mission as the king of Spain commanded all Jesuits to leave the new world, by force in 1768. The adobe church whose gable
ends still stand were likely built by the Franciscans who mostly used Santa Maria as a waypoint on the Camino Real leading to Alta California. The
site was reduced in status to a visiting station in 1769, and was totally abandoned 1818.
We arrived intact but were half surprised to find nobody else there? nobody looking for their lost dog! We set up our tents, had a campfire, and were
enjoying the ?Baja Feeling? at this very remote and special place. The night was quiet and the air was cool. Some of the best conversations happen
around Baja campfires.
The next day was beautiful as the previous day?s overcast turned into blue skies. Ross and I explored the palm grove above the mission and wondering
just how so much water pours out of the desert year-round here. We took to our vehicles and followed the road east to where it dropped into the white
sand arroyo where a big pool of water was just too inviting to not stop. Naturally Sarah had to get in and take Inky with her. Naturally too, they
rode in the back of my truck after that! The road turns left, out of the arroyo 1.3 miles from the mission. The tracks that continue ahead dead-end in
a palm grove.
The road can only be driven ? mile or so from the arroyo as the erosion to the bulldozed bed becomes too deep. The Camino Real heads up the mountain
to the left here. We hike on up the bulldozed road to the end of the construction, on a ridge high above the canyon down which the Santa Maria river
flows toward Gonzaga Bay. Some rocks with petroglyphs lay about here and an Indian trail continues east, dropping down into the canyon. This was the
original Camino Real route before Father Serra ordered a safer trail built that stays out of the canyon, to the north.
After returning to our camp, I was restless and hiked out looking for signs of the Camino Real leaving the mission. The others set up a screen house
for shade and started the social hour. When it was time to get dinner prepared the screen house was vacated and very soon after I saw a red
diamondback rattlesnake speed right through the screen house. Needless to say, the tents were zipped up tight that night! The silence was again broken
when we heard some vehicles approaching and soon their lights? It was a Jeep club, and for the next hour they slowly entered the valley, making camp
in the palm grove beyond our camp at the mission.
The next day, we packed up and got on the road before the huge Jeep club got started. Ross and I got a head start and Jim a little later. Ross in his
raised Jeep climbed the Widow maker without a problem. About halfway up I was stopped by a foot tall rock, requiring a bit of a ramp built with more
rocks and Ross guiding my tire placement. It was a thrill to reach the top and not spill any blood this time! Jim had to use his winch at one point,
but had no complaints. Bad roads bring out the best in people!
Back at Santa Ynez, we showed Inky to Matilda and Oscar. Unfortunately, they didn?t know the dog. Our only choice was to take her with us to our next
destination, Bahia de los Angeles and call the number on the dog tag. We went to Camp Gecko and Jim and Linda used one of the town?s satellite phones
to reach Inky?s owners and discover how that dog got to such a place.
Inky belonged to Bob and Janet of Northern California who adopted the dog in Todos Santos, where they have a vacation home. They had Inky for several
years and were driving from Todos Santos back north when they stopped for the night near Catavina.
Inky took off and they searched and searched. Inky was old and knew she was being taken away from Baja. Could it be this was where she wished to die?
What happened later would seem to indicate this.
Jim and Linda offered to take Inky back to their California home and Inky?s owners would retrieve her there. Sarah never let Inky get off her leash
and was with Inky constantly. Inky slept with Sarah in her tent even. Our second night at Camp Gecko there was going to be a dinner fireworks show put
on by one of the regulars. Dogs hate fireworks, so Sarah tied Inky to the tent and walked over to the camp where the food and fireworks were
happening. When the show was over we discovered Inky was gone, she pulled free and headed into the desert. The next hour was spent searching and
following her tracks which seemed to circle back to the tent. Inky disappeared. The next day we drove to nearby ranches and campos and put the word
out. After we left to come home,?Doc? (Abraham, the owner of Gecko) kept an eye out for her and would email us if Inky were found.
Inky was a Baja dog, and Baja was where Inky wanted to remain. She ran away from her adopted ?parents? and she ran away from her rescuers! Inky?s
final days were better spent at Bahia de los Angeles with many other dogs and people about than in the Catavina desert all alone.
Trip photos: http://vivabaja.com/403
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64525
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
First Photo of Inky, the day of her discovery...
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64525
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
The last photo of Inky, a few days later at La Gringa... Photo by Bedman.
|
|
|
pappy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 679
Registered: 12-10-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
great story! amazing how smart animals really are...
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
