David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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El Rosario and more, 7-05 (Part 8, Agua Dulce)
Agua Dulce (Sweet Water) was an important spring along the Camino Real between Mision Santa Maria and Mision San Fernando. During the construction of
Highway One, in 1973, road crews bulldozed the spring for easy access to water trucks as water was needed for highway construction. The spring is 2.0
miles from Highway One over a fair road.
A good access road was found by Neal Johns after I had used the original construction access road (badly washed out) a couple years ago... that
original road is at Km. 157-158. The improved, shorter access is at Km. 160-161, just south of a small 'rancho on the west side of Mex. 1. The road
goes east (left) from the highway and travels 1.4 miles to where it intersects with the original dirt road to La Paz (pre-1973).
The Baja Almanac shows Arroyo Agua Dulce (Map 16, D-5) crossing the highway... however, the highway is wrong... that is actually the old main road
location 1.4 miles east of the actual highway location. The spring is 1/4 mi. up the arroyo from the (incorrect) highway crossing, on the map.
In this photo, my truck is at the junction of the access road and the old main road (the original Baja/Mexican 1000 course), 1.4 mi. from Mex. 1...
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Online
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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There is a boojum with flowers and bees pollinating... I take this photo...
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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David do you have a photo of the spring?
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Traveling northward on the original transpeninsular road, we go 0.3 mi. to a fork, Agua Dulce is 0.3 mi. more, to the right (east). A lone blue palm
in a gully to the left is your marker sign. The water hole is just north of it.
Nearing the spring, there is a ton of quail trying to escape... Baja Angel says to look up, and this tree was filled with butterfly... A butterfly
bush?
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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N29?52.97'/ W114?49.38' (NAD27)
Standing near the large spring is Baja Angel... Early Baja travelers, including missionairies and native Indians all came here over the hundreds of
years of Baja history.
Additional photos here at http://vivabaja.com/1102 and http://vivabaja.com/neal2
Cattle and bees use the spring now, so we stay clear of the water!
[Edited on 8-2-2005 by David K]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Online
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Returning to my truck, we look back and take a last photo that shows the blue palm...
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64539
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Online
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Nearing Highway One, we stop and size up a boojum tree and check the flowers...
Next: Coco's Corner, Rancho Grande, El Huerfanito and Shell Island (near Laguna Percebu), stay tuned!
[Edited on 8-2-2005 by David K]
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