Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Temp rising.
|
|
Baja Adventure III, Summary
Here is a summary of my journey. I'll work on some of the details and pics later. I tried to post up a PDF of my pics but I'm guessing it was too
large (23mb) and the upload didn't work.
Crossed the border on Oct 17, Monday. Drive to San Felipe for a FM-T and fuel. From there is down the Gulf road which was as miserable as I've ever
seen it. Camp on the beach south of Volcan Prieto as dolphins swim by. Welcome to Baja Bushrat!
Continue down the Gulf road to Gonzaga Bay for an early lunch at Alfonsina's, then continue a short distance for a camp in La Turquesa Canyon.
Next day I make a short stop at Baja de los Angles for fuel, ice and tortillas. Tried to see Carolina at the Museo, but she wasn't in so I left a
message. Back tracked to Laguna Agua Amarga and took the trail to Yubay Canyon and Bahia Guadalupe. Camped in a different spot than last time, this
time further to the north. Fish camp was occupied and I wanted to get as far away as possible. After a little fishing I went back to LA Bay and
continued down the Gulf road camping at Boca Grande.
Continued down the "main" road to El Arco, and decided to take the short trip to Mision Santa Gertrudis. Oh wow! The mission had been restored in 1996
and was a fabulous stone church. Smaller than San Borja, as I recall, and way smaller than San Ignacio. There was a little village around the mission
and a local inside varnishing the pews. These people are so nice it really frustrates me that I don't know Spanish. I want to talk and learn about
their villages and about them. They were in the middle of a palm oasis and were growing grapes, dates, figs, citrus, and I think olives. These crops
are repeated at most of the missions. After the mission visit I continued back to El Arco and took the road south to Vizcaino. From there west to the
Pacific, camping on the beach near Punta Prieta (I think), but I don't remember.
From there south along the Pacific to Punta Abreojos and back on the main highway to San Ignacio for fuel, tortillas, lunch, ice. Then the main
adventure (play Jaws theme here ...).
I turn north on a good dirt road between San Ignacio and Santa Rosalia that runs to Santa Marta (signed Santa Martha on the road). The objective is a
beach camp at La Trinidad. On the maps it shows a road to Santa Marta then a "trail" to the Gulf. Sometimes these trails are cow tracks, sometimes
motorcycle tracks, sometimes 2-tracks. I wanted to find out. So I get to Santa Marta and head north, pass a few ranchos, finally making camp in a wash
near La Tinaja. This is prime Palo Blanco forest.
Next morning I start up the trail. Finding the correct turns to get around the ranchos becomes a problem and I make a few wrong turns. I come to a
turn that I think is my way, but the coordinates are wrong. I take it anyways, and it turns out to be the correct route. The trail wind its way
through the brush and cardons, then all of a sudden it's arrow straight for four miles. You can seen one end from the other. Then the trail becomes
ambiguous and starts winding between the bushes again. Finally I get to abandoned Rancho El Gato (GPS confirmed). There is an old well, but the tower
has been removed, and when I drop rocks down I don't hear splashes. Climbing down the well didn't seem like a good idea. From there the trail was hard
to find at times and I did make a wrong turn or two, only to find out others had too. Finally, I'm at La Trinidad, abandoned. There is a track that
heads south-east to the dunes across a playa. I don't like the camping there so I head back to the rancho. I work my way through the Palo Blancos and
find a track across a wash that faintly continues north. I take it until it comes close to the beach, then cross-country to the water. For the most
part of the day I am following a single motorcycle track, that may have been supported by a jeep or something. There was rumor that a track continues
up to Los Corrales. I didn't try or even look.
Ok, I start back to the highway. It takes most of the day and I'm grateful I GPS tracked the route on the way in. I did try to circle around to San
Francisco, but a local told me (or at least I think he did) that there wasn't a way. Need to try it from the other direction. Hitting the highway I
turn to the south. Santa Rosalia is a mining town and a dumpy place. I continue, not worth stopping. Before Mulege I find a camp on the Gulf near
Punta La Bocana. I'm kept up most of the evening by fisherman just off the beach. I think they were fishing for squid as they had a light mounted
under the ponga. They also had a generator on board and something that sounded like a winch. They were there until about midnight.
Next morning I head to the next town, Mulege, which is the exact opposite of Santa Rosalia. What a beautiful little town. I stop for fuel and ice,
then proceed southward past Bahia Concepcion. What a bay. Most of the camping was "improved" and the choices for free camping were limited. The
further south I went the more options there were. I did hear of a spot near Coyote Bay. On my return home I also heard of many other choices, mostly
along the east side of the Bay. Continuing south to Loreto. I start up the road to Mision San Javier and stop to let out air from the tires. A guy
stops in a nicely set up Tacoma, Mike, to make sure I'm ok and he is traveling with a couple in a gen2 4Runner. We play leaf-frog up the road and
finally do introductions at a pictograph site below the mission, our destination. The mission was the second established on the peninsula and the best
preserved. The couple from San Diego spoke a little Spanish and translated for Mike and me during our tour of the mission from a nice local lady. We
were directed to an old olive out back that dated to the padre days. A young fella, Diego, about 7-8, took us out back to see the olive. HUGE, with a
"ropey" trunk and tree frogs living in the flutes. I had Dan ask Diego if there were any grapes. No grapes ... then Dan asked me did I mean grapes or
grape plants. Well, I want plants and sure enough they did. Diego took me to a vine growing near an old water tank. It looked different than the
Mission cultivar I have at work. It wasn't a native grape, but did look like a vinifera, or European, grape. Could this grape be a decendant of the
padre grapes? Mision San Javier was the first location on the peninsula that produced wine. I have cuttings. We split up and I start through the
mountains toward San Jose Comondu. The road was rough and steep in places, but from the top the view into the valley was fantastic. The village of
Comondu is down in a large palm oasis. There must have been thousands of palm trees in that canyon. The town was charming and I did try to find out
from a local if I could camp upstream in the canyon. Another reason to learn Spanish. The plants in the Sierra Giganta were the best. Things I've
grown in cultivation I was seeing for the first time in the wild. It was getting late so camp was made in the mountains. The story about my, uh,
evening has already been told.
Next day I continued north toward San Isidro and La Purisima. I take several loops in the mountains, but the plants and the scenery don't change much.
On my way down to La Purisima I hook up with four guys on a motorcycle tour of Baja. Their leader, Dave, is rather experienced and has taken trips to
South America. They were going to La Purisima, then start southward and cross on the ferry to the mainland, finishing in Copper Canyon. The group
would then split up and Dave would continue on a six month trek to South America while his buddies came home. I'm still working my way north and
depart heading for Scorpion Bay on the Pacific side. After much searching I finally find a beach camp north of the bay. Late evening I hear motors,
and Dave drives up on the bluff above my beach camp. But the other three are MIA. It appears they got separated after dinner in the village and Dave
decides to make camp. Turns out the other three spent the night at the campground. During dinner I had a visitor in camp. Seems my meal caught the
attention of a local coyote. He hung around camp until after dark, probably looking for scraps. I could see his eye-shine in my headlamp, but could
not see the dog. It was spooky looking out into the darkness and just seeing a pair of bright dots moving about.
Next morning I'm ... stuck. Well, not quite. I was trying to get off the beach and had a hard time climbing a small mound of sand. I hit the mound at
an angle and I just side-hilled going no place. Airing down to 10psi did the trick and I was on top of the bluff in no time. I talked with Dave a bit
as he broke camp, then headed north. Dave suggested I take the coast route near El Datil as the road is not as washboard and rocky, but is sandy. It
traveled along the beach, frequently on playas and close to the estuaries. Birding was great with all the usual herons, egrets, gulls ... except I did
see a burrowing owl. My time in Baja is about over so I start getting into home-mode. This road takes me back to San Ignacio where I get tortillas,
and no ice. From there I turn north up the highway, stop at the border without incident (stamp, stamp), and make a stop in LA Bay for fuel and ice.
Camp is made at Yubay at dusk. I was tired and decided to eat dinner in the truck, which was facing the Gulf. I jump out of the truck to get seconds
and as I look up I see not one pair of beady eyes, but two. As usual I can't make out the animals and assume they are coyotes. This was real spooky
having two sets of bright eyes looking back at you. A few rocks later, and they were gone.
The next morning I took the Gulf cut-off to Coco's corner and camped at Volcan Prieto again to stage for my border crossing, which I did the next
afternoon.
[Edited on 11-7-2005 by Pappy Jon]
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64526
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Thanks Pappy Jon! I would be interested in your trail/GPS notes for the Santa Marta to La Trinidad road... Also, as you were told, there is NO auto
road between Santa Marta and San Francisco de la Sierra no matter what the Mexican topo map (and Baja Almanac might show).
I hope you were able to collect some plant specimins for your projects...
|
|
|
Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Temp rising.
|
|
David,
So the local was right, no trail to San Francisco.
I'll work up what GPS points I have. I know I did a bit of waypointing on the way out from my camp to La Trinidad, as well as the major junction. I
also might be able to spreadsheat my track points.
I didn't collect any plants, at least not whole plants. Grape cuttings as noted (I collected the grape at San Borja many years ago, but they didn't
take ... another trip, eh?) Somehow a few seeds did get "stuck" to my socks 
Here is a pic of one little passionflower growing in the wash on the way in.
[Edited on 11-7-2005 by Pappy Jon]
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64526
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Great!!
The trail between Santa Marta and San Francisco de la Sierra is just that, a trail (from mission times) for foot or pack animal, from my research.
The trail you were able to drive on you reported: "... then all of a sudden it's arrow straight for four miles. You can seen one end from the other. "
was probably a section of the Jesuit constructed Camino Real... as that was their style, and Harry Crosby described the trail in that region as
such... photos show it as well...
|
|
|
Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Temp rising.
|
|
Slide shows at:
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIIone.pdf
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIItwo.pdf
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIIthree.pd...
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIIfour.pdf
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIIfive.pdf
http://birfieldh8r.home.comcast.net/bajaadventureIIIsix.pdf
Adobe Reader is necessary to open slide shows. Broadband probably required ... these are big files. Wait for the files to load completely.
|
|
|
John M
Super Nomad
Posts: 1908
Registered: 9-3-2003
Location: California High Desert
Member Is Offline
|
|
Slide shows
Fantastic.
How many days in Baja?
John
|
|
|
Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Temp rising.
|
|
Crossed the border at Algodones on Monday, Oct 17, and crossed back on Saturday, Oct 29.
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64526
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Great shots!
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
