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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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La Sierra de San Francisco
I've always wanted to follow the road north of San Ignacio on the highway with the big cave painting sign, and I did just that a few weeks ago.
Friends and I went on a portion of a longer ride with Trudi Angell of Saddling South. We left Loreto on Sunday afternoon, and drove to San Ignacio
where we spent the night at Casa Leree, a charming small hotel. After the required check in at the INAH office, we left for San Francisco, where we
met our guide, Ramon Arce, who led us to Rancho Guadalupe, where the mules and burros were ready for the trip. (Trudi had set all of this up
beforehand.) At about 2pm we started on the trail down into Santa Teresa canyon,
and after a steep 2 hour ride, arrived at Huerta Santa Teresa, where we camped the first night.
The afternoon light in the canyon was dramatic, and the views were beautiful in every direction. After a wet fall and winter, the mountains are so
green, and the flowers are wonderful! It was pretty chilly, but the campfire and a good dinner kept us all comfortable. Sleeping out under the stars
was just fine for me.
After breakfast and a morning fire, we hiked along by flowing water and sculpted pools
then up the canyon wall to our first cave
and back down to cross the arroyo and climb the other side to the well known cueva la pintada. Many of the caves now have protective walkways.
After lunch back at camp, we rode to meet the rest of the group, who had gone into canyon San Gregorio a few days before, and were on their way out
through through Santa Teresa. We spent one night with them at Cacarrizo, and hiked to several more amzing rock art sites, through more breath-taking
landscape. That night we had a great dinner of chicken mole burritos and salad, and music around the fire by our very talented guides.
The whole group went back to the first campfor one more night of good food, guitars, singing and dancing around the fire. If it was cold, we didn't
notice. We all rode back to Guadalupe the next morning, though I think most of us would have preferred to ride on and on and on....
And here is Ramon, inviting us all to come back soon, which I sure hope to do!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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Great little "photo" trip------
Thank you very much for sharing this, Paula. Neat stuff. I did not realize that the "walk ways" had been developed at these sites. Glad to see the
efforts to preserve these truly unique sites.
Barry
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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Paula,
Been waiting for your report since you mentioned awhile back you were going.
We have that high on our todo list. Last year it was the whales for us.
Thanks for posting the pictures. We have wanted to go since we acquired Crosby's book on the subject.
[Edited on 2-9-2007 by tripledigitken]
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Capt. George
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Registered: 8-21-2003
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thanks Paula, haven't been there in a couple years!
ever been to Santa Marta just south of San Ignacio? Also a great place with paintings...I think we went with one of the "Arce" clan...
Sweet people!!! george
\"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men\" Plato
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bajaandy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 769
Registered: 2-7-2004
Location: North County
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Mood: Adventurous
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Great photo essay and trip report! What a great way to visit the canyon.... on horseback with guides. Nothing beats camping out under the stars,
especially in Baja, where the stars look so bright. Thanks for sharing!
subvert the dominant paradigm
"If you travel with a man, you must either fall out with him or make him your good friend."
JBL Noel
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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Nice photos! What beautiful country up there...
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Thank you Paula... If you have time to share more photos, we would appreciate it... This is the soul of Baja!
The movie 'Bajo California: The Limit of Time' is an awesome film that tells us about the Arce's and shows us the magic of the paintings near San
Francisco de la Sierra!
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Hey Hey Paula
Sorry I couldnt resist!
Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a wonderful trip. It sounded like you had a pretty good group to travel with.
(We were in Loreto having dinner and there was a group of people, who had obviously just done some sort of trip together, sitting at a long table next
to us. They were having a marvelous time recalling incidents on the trip. My husband and I commented on this fact. Now I knew that Paula and Don
were going on a trip but didnt know what they looked like so had no idea that this was their trip. As their dinner was winding down, I heard someone
say something about Paula....my ears perked up and I looked across the table and there was this big smile...she knew who I was from the pic on our
website. Nice to meet you, Paula. Will wait to meet Don next weekend!)
And so glad that you had such a great trip.
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
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We go up there every year. Last summer they were really having water problems. Morning and evening they would pack the mules for a trip down the
canyon for water. Each mule carried 15 gallons. 6 mile round trip to the water... hard life. One evening, a rancher said he had to leave... 4
hours by mule to his ranch... but he left some grapefruit so must be a nice farm.
Breath taking views from the road up. Thanks for sharing your trip, Paula
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rts551
We go up there every year. Last summer they were really having water problems. Morning and evening they would pack the mules for a trip down the
canyon for water. Each mule carried 15 gallons. 6 mile round trip to the water... hard life. One evening, a rancher said he had to leave... 4
hours by mule to his ranch... but he left some grapefruit so must be a nice farm.
Breath taking views from the road up. Thanks for sharing your trip, Paula |
Interesting! In the past water came from tinajas as the settlement is on a mesa and not in a canyon with water... This kept a limit on the population
that could live there... 'extra' Arces (and Villavicencio's) moved on to other parts of Baja to live...
When Choral Pepper, Erle Stanley Gardner and others arrived by helicopter in the early 1960's (the first outsiders to ever see San Francisco de la
Sierra) they were told that the people of San Francisco were descendants of soldiers stationed there to gaurd the mission of Dolores... The extensive
rock walls were all that remained of that 'lost mission'...
Research by Dr. Jackson (academicanachist on Nomad) would discover that the mission of Dolores del Norte was an early name for the next mission north
of San Ignacio, and that name only existed on paper... the new mission's name would change to Santa Gertrudis when the funding finally arrived to
build it.
However, the people of San Francisco had been told that their village was the location of Dolores... So, perhaps it was an early site until the lack
of water forced a move to a better location and those that remained never learned of the name change?
There is an adobe visita ruin (that resembles Mision Santa Maria) in San Pablo Canyon, downstream from San Francisco that has often been mislabled as
Dolores del Norte on maps and even in INAH literature... However it was a visita of Santa Gertrudis called San Pablo.
See early photos of San Francisco de la Sierra at http://ChoralPepper.com
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
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In my discussions with the residents they said that in wet years they have water close by. In fact there is a 12 volt (and solar panel) pump that
feeds the complex set up for visitors. But they said that these small springs will dry up in dry years and they must go down to the canyon springs
for their water. One fellow was building a large "pila" to try and hold rain water...Can't imagine that would last long. My guess is that there is
probably 20-30 people living there now. The children that don't want to work the goats (hundreds of them) usually move to the San Ignacio or Vizcaino
area
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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Thank you, Paula, for the good story and the excellent photos. I envy you that trip... not sure I'm ready to ride a mule that far, but I'm glad you
did. 
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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Von
Senior Nomad
Posts: 961
Registered: 10-1-2006
Location: Poway-Rosarito
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Mood: getting ready!
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AWesome storys! I love to here everyones input.. Pictures are awesome too thanks for sharing, I hope one day I have an oppurtunity to check it
out........
READY SET.....................
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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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Thank you all for commenting on my story and pictures. It was something of a life-changing experience for me. I love to be in the mountains, and
have hiked a lot in Montana. I'm not much of a rider or a camper, but from now forward I would like to do more of both. The trails of Baja are
amazing-- secretive, mysterious and so rugged and beautiful. And the people who live in those mountains are so kind, so warm, so open and so wise.
And the art-- how did those ancient beings accomplish what they did, and what moved them to do it? How did they come to be in those hard to reach
places, and how has time changed the geography since the art was made?
Ken, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm not much of a writer, and more than two sentences in one day are very consuming for me. It took a nudge
via u2u from another nomad to get me moving.
I've never been to Santa Marta, George, but do hope to go there some day.
rte 551, Ramon told me thatabout 25 people live at Guadalupe, and maybe 35 in San Francisco.
David K, I will try to post a few more tomorrow. I hope to ride into San Gregorio in the spring, where we'll visit some ranches that are way off the
beaten path, and with luck will return with the pictures you want to see. I've looked at your choral Pepper link before, and it has new meaning to me
now. To have been among the first to visit those distant places years back would have been unspeakably wonderful!!!
Nena, I wasn't sure either. You might surprise yourself if you try it. A mule is much more comfortable than a horse.
Hey back at you Judy, I'm so looking forward to seeing you on the 18th!
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
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Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
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Thanks Paula,
It's a great trip we have done twice. It is a must for all Nomads - and if you make your own arrangements through the INAH office and the guides
assigned, rather than a commercial tour, the cost is very, very, low!
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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Neal, Trudi is my nieghbor, and while she has done tours for a long time, you couldn't really call her commercial  
Booking your own tour through the INAH office does save some money, and is a good way to go also.
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
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i hate you(smack)
[Edited on 2-10-2007 by Sharksbaja]
DON\'T SQUINT! Give yer eyes a break!
Try holding down [control] key and toggle the [+ and -] keys
Viva Mulege!
Nomads\' Sunsets
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
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Location: on the bayou
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Thanks Paula
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
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Paula
Every year (October I believe) there is a fiesta in San Francisco. I was told that approx 2-300 people attend. Would be a great time. I haven't gone
because I can't bring myself to drive that road with all the other cars on it - especially on the way back after a night of partying.
Ralph
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ursidae69
Nomad
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Location: Youngsville, NM
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I had to log in an reply to commend you, this is a great thread!! Thanks for sharing. 
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