David K
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Location: San Diego County
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 04:06 AM
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Happy Halloween from Guadalupe Canyon Hot Springs
Baja Angel and just got back home from a very, very nice weekend in Guadalupe Canyon with Nomad Hotschott and his esposa Val... Hotschott even brought
pumpkins and carved them!
Being that Halloween was Friday and that was when we drove down, arriving just after dark... our party was Saturday night...
We got out of North County about 2:30pm Friday and that put us ahead of traffic... lucky for us! Crossed into Mexico at Tecate about 4:30...
TWO new (since our last time this way) Pemex stations are now on the road leading east from Tecate to the toll highway entrance.
We were on the Laguna Salada to see the sun set about 5:30 and the lakebed was dry and fast driving (50-60 mph).
When it got dark, I ignited my HIDs. I spent some time playing with the adjustment angle... testing a couple different ways to use them, etc. By the
time we were climbing up the road from the lakebed to the canyon, it was dark. The HIDs gave out plenty of bright blue-white super light.
We arrived at our reserved camp (La Jolla B) at 6:30. Hotscott and Val had arrived a couple hours earlier and were settled in at their nearby campo,
La Paloma.
As soon as our camp was set up, we were soaking in the wonderful hot spring water under a sky solid with stars!
That was Friday...
Saturday was a day of rest and relaxation... enjoying perfect weather... it was actually warmer than we expected... warm all night, too. Baja Angel
and I took a short walk up to the office and beyond into the next camp.
The palms all burned now had penty of green leaves with only their trunks blackened... All of Arturo's camp sites are open, but the next campo up
(formerly Angel's Campo 3) still has not rebuilt their palapas or sites... from what we could see. Across the canyon were some new wood sided
palapas... but no privacy, like at Arturo's!
Photos from our previous trip, just after the fire, can be seen at http://vivabaja.com/108
Saturday evening we had dinner at the Hotschott's camp and Steve (Hotschott) made three Jack O' Lanterns...
More soaking then sleep... A wind came up and tried to blow things around for a few hours...
Sunday (today) morning was overcast and made packing up a cooler, nicer experience than if we had to in the full sun!
We left the canyon about 10:30 (new standard time) this morning and reached the border line at Tecate about 1 pm... The wait was 65 minutes.
There were some Baja 1000 pre-runners about and the race course is the main street in La Rumorosa! I bought $20 (240 pesos) of gas at La Rumorosa (12
peso per dollar) for 33 litres (8.7 gallons) or $2.30/ gallon.
Great trip, very nice weather, good friends, hot springs... hard to beat!
Photos next!
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David K
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21433
Registered: 8-30-2002
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 04:10 AM
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11-08 trip Photos (first group)
The road up through Arturo's camp... the driveway to camp San Marcos is to the left here:
Looking down at the swimming pool from the road:
Looking across the canyon at the grove where the other campground is located, popular with big groups from Mexicali.
Looking up at the former campo of Arturo's brother (Angel) just past Arturo's office... the palapas were burned down in the fire of 11 months
ago.
Another:
Us:
The source hot spring for the canyon is against the cliff, past these palms (just above and to the right from Arturo's office):
Another look down at the warm, spring fed swimming pool:
Walking back down to our camp, Laguna Salada in the distance:
[Edited on 11-3-2008 by David K]
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David K
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21433
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 04:19 AM
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11-08 trip Photos (second group)
That's Laguna Salada in the distance.
Here are some photos of camp site 'San Marcos' 11-1-08:
Here is our camp site, 'La Jolla B':
She's my Baja Angel!
La Jolla B has two palapas, this second one serves as a kitchen/ dining area for us.
Here is La Jolla A:
[Edited on 11-3-2008 by David K]
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David K
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21433
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 04:28 AM
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11-08 trip Photos (third group)
Hotschott and Boomer:
Camp site 'La Paloma':
Baja Angel (Elizabeth) and Val
Happy Halloween from Guadalupe Canyon!!
To get more details or to reserve your own private campsite at Arturo's Campo #1, go to: http://www.guadalupe-canyon.com
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TW
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 03:16 PM
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Great pixs. Boomer with the light in his eye makes me think of the hound of the Baskervilles, a Sherlock Holmes story. Glad you had a great time.
[Edited on 11-3-2008 by TW]
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David K
Platinum Nomad
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 03:26 PM
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We call Boomer 'Kujo', as well! What a great security system he is!
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capt. mike
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 07:30 PM
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really super shots DK. i always wondered what the camp grounds looked like but never saw pics except the tubs.
quite a place. may be some day i'll have to just go.
“If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.”
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Bob H
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posted on 11-3-2008 at 07:39 PM
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Nice Photos David! Looks like you had a fun time, as usual.
Bob H
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Mexitron
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posted on 11-4-2008 at 01:53 AM
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Wow, great pics there DK! Have never done Halloween in Baja, looks like fun.
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David K
Platinum Nomad
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posted on 11-4-2008 at 05:00 AM
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It was fun... and relaxing, too! Thanks!
Capt. Mike... if you want to see more photos of Guadalupe camp sites, you can either browse my few Guadalupe trip pages at VivaBaja.com and see
some.... or go to the campo's web site to see all at http://guadalupe-canyon.com
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David K
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posted on 11-4-2008 at 10:15 PM
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Here are some driving details:
San Diego to Guadalupe Canyon takes about 3 hours... use Hwy. 94 east from I-805, or I-15, or Hwy. 52 & 125.
Tecate to Guadalupe Canyon is 100 miles... Using the toll highway, two tolls are collected: El Hongo $4.10 US, La Rumorosa $1.25 US.
The canyon is reached via a graded road (well signed 'Cañon de Guadalupe) or 2.6 miles beyond via the dry lake bed (well signed 'Laguna Salada').
When dry, the lake bed is the prefered route, allowing for speeds of 50-60 mph.
Both routes are about the same distance, 34 miles. The dry lake bed route has 25 miles of lakebed, then the route turns off the lakebed and joins with
the graded road in a mile. The last 8 miles climbs towards the canyon and they begin with almost 6 miles of wide graded roadbed. However, the final 2
miles is suitable only for SUVs, trucks, or very slow, careful driving over the large rocks!
Returning to Tecate (via the lakebed road) will require a 2 mile detour east on the toll highway to a signed turnback to go west.
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David K
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21433
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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posted on 1-21-2009 at 05:51 AM
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Bump for fun... 
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Ken Cooke
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posted on 1-28-2009 at 05:51 AM
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Bump for fun... |
Thanks for posting the photos, David. It has been years since I have camped with Val and Steve. Probably 8 or 9 years...
Soy un Americano, pero con corazon Latino. Oistes!
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David K
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21433
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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posted on 1-28-2009 at 06:20 PM
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Bump for fun... |
Thanks for posting the photos, David. It has been years since I have camped with Val and Steve. Probably 8 or 9 years... |
Always fun to share the trips...
I remember you camping with Hotschott during BBBB-2 (Nov. 2001)... That was quite a party! 4baja with his lime cannon shot so many limes, I am
surprised to not see a lime orchard on the canyon walls! Photos of BBBB-2, Guadalupe Canyon: http://vivabaja.com/bbbb2
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