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David K
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San Pedro Martir/ Valle Chico CANYONS
The desert canyons of Baja's mighty San Pedro Martir mountain range contain a wealth of beauty and history. They were home to the native Indians being
a source of food and water. When the Spanish arrived and established missions, the Indian trails became communication routes from the gulf coast to
the mountain and Pacific missions.
I first traveled down Valle Chico in 1967, when my parents first drove the dirt road from Ensenada to San Felipe in their Jeep Wagoneer. At the south
end of Diablo Dry Lake, we missed the correct road for San Felipe and headed down the long valley. Farmers at Rancho Algodon got us pointed in the
right direction, we spent an extra night at the foot of the sierra.
In the late 1970's, I camped often on the beaches south of San Felipe, but always looked to the mighty mountains to the west and searched for a road
that would provide an access to Valle Chico without traveling back to San Felipe. I had read about such a road in a small guidebook (Camping and
Climbing in Baja) and then saw it on a geologic survey map. After a couple of wrong turns, I found it south of the sulfur mine and made it all they
way across to Valle Chico. It was long abandoned and possibly was used as a water supply for the sulfur mine during WWII? In recent years, it has
become well used by SCORE for the San Felipe 250 race and appears on maps.
My first time driving across to Valle Chico from the sulfur mine was in 1978, and that opened up lots of exploring possibilities. I drove south to
Matomi Canyon and met 80 year old Tomas Dowling who had two ranch houses in Matomi Canyon. One was his winter home, right where the Valle Chico road
dropped into Arroyo Matomi. The other was 5 miles up the canyon where water falls and palms offer comfort even in the hottest months of summer.
Here is my map of the area made in 1980. I had fun exploring and mapping the region in detail from 1978 to 1982, which is when the new graded dirt
highway to Puertecitos was built:
In 2004, Baja Nomad member 'Jide' and I explored the canyons in more detail. We also met 'bajalou', 'Mexitron' and others that trip: http://vivabaja.com/404
Here is a map made from that trip that shows roads to the canyons:
===========================================
Historic Maps of the area:
1919:
Note 'Agua Charley' (Agua de Chale) on map... The old well of "Charley The Chinaman" can still be seen in the campground of Nuevo Mazatlan.
1930:
1941:
Note "Unexplored" in Valle Chico.
1962:
Howard Gulick, Lower California Guidebook map... first truly accurate Baja road maps.
1967-72:
2003 + notes:
2008:
Somehow, the better road between Carricitos (El Carrizo here) and Matomi is not included, but the older one to Parral is.
Satellite Image:
===============================================
John W. Robinson's 1967 'Camping and Climbing in Baja' (La Siesta Press) with several revisions over the next few years provided the most deatil of
the canyons.
Different books and maps sometimes have different names or spellings for the canyons. Here is Robinson's list of the Valle Chico canyons south of
Diablo Mountain:
TULARE
TELEDO
DE MEDIO
EL OSO
EL CAJON
BARROSO
EL RUBI
CARDONAL
AGUA CALIENTE
CARRIZO
VERENDA (BERRENDO)
PARRAL
MATOMI
=============================================
Bruce F. Barber '... of Sea and Sand' (2003) was the next author who provided great details of the canyons in his San Felipe geology guidebook. Here
are his maps of the canyons:
17: Providencia
18: Teledo
19: En Medio
20: Oso
21: Cajon
22: Barroso
23: Agua Caliente
24: Parral
25: Matomi
=============================================
Photos of Matomi Canyon from Hwy. 5 in, then north up Valle Chico (2006): http://vivabaja.com/618/page4.html
Photos of Parral, Berrendo, Carrizo, Agua Caliente and El Cajon canyons (2004): http://vivabaja.com/404
[Edited on 1-27-2012 by David K]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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From 1967, Camping and Climbing in Baja:
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Barry A.
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Great stuff, as usual, David. Many thanks. Your hard work is certainly appreciated by me---------especially love the maps.
Barry
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David K
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
Great stuff, as usual, David. Many thanks. Your hard work is certainly appreciated by me---------especially love the maps.
Barry |
I appreciate the comments and suggestions... as well as great maps!
Here is the 1974 Auto Club map of that area from your collection!:
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David K
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Here's the article I wrote about Berrendo Canyon's blue palms for Baja Bound: http://www.bajabound.com/bajatravel/el_berrendo_canyon.php
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mtgoat666
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re canyons
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's?
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David K
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Location: San Diego County
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's? |
His map is for climbing Diablo Mountain and Diablo Canyon... My post is on the canyons south of Diablo.
Because you mentioned it, here is his eastern climb map up Diablo Canyon:
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Barry A.
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's? |
------just to point out the "rest of the story", I believe that the route on Schad's map was the one pioneered by Edward "Bud" Bernhard (now deceased)
of Coronado, CA back in the late '50's and '60's (not sure exactly when).
Nomad "Vince" would know for sure, I believe, as he climbed that route with Bud way back then.
Barry
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's? |
His map is for climbing Diablo Mountain and Diablo Canyon... My post is on the canyons south of Diablo.
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good post of the one canyon.
if you look at rest of the map and the back side, you will find he covers all of the major canyons that come off the SPM plateau.
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mtgoat666
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sierra club trip reports
| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's? |
------just to point out the "rest of the story", I believe that the route on Schad's map was the one pioneered by Edward "Bud" Bernhard (now deceased)
of Coronado, CA back in the late '50's and '60's (not sure exactly when).
Nomad "Vince" would know for sure, I believe, as he climbed that route with Bud way back then.
Barry |
ya. and if you look at the old sierra club trip reports (many are online back to 1960s) you can find lots of info on the old sierra club trips to SPM
area.
yes, i know many of you find the sierra club to be an abomination against mans quest for natural resource extraction and ORV use, but their many
decades of trip reports are fascinating reading for the SPM area and other CA environs.
read them -- even you conservative baja history buffs will be amused
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David K
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Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
of all the maps, you did not post the most useful. why don't you post Jerry Schad's? |
His map is for climbing Diablo Mountain and Diablo Canyon... My post is on the canyons south of Diablo.
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good post of the one canyon.
if you look at rest of the map and the back side, you will find he covers all of the major canyons that come off the SPM plateau.
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Here is the other side... It only goes as far south as El Cajon Canyon and doesn't show the entire canyon to the valley... It is an excellent map for
what it does show, yes.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
The Sierra Club has become a political wing of the left and run by a bunch of old ladies who have never hiked the Sierra (so told me by former Sierra
Club members). |
those little old ladies get all wet when they think about this man:
[Edited on 1-18-2012 by mtgoat666]
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
The Sierra Club has become a political wing of the left and run by a bunch of old ladies who have never hiked the Sierra (so told me by former Sierra
Club members). They go far beyond their charter to close public land to the public! They should stay in the Sierra and leave the desert to groups like
DesertExplorers.org IMO, naturally!  |
More right wing nonsense! And the more desert that is protected, the better. The desert is slow to heal.
In years past the desert was considered a waste land and open to destruction----the more the destructive activities are kept to small contained areas
the better. Way back when, everyone used to target shoot bottles and cans anywhere in the deserts---now there are the small designated areas that are
trashed, but contained.
Same for many of the former off-road areas, which used to be just anywhere and the desert was ripped apart at will. The trend to contain this
activity to limited areas is good and protects the fragile plants and wildlife in the rest of the areas.
And the Sierra Club and other similar organizations often now denounce some of their former activities as they have become more aware of the damage
some of these activities caused.
[Edited on 1-18-2012 by DianaT]
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Barry A.
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A little background--------Back in the '50's and 60's many of us belonged to the San Diego Chapter of the SIERRA CLUB and it was a fine organization.
Bud Berhard was a member, and many of the Club trips to the SPM were lead by Bud---------but most of his pioneering in that area was on his own as he
liked to explore solo with his huge backpack, and had the time to do it as he was an independent self-employed Construction contractor. There is very
little of the SPM that he did not explore. It was a little later that many of us became disenchanted with the "Club" and resigned, including Bud, for
the reasons stated by David K., as well as their many unreasonable (in our opinion) stands and distortion of the truth about various areas they were
interested in "protecting" (reads locking up to others entry & use----but OK for the Club to go into). It's all a shame as they use to do "good
work", and it was a fun organization to belong to.
The entire "Canyon complex" on the east face of the SPM is fantastic country, full of history, as many of you know.
Barry
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
The Sierra Club... run by a bunch of old ladies who have never hiked the Sierra |
DK:
on a serious note, the sierra club is about much more than the sierras, and what's wrong with little old ladies?
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Mexitron
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Thanks for the refresher David---now I have to get back to Berrendo! Its just amazing to see the Blue Palms there growing from the valley bottoms all
the way to the tops of the granite peaks (ca. 3,500 feet?). Yep, be a fun trip to go canyon hopping.
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DianaT
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I certainly have not agreed with everything the Sierra Club has done--but they are not a "political wing of the left" That is simply nonsense.
Have they ever distorted the truth? Yes, as well as has the other side. Often the problem is that if a conservation or preservation organization
loses a battle, they lose the war and the results cannot be undone. For instance, they lost the battle to save Hetch Hetchy many moons ago and even
if it was drained today, it would not come back.
The same is true of many desert areas, dune areas, or the headwater Redwoods----once ruined, they are gone. IMHO, it is best to keep the destructive
activities in limited areas and in the scheme of things, the Sierra Club has been a rather middle of the road organization---more into conservation
while other organizations are more into preservation.
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
I hope the open minded libs here will swallow their self-rightous pride and read the real story as told by real members of the Sierra Club... As you
have just proved, I spoke the truth and not any 'right wing nonsense'.
[Edited on 1-18-2012 by David K] |
I guess the rest of the members are "not real" members?? Truth? There is a big difference between OPINION and TRUTH--
Nonsense, absolute nonsense.
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Barry A.
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Correct me if wrong, but isn't HETCH HETCHY one of the main reservoirs serving the Bay area's water needs??? Yes, a beautiful canyon lost to a
reservoir, but the alternatives would have been incredibly expensive, and not nearly as effective in supplying a reliable source of water----------man
needs things (like water??) and there are priorities, and we do have Yosemite Vally somewhat perserved for the people to enjoy.
I think that David Brower was the one that turned me totally sour on the "Club", changed it's direction, and lost me forever.
But I get your point, Diane------but have different priorities, I suppose.
Barry
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
A little background--------Back in the '50's and 60's many of us belonged to the San Diego Chapter of the SIERRA CLUB and it was a fine organization.
Bud Berhard was a member, and many of the Club trips to the SPM were lead by Bud---------but most of his pioneering in that area was on his own as he
liked to explore solo with his huge backpack, and had the time to do it as he was an independent self-employed Construction contractor. There is very
little of the SPM that he did not explore. It was a little later that many of us became disenchanted with the "Club" and resigned, including Bud, for
the reasons stated by David K., as well as their many unreasonable (in our opinion) stands and distortion of the truth about various areas they were
interested in "protecting" (reads locking up to others entry & use----but OK for the Club to go into). It's all a shame as they use to do "good
work", and it was a fun organization to belong to.
The entire "Canyon complex" on the east face of the SPM is fantastic country, full of history, as many of you know.
Barry |
I hope the open minded libs here will swallow their self-rightous pride and read the real story as told by real members of the Sierra Club... As you
have just proved, I spoke the truth and not any 'right wing nonsense'.
[Edited on 1-18-2012 by David K] |
dk:
barry did not prove anything. he just voiced his opinion that he and some others did not like wilderness protection efforts of the 1970s and later
years.
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