This is great! You guys had almost no water in the bog, compared to our trip in 2010... lucky!
Do you have a video of going up the Widowmaker? That is the one big steep rocky downgrade before entering the bog.
Here's HB Murphy's 2010 video of just the bog part (under 2 minutes)... He was the lead vehicle and we were second of 6 rigs, both of us in Tacomas.
Listen to his lady's shrieks as he plunged into the deep pools of unknown depths!
Victor had to leave his big beast in the parking lot at the Mision Santa Maria Hotel due to a cooling problem. It was a shame for such a built Jeep
to be stuck in the parking lot. Something about having the original coolant from 2009 and possibly non functioning cooling system had something to do
with it.
On the trail to Mission Santa Maria was first an exploration run with all of the rain the previous night and afternoon. I thought it would be foolish
to attempt the trail, but Rich T. said that the dirt was in perfect condition for this sort of a run.
The trail was green and the sky had plenty of clouds to keep temperatures cooler than average on our day trip.
Hello Baja Nomads!
Here come the rest of the rigs down the trail. Better get back in the Jeep and speed it up!
What a view! I thought this would be our end point since the dirt was a little damp, but we continued on from this point, and what a good idea it
was! That's Gonzaga Bay below. We were standing at the Continental Divide of Baja California where this photo was taken.
Elizabeth(left), Karen(center) and Leidys(right)
Those with good eyesight thought the trail was blocked below. It turned out to be an optical illusion.
Leidys and the Ocotillo
Blue fan palms below
Likely a breakdown and someone rolled this Jeep off of the trail - what a waste of a vehicle.
Victor smiling with his camera. What's he doing here!
Thank you for the videos and photos!
Having been in there 4 times, it warms my heart to see others feel the energy of the location.
Video one is coming down from the peninsular divide towards the mission. This is 10 miles from Rancho Santa Ynez and 4 1/2 from the mission. You can
see the Sea of Cortez and Punta Final (Gonzaga Bay) in the distance. The camera is held by someone walking behind Ken's Jeep.
The next video shows Ken going over the boulder section of road and driving directly on the rocks that Neal Johns himself placed to make a ramp coming
off the boulder on his final trip there in 2010:
The third video is going through the bog but Ken lucked out... very little water in there compared to 2010, the last wet year.
The final video is arriving at the mission, founded originally at Calamajué in October 1766 and moved here in May 1767 when the water at Calamajué
proved deadly to growing wheat. The Jesuits built a palm log church before they were removed from the New World and were replaced by the Franciscans
who arrived in California in April 1768. It was the Franciscans who built the adobe buildings we see the ruins of today between mid-1768 and early
1769. The mission bell that was once here was transferred to the new mission at Velicatá, named San Fernando.
Thanks, David. My sole camera for this trip was my Google Pixel 3 XL smartphone. Here is more information. Please start another thread as I don't
want to weigh this one down with off-topic camera specs, though.
"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes
"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others
cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn
"The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." - Cunningham's Law
Thankyou to Baja Bound
Mexico InsuranceServices for your long-term support of the BajaNomad.com Forums site.
Emergency Baja Contacts Include:
Desert Hawks;
El Rosario-based ambulance transport; Emergency #: (616) 103-0262
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
