Salsipuedes Canyon by Fatbike

OK so here are a few of the first photos. It's going to take a while to sort through them so I'll just post them as I go, over several days.

First campsite halfway up the road from Highway 1:
29°13'23.41" N 114°03'01.61" W


Packed up the next morning:



The only gate I encountered:


Getting close to the rocky / blocky terrain which you can see on the right. Asamblea is over that saddle right of center, to the left of the blocky hill:


The palm trees grow out of the rocks all the way to the top of the hills, they aren't restricted to the valley bottoms:


Going down the wash to the head of the canyon:
29°15'40.48" N 114°01'12.89" W


Just about to enter the canyon:
29°15'41.93" N 114°01'07.64" W




Some of the rocks look pretty precarious:


[Edited on 1-16-2014 by Mark_BC]

[Edited on 1-16-2014 by Mark_BC]

[Edited on 1-16-2014 by Mark_BC]

[Edited on 2-6-2014 by Mark_BC]

Epic Baja Adventure! Great photos Mark...

Thanks wilderone and David. I have been freight-trained by a nasty flu but I managed to put some more photos together of the next day. Maybe later I'll go back and edit and put GPS coordinates on them.

First camp in the canyon: 29°15'42.92" N 114°01'06.83" W




I rode a little ways down from here which was fun, with a few rocks thrown in. But then I got to the first 15' "cliff" I had to scale. The videos are much more interesting. I'll have to figure out how to embed them later. Looking down the cliff:
29°15'50.32" N 114°00'57.89" W


Shortly after this I came to a cattle area that is accessed by a longer trail outside the canyon. So I didn't need to scale the cliff. This is the first major green area you see in GE, because there is water here: 29°15'56.74" N 114°00'56.15" W


Another gate: 29°16'01.93" N 114°00'57.34" W


Clear water flowing through the cow patties:
29°16'03.16" N 114°00'56.31" W


I followed the wash for quite a ways after this, not too difficult. I could ride almost all of it:


Details of bike:


29°16'09.49" N 114°00'30.80" W


The canyon walls started narrowing:
29°16'07.22" N 114°00'27.59" W


The canyon turned north and was very rocky. I had to carry my gear in stages. I got as far as another "big" cliff and set up camp: 29°16'07.62" N 114°00'24.69" W


[Edited on 2-6-2014 by Mark_BC]

That night the cold I had been fighting really drowned me; I'd wake up every hour gasping for air. The nights were pretty miserable and long, and cold. I was worried about taking too much of my gear over these cliffs and then discovering some impenetrable barrier further down and having to get it all back up if I had to backtrack. So I decided I'd spend the next day hiking down the canyon with only my essential gear and tent if I wanted to spend a night down there. Then if it turned out OK I'd come back and get my bike.

The campsite above the "cliff":
29°16'12.57" N 114°00'20.88" W




Looking to the east wall of the canyon:


Raven sitting on top of hill on north side of canyon, with the telephoto lens:


While packing up the tent this guy crawled away:


From above it looked like there was no way down other than by rope which I did not want to risk. So I did the 15 minute hike up over the rocky hill to the west to get around it. Shortly after the cliff it gets really rocky for a short while then turns east into that big long sandy wash you can see on GE:
29°16'14.48" N 114°00'19.60" W looking NE


Cactus in a pot:


The wash mellowed out, as I could see from GE:
Around 29°16'03.13" N 113°59'53.54" W looking nothwest


It got a bit narrower with tamarisk hemming it in;
Around 29°15'55.30" N 113°59'37.88" W looking NW


Then the wash abruptly turns north. This was a really nice spot with lots of birds and cactus:
29°15'54.91" N 113°59'33.98" W looking W


At this point was some drying mud from the wash that enters from the south: 29°15'54.64" N 113°59'33.72" W looking S


There were lots of "large" animal tracks, but nothing very recent. I doubt there are coyotes here since it's so rocky. It must be mountain lion. I continued north after hitting my Spot: Same location looking N


Somewhere around 29°16'05.58" N 113°59'33.20" W looking N


Somewhere around 29°16'10.28" N 113°59'33.98" W looking N


I knew from GE there was something at the north end of this section of wash before it again turns east and gets more green. I suspected a pool, and I was right:
29°16'13.80" N 113°59'32.71" W


There was no way I could hike down that. The only way around was over the hill to the west. I climbed it and decided that it was too risky to continue alone. This is looking south to where I came from: 29°16'14.11" N 113°59'33.79" W


Looking northwest up the wash that enters from the west: Same spot


It's too bad I didn't continue on as GE shows about a half km of green which looks fairly passable. Then the pools start again which, judging by this one, would not be passable by myself and without climbing gear. But it would have bee nice to see them. So I hung out here for a while and took pictures of hummingbirds and enjoyed the beautiful desert environment, without evidence of cattle:




I started worrying about the gear I had left behind so I decided to hike back and camp where I did the previous night.

[Edited on 1-22-2014 by Mark_BC]

[Edited on 2-6-2014 by Mark_BC]

Here is his Spot map, and perhaps he can say where the photos were taken in relation to the numbered darts? I have an idea because he mentions where the arroyo turns north (Spot 11)



On the topo:



The topo may be wrong as to the location of the Salsipuedes headwater. Mark may have been in the true Salsipuedes from the start, but the name on the map is off.

Is there a way to embed videos? I tried Youtube and Vimeo and couldn't get it to work. Here is using Photobucket but it doesn't embed, it seems to link. I guess that works too.



[Edited on 1-23-2014 by Mark_BC]

mtngoat: good idea. But I haven't been able to log into Panoramia for a while now, they switched emails or something. And it takes several weeks for the images to be approved and show up.

[Edited on 1-23-2014 by Mark_BC]

Just a couple photos from the next day. I decided to backtrack out and try from the east entrance. It would take a few days to get to Bay of LA so on my way back out I stopped to filter some water at the stream. I went up as far as I felt like going but there was still cow chit everywhere. I know the filter takes out multicellular organisms but not virsuses. I think cows are pretty clean but to be safe I added iodine tablets. This made the water taste really bad so I preferentially used my clean water. It turns out that my 22 liters of water lasted almost the whole of 7 days. It worked out to 3.5 liters per day. That's pretty good because I don't sweat much. If it was summer I'm sure I'd go through a lot more.

I went out a different way than when I came in. I followed the cow trails out and avoided the cliff. The exit is here: 29° 15.875' N 114° 0.914' W. It was a lot longer and harder than I expected because it has to wind all back and forth around the rock formations. To go 300 m probably took 1500 m of trail.

I took the trailer off and did it twice: once with the bike and once with the trailer. These shots are somewhere around 29° 15.685' N 114° 0.943' W





I'd encounter cows going back in as I was going out. They'd be a bit startled. With one I just waved her through and intuitively she knew what the wave meant and relaxed. Maybe I'm a cow whisperer...

It took all day to get out. I was worried it might start raining because it was really clouding over and I swear once I felt some drizzle. So I was racing to set up the tent. I forgot my Spot back near the first campsite I was going to set up in at the head of the canyon (decided that would be a bad idea if it started to rain!) so I rushed back before dark and in the process screwed up the derailleur somehow so I couldn't shift the rear gears. Here is where I ended up camping. I can't find my GPS but it was about here, with the cows in the background:
29° 15.493' N 114° 1.267' W


It was here that I learned a lesson I should have known before: don't bring a Thermarest to Mexico, it will just pop. There was lots of vegetation in that spot, with thorns inevitably on the ground. So I had a hard bed that night. I should have brought a regular foamy that can't pop.

Also, I left the zipper open with about a 6 inch slit and I turned on my flashlight for some reason not too long after dark and a big 4" stick insect somehow managed to get through the slit and was hanging on the inside of the tent!

It didn't rain and wasn't too windy. Tomorrow I'd see how far down the road I get.

Next time - and I will never doubt you will do it again - I will try to be available to accompany/carry you to the end of the road even if there is another vehicle along. Always better to have two vehicles. I have been in the area before.

Neal Johns aridnealATgmaildotcom

Picture is my 4x4 Tacoma pop-top camper on Mission Santa Maria "Road".

Thanks Neal.

I'm uploading larger photos now. Here is a shot from the previous day with my GoPro mounted on the trailer looking forward. It is me pushing the bike over some rocks in the wash. I think it was here: 29° 16.161' N 114° 0.579' W



The next morning I explored a little bit around the area and went up some rocks to take panorama shots. These two shots are from the same spot.
29° 15.514' N 114° 1.310' W
Looking north:


Looking south-east:

In the above photo, the highest peak on the right is probably at this location: 29° 15.350' N 114° 0.940' W so you can see how GE really levels out the terrain! Basically, when you see rocky areas in GE you have to assume it's very steep even though the elevation information doesn't reveal that.

Looking south-east 29° 15.592' N 114° 1.203' W


You have to watch out for those chollas! They drop off chunks that start new cholla bushes but they'll go through the bike tire pretty easily. This was in the same vicinity.


I headed back down. I should have GPS'd the gate. But it is within a few hundred meters of my campsite, at most a km. I found a chisel on the road on the way up and forgot to see if it was Jimmy's when he came to see me. So I tied it to the gate ropes where the next person would see it.



Coyote and bike tracks:


I was expecting a mostly downhill ride back out but holy cow that road sure goes up and down a lot, I guess that's why it isn't straight! It seemed harder than coming in, but that's probably because I was expecting it to be downhill. I got a little confused when I saw more junctions than I remember coming in. When I left the hilly area and got to the straight sections I really flew. But I still couldn't change my rear gears so I put the chain in a middle cog and then had to get by with two gears corresponding to the two front chainrings -- low and medium. It worked OK.

The wind was blowing hard from the north so my plan was to turn south-east at the Y junction 2 km from the highway and high tail it over with a tail wind to the Desangano mine ruins to camp. That was a lot of fun rolling over the whoopdeedoos in the sandy track with the wind blowing from behind.

Somewhere around 29° 10.977' N 114° 5.772' W


Somewhere around 29° 8.261' N 114° 5.132' W looking north


Same spot:


I think this one was here:
29° 7.284' N 114° 2.494' W


29° 7.090' N 114° 2.240' W


Careful where you walk. I wonder how many cows have fallen in. 29° 6.981' N 114° 1.886' W


It was pretty windy and I set up camp in the most sheltered spot I could find behind a line of trees.

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark_BC Careful where you walk. I wonder how many cows have fallen in. 29° 6.981' N 114° 1.886' W It was pretty windy and I set up camp in the most sheltered spot I could find behind a line of trees.

This picture contains the remnants of the corner of a building that is all but gone. Maybe the Lost Mission?

That should perk up DK's ears.

Quote:

Originally posted by Skipjack Joe Quote: Originally posted by Mark_BC Careful where you walk. I wonder how many cows have fallen in. 29° 6.981' N 114° 1.886' W It was pretty windy and I set up camp in the most sheltered spot I could find behind a line of trees. This picture contains the remnants of the corner of a building that is all but gone. Maybe the Lost Mission? That should perk up DK's ears.

It goes into what looked like a paddock. It looks like from GE there is another road just beyond there. There are a few tracks going various places, it would be interesting to explore them.

Camp in morning:


The next morning I headed over to the highway. The road got sandy but the bike can handle it. On the final wash, however, before reaching the highway, the track was very sandy with deep wheel ruts. That made it too hard to ride, not because the wheels were sinking in, but because at low speed you have to turn the wheel back and forth to maintain balance, but that was hitting the sides of the ruts and causing me to lose momentum. Even the motorbike tracks suggested they were having trouble.

Next two shots somewhere around here: 29° 4.149' N 114° 0.512' W
Looking north:


Looking south:


At the highway I saw this buzzard:


When I got to the highway I did something foolish and pulled out the thorns from the front tire. Of course they started hissing when I did that so I had to change the tube, and make sure that any other thorns in the tire were removed. Next time I'll use the Stan's puncture sealing goo. I didn't have time to sort that out this time.
29° 3.703' N 113° 59.967' W


I went down the highway which seemed very slow, almost slower than the sandy tracks. Maybe not, but it was much more pleasant riding off road. I wish I had loaded more GE into the cache of my iPhone beforehand because it turns out there are a lot more tracks in this area which would have allowed me to avoid the highway for quite a ways. In TW's recent trip report, he went up to Yubay, and there is actually a road leading from way up near Salsipedes that goes right by Yubay. It branches off the Salsipuedes road here: 29° 14.768' N 114° 1.248' W and goes by Yubay in this vicinity: 29° 12.450' N 114° 0.579' W. And then the road continues towards Bay of LA here: 29° 4.628' N 113° 57.989' W but eventually you have to go on the highway before you get to the dry lakes.

This bike is great for riding through the desert. I could go about half the speed you'd go in a vehicle and in some ways it offers even more freedom because it's easy to get over rough spots and you don't have to worry about 3000 lb of metal breaking down and leaving you stranded. I can haul a week's worth of water with me so I'd love to explore more of these areas by bike. Just have to spend more time on GE now.

Approaching the dry lake:




I was hoping to turn off at the turnoff to Mission de San Borja but there wasn't much cover there. I was getting really tired and run down from running the big fat tires with low pressure on the highway. I continued on a couple more km and pushed the bike 100 m off highway through the desert to find a nice spot in a little wash:
Somewhere around: 28° 58.488' N 113° 43.026' W


That night the coyotes came by around midnight. They were on either side of my tent yipping, probably a few hundred feet away but they sure sounded close. I was freaking out; they sound terrifying. But afterwards I checked the internet and serious attacks on adults are basically unheard of so I was safe.

A few other cholla species to be wary of:


This is the water pipe supplying Bay of LA from a well at the dry lake. I wonder what happens if a car goes off the road and breaks it...
28° 58.434' N 113° 36.254' W


It only took an hour or so to get to the final descent into Bay of LA. 28° 58.879' N 113° 34.916' W


Another shot of a buzzard, at Villa Bahia:


I got in with half a litre of water left! I was going to re-organize for a couple days and then go up the dry lakes and hike in to Salsipuedes from the eastern side to see what the terrain was like there. I didn't have the time or food to actually go down, it would just be a scoping mission.

[Edited on 1-30-2014 by Mark_BC]

I haven't but will look into it. I am always looking for multi-day expeditions to go on. If you want a great blog of a bike tourer check out Cass Gilbert's While Out Riding. I did a 2 week tour of the Indian Himalayas with him several years ago and he basically spends his life riding his bike.

OK, last set of pictures ... I decided to try driving the car up the dry lakebeds to where I'd start hiking up to the pass in from the east. I checked it out the previous June in the 40 degree heat so knew exactly what to expect.

Donkeys in the first dry lake bed.


After the first lakebed the ground gets more rocky and moonscape-like. Around 29° 5.319' N 113° 45.352' W


I made it across from the first to second lakebeds. The road isn't too challenging but the ground clearance of the car was very low so I had to stop every 50 m and move rocks off the road. But I got through OK. I was worried about the sandy sections later on but it was good. If I got into trouble coming back I'd just turn around and go backwards so the front wheel drive turns into rear wheel drive.




There are a few isolated cactus growing in the middle of nowhere in the lakebeds.


Campsite: 29° 16.289' N 113° 50.632' W


That night I slept in the back seat of the car.


The next morning I got ready to head across. I was going to ride to the island on the left, then ditch the bike at 29° 16.003' N 113° 52.279' W and hike the rest of the way to the saddle left of the mountain in the middle. Over that saddle is inside the Salsipuedes drainage.


Another view of where I was going:

I crossed a faint jeep track about 100 m before the island, which you can actually see in GE. I left the bike on the north side of the island and got my hiking gear together.

What it was like hiking across the lakebed:


A raven came by and sat in a cactus to watch me go by. Not sure if he was just curious or waiting for me to die... I stashed two water bottles along the way, burying them. I went past a clam shell, don't know what the story was behind that. Maybe a fresh water one from when this was a lake?


The hike was so gradual I didn't notice the elevation gain of 300 m. It was pretty easy and I got to the base of the steep section and set up camp:
Somewhere around 29° 15.304' N 113° 55.795' W


Good to see there are lots of bees in Baja. There was a lot of life here, it was really pretty desert country.




And looking across to the hill here: 29° 15.334' N 113° 55.214' W I could see switchbacks, I guessed from antelope.


That night I got really worried about the car and my bike. I noticed a slow leak in one of the car tires and I left the bike pump with my bike, along with the tire changing equipment. So if someone stole the bike I could be screwed. And maybe the insurance didn't cover the car if it's so far away from the highway (40 km). I decided to haul it up the hill the next morning to assess the pass and get back to my stuff quickly.

This is what the climb looked like. It was about 45 degrees most of the way with loose rocks and agaves to stab your legs if you're not careful. I was heading straight up to the right. Around 29° 15.199' N 113° 56.026' W




After the first hill it mellowed out a little bit and continued on to the saddle. Looking north-east back to the dry lake:




At the saddle! Looking north-west towards the mountain: Around 29° 14.949' N 113° 56.488' W


And the shot we've all been waiting for: looking west to the upper Salsipuedes drainage. The terrain there is pretty mellow and I could have continued fairly easily but I wanted to get back to the car. It looks like from GE it doesn't get a little challenging until a few km in.


At the time I thought, OK I can hike up but there's no way you could get a bike up. In thinking back, it may be possible. You'd just have to bring lots of water which you stash at the bottom of the hill (also leave lots of extra to allow you to ride back out if you need to), preferably go with other people, and get your gear sorted out so you can throw it on your back for hiking it up. Then plan for two days to get all your gear up to the pass in stages. I am good at climbing hills so I could probably do it, except my knees don't like going down so with all the stages I might twist a knee. You'd just have to be really careful and slow.

I went back down pretty fast, but carefully. I packed up and hiked back across the lakebed. As soon as I got within range I took some telephoto shots of the island to see if the bike was OK:

Whew! That littlle blue dot left of center. And the car was still white too. I was being a little paranoid since no one had come by, but it would have been easy to follow my tracks and take the bike. In retrospect I could have ridden it all the way up to the campsite with ease.

The rest of the day I relaxed at the car and prepared to drive back out the next morning.





On the way back I zoomed around the salt flats and got some good videos. But you have to be careful of the potholes! Somewhere around 29° 14.327' N 113° 50.908' W


This is at the southern lake, almost back at the highway. Around 29° 3.412' N 113° 46.737' W


So in retrospect I wish I hadn't taken the car up the dry lakes, it was causing me too much worry. It would have been easy to ride the bike in, it's only 40 km which is an easy day on those flat roads. Just get someone to drive you up the highway. And the other problem with the rental car was that each day was burning up money, so I didn't want to commit to another couple weeks for another attempt down the canyon. Next time I'll catch a ride or take the bus. But still, this was a great scouting trip and I'm going to come back as soon as I can organize it to try again, otherwise it'll have to wait until the autumn when it cools down.

Mark_BC

The most outstanding trip report and pictures I have seen!

Wish I were 100 years younger.
Neal

In one word: SWEET!

Central Baja is just so great. Thank you Mark, we rarely get such a view of our planet... Planet Baja!

Edit: The sea shell was likely from the Cochimí (specially if far from auto roads).

I have seen sea shells way way far from the sea, that were not (yet) petrified.

[Edited on 1-31-2014 by David K]

Mark,
I can also hang with Woody for a couple of days wherever we dump you.

We will have lots of water that you can bury just in case of a retreat.

Also will give you a handheld two-way radio which should work to contact us for a mile or two. We can probably arrange for boaters that have a FRS/GMRS radio to listen for you if they are near the mouth of Salsipuedes.
Neal

The Bill Nichols motorcycle trail goes from LA Bay to the Bahia Guadalupe area. Here is a GE view of it. I'm sure there are a couple of places a 4 wheeler can't get thru.

Here is my bike I am using, a Surly Pugsley. No derailleur to get hung up, this one is internally geared.

[img][/img]

Loaded front:

[img][/img]

[Edited on 3-30-2014 by BajaNomad]

3-24-14 near La Botica dry lake...

The three named arroyos are tagged.





[Edited on 3-25-2014 by David K]

It has been a while since I have posted pictures, so hope it works OK. Am living off the grid in Punta Abreojos, so will post in segments when in Chula's, my favorite breakfast spot.

This segment will be about the gear, first a video of Mark riding at Montevideos:
https://vimeo.com/89819772



Mark's bike is a fat tire Pugsley, which was developed in Alaska for riding in the snow. Mark bought the frame and built it from the ground up. It has 3.8 inch tires x 26in and is equipped with a Shimano 8 speed sealed rear hub, with a single gear front chain ring. A standard Pugsley has an exposed rear cluster and derailler to shift gears, like a street bike. In a dusty or rocky environment, the external derailler gets easily bent or clogged with grit and fails. In Abreojos, there is a half hour maintenance with a ride. I bought a sealed hub beach cruiser and plan to mount the 7 speed hub on my old Gary Fischer mountain bike for use here.

Mark has made special brackets to carry his sleeping bag on the front fork. He uses a alcohol stove (3oz) and has another front bracket to keep the fuel bottle upright to prevent leaks. The has an Extra Wheel trailer that was also tested in Alaska. In contrast to the Bob trailer, it uses 26 inch wheels, so that it goes over rocks much better.



His tent is a Tarp Tent, very light weight. I use a tarp tent in my desert lightweight setup that has tent, sleeping pad, stove and pack at 9 pounds. They work good when pitched properly, but not good in high winds. A good wind tent is the Black Diamond Bibler design that I use for high altitude snow camping or any situation where high winds may come. Mark is obviously a tough guy to have used this tent in baja.

Mark has three different desalination setups. One is a steam boiler for use over a campfire. Another is a pump that goes thru a membrane but is Mark reports that it is quite slow. I forget what the 3rd one is. His trailer has net on the side, where he uses 1.5 liter bottles to the tune of 7 or 8 gallons. In his first stash where I dropped him off (22 miles from the highway), he had 9 gallons. Mark has a Pack Raft that was also developed in Alaska. It weighs in at four pounds and can be patched with duct tape. From pictures on his blog , it appears quite small.

More to follow.



Going toward dark in the beautiful site at Montevideo