2024 ECR - El Camino Real Hike Part 2

Click HERE to read Part One

Around 1 AM I was startled out of a less than pleasant dream, by some large animal crashing through the brush, outside of that I slept well, which is saying a lot for a person of my age. Awakening at first light, I lay in the tent listening to the soft, pleasant sounds of the desert in the cool, early morning light.

CORRAL AT SAN SEBASTION



The motivation to get on the trail was not with me this morning. I dallied around my campsite slowly packing up the camping gear and having a leisurely cup of coffee before walking over to see the large stone corral at this site.




Dead Cow in Corral at San Sebastion




The start of todays hike was going to begin with a 350 foot climb that was fully exposed to the sun and it would have been much wiser to start early, in the cool of the morning, before the sunrise. Perhaps the close proximity to a good water source, and as far as I knew, my last water source, kept me there.

The physical exertion required to get here also played a big part in my reluctance to get going. There is no way that people on horseback went the way I did, so I must have missed a big piece of the trail that cut out the long sections of waterway that is choked with giant boulders. I believe that if I had found the trail it would have saved hours of scrambling to reach San Sebastion.

From here on out I would have to carry all the water I would need to reach my turn around point and make it back to here. 2 gallons would be smart, but heavy, so I settled on 1 ½ gallons. It left no room for mistakes and I would probably drink it all before I reached water again.

With everything packed up and the semblance of plan I walked down to the creek to filter water for the next two days. It was a little bit under a ¼ of mile down to the creek and it was a pleasant walk early in the day. Once at the creek I started walking up stream looking for a good place to filter water.

People might think that one spot is as good as any other to filter water, but it is not so. When you have a lot of water to filter, and a gallon and a half is a lot, you want a place you can sit. Ideally you also want a spot with a current to fill up your container and to wash away any sediment you might stir up.

Upon seeing the ideal spot I suddenly realized I left EVERYTHING at camp! I had no water bottles, no filter, nothing! It was here that I slapped my forehead while calling myself “Dummy!”. I walk back to camp gather up the bottles and filter and walk back down to the creek and filtered my water.

It was 10 am before I started the climb out of San Sebastion up to the 'main' path of the ECR. Cresting the ridge I am looking up the two draws where last year I had chosen the left hand draw and that was the wrong way.

So, turning right, I follow the bed of the wash but at times it is clearly not the way to go. I try climbing out the right hand bank looking for some sort of trail and when I strike out I head back down to the wash to try the other side.

At this point I discover a hole in one of my water bottles. Stopping in the shade of some large boulders I contemplate my choices. I decide on trying to patch it with Tenacious Tape. It looks like it is going to hold so I am off again trying to find the trail, this time on the left hand side of the wash.

There, 50 feet above the wash, I find a trail. It is much easier walking on these sections of trails than it is hiking up the bed of the wash most of the times. They have there own issues with overgrown sections and with the trail just fading out in to a multiple paths that soon fade out to nothing.

A GOOD SECTION OF TRAIL




It is along here that another water bottle starts leaking. It is leaking along a seam and there is no way to patch it up. I ended up transferring the water into my other water bottles, but I getting a little concerned at this point.

When you read about people who get in trouble in the backcountry, you realize it is rarely one large issue that leads to serious trouble, but a combination of several smaller problems that get you in trouble. A dead phone, followed by a sudden rainstorm, followed by a sprained ankle or A wrong turn, followed by a forgotten jacket, followed by nightfall, those types of things can get you in serious trouble.

I soon reach another point on the trail where I must make a decision. At the junction of two large washes I must decide whether to go to the right or to the left. What I have mapped on the GPS goes to the right and while there is a trail heading that way, there is a much more defined and well traveled trail going to the left.

Last year when I was faced with a similar decision I chose left hand wash and the well traveled trail. That lead to me going the wrong way, getting stung by a bee and attempting to travel cross country to get back on track only to be forced back very rugged terrain.

DENSE VEGETATION ALONG TRAIL



I eat some lunch trying to decide what to do. Last year I followed the path and not the GPS and that was wrong, so this year I am following the GPS and not the path. Oh, and while I do not know it yet, not only is it the wrong way, it soon turns into a nightmare.

Heading up the right hand wash the trail soon starts to become very overgrown. At times I am crawling through mesquite thickets, have you ever tried crawling through a mesquite thicket? DO NOT ATTEMPT! The branches reach down with their long thorns grabbing at your head, your arms, and your backpack all the while the ground is littered with thorns. A green hell if you ask me.

It is not long before several things happen at once. One is that the wash splits again, the GPS says to follow the left hand wash. The trail disappears and across the way is a unique geological feature. I have a feeling that if this was the correct path then that 'wall' running down the canyon face would have been mentioned. It is so straight and looks as if it was manmade and if travelers went this way they would have commented on it.



I wonder if it is time to turn around? If so, that may be the end of this trip, it is very demoralizing to return to a spot you left hours ago after going the wrong way. Deciding to go up the left hand canyon I start attempting to find a way and it will end up taking several hours to go a little under a mile.

Writing about it, reminds me about it and I would much rather forget that section of the trail. Dense thickets of thorny bushes, huge boulders to climb over, steep slopes with loose rock, dead ends…..ugh! Hours later I am near the top and the GPS shows the track on the OTHERSIDE of the canyon. I was ready to give up right then.


I started at the bottom of this...




Here is the GPS track up the wrong canyon



After a snack I continue the climb and a few minutes later I reach the top of the mesa. With a sigh of relief I decide to follow along the edge of the canyon for the rest of the day just to see where I end up. On the mesa the hiking is easy with views stretching off to the Pacific ocean.

Continued below.....

[Edited on 10-2-2024 by Fatboy]

(Continued from above...)

It is not long before I pickup a well defined trail coming from my left and heading in the right general direction. It looks like I am back on the 'main' ECR again. I should have followed my instinct hours ago and it would have saved me a lot of aggravation.

It is getting late in the day and I know were ever I end up today will be it. There is a canyon coming in from my left crossing in front of me where it goes on to join the canyon on my right that I have been following for the last mile or so.

From my view point on the canyon wall you can see a clearly defined trail leading down and across the canyon before climbing the far side to a low saddle. The draw becomes my destination, believing that once there I should have a good view of a nice, long, and pristine, arrow-straight section of the ECR that the Jesuits where famous for making.



About 100 feet from the top of the draw the trail makes a sudden turn to the right to continue up along the high point to the right of the draw. Another disappointment in a day filled with them. The saddle looks like such a natural path and there appears to be a massive Fig trail at the summit of the saddle and yet the trail never goes to the saddle.

I follow the trail up and to the right and coming across a small stand of trees I see signs of the Trail Gods. It seems as if I just was gifted a pleasant surprise. Hanging in one of the trees is a 1 Gallon water jug.




When the gods gives you what appears to be a gift, you should not get your hopes up too high. The water jug was empty. Add another disappointment on to the day. It is evening now and I must turn around and find a place to camp tonight.

Retracing my steps and crossing the canyon I had just crossed, I camp near a lone tree on the mesa top. I set up camp in the twilight while marveling at the sharpness of the desert air as the first few stars appear.

I wake up early knowing, in more ways than one, that I had reached the highpoint of my trip and the return was going to be downhill, mostly. The car was parked at 1,480 feet and my turn around point was at 3, 991 feet in elevation.

I had a slight problem to deal with this morning though, one of my shoes was coming apart and the sole was start to flop around. I taped them up as good as I could knowing it would not last for long. I ended taping them 6 or 7 times on the way back and they were even worse shape by the time I reached the car.

I follow the main trail back instead of the nightmare path up the canyon that I was on the day before. It is only an hour or so until I am back at my lunch spot of the previous day. From here on back it will all be on familiar ground and I only have one big decision left to make, do I go down La Rabia or back through San Sebastion?


Pot seen in a random spot on the trail



Coming up the wash past Tres Palmas is pretty much a straight forward hike until you arrive at the mouth of La Rabia. Most sources I saw show the trail that went to the right and through San Sebastion as being a spur or tie trail, while going left and up La Rabia was the more traveled route.

I don't know, I just know that La Rabia was a nightmare last year. While the path I took to San Sebastion was not easy either, it was much easier than La Rabia. So why then dilemma? La Rabia had several good water holes, while the once you left San Sebastion there was no good water. Then there was also the fact that is almost 2 miles shorter via La Rabia, which is at least a couple of hours worth of hiking.

It is not long before I am the point were a decision has to be made and I decided to try going down La Rabia. It starts off easy enough and I have smooth hiking in the upper reaches before I again forced down into the wash. It is another nightmare of boulder climbing and pushing through dense thickets of brush.



Upon reaching the large pools, which is two-thirds of the way down I find myself cliffed out above the pools. I need to backtrack and then cross over to the opposite side of the wash to continue downstream. I really detest backtracking when I am this tired.





Crossing the wash requires walking along fallen palm tree trunks and picking your way across deep piles of fallen palm fronds. I hate having to do that, I am constantly imagining snakes, spiders and scorpions in the dead fronds below my feet and of me falling through fronds in to a mass of creepy, crawling, biting creatures.

It is frightening to me the whole time I am walking on those huge piles dry, crackling palm fronds. I am worried the whole time while working through dense brush that my phone, which is also me gps device, is going to fall out of my pocket. Patting my pocket every couple of hundred feet gives me some relief that it is still there.

Reaching the far side allows my fear of spiders and snakes to recede and another fear to become reality. I now need to climb high above the wash on the steep mountainside and traverse my way downstream until I can regain the wash. There appear to be trails high up on the mountain but they only go on a short distance before they fade out. It so easy to get turned around up there and have something bad happen up there that it actually scares me a little.

High above the wash I find the same fence and gate I came across last year so at least I know am in the right area. Hours later, after several dead ends, I pat my pocket to check on my phone only to find it gone. Hurriedly I check all my pockets several times but my phone is gone.

I am tired and thirsty and now I am worried about having lost my phone. Deciding to backtrack hoping to find it is tiring and I decide to leave my pack. Now I am worried that my phone is lost and I will not be able to find my pack again!

After 15 minutes of walking I come to a wash that looks familiar, I remember checking the map on the phone here to see which way to climb out of the wash. I stop and look around but there is nothing to see. There was a section of the 'trail' where I had to get down on my hands and knees and crawl along a cliff face, did the phone fall out there and slide down the cliff?

Turning around to leave and go look for my backpack I lean over a boulder to look and there is my phone! What a relief! Now, if I can just find my pack.

It is no problem finding my pack and I continue on working my way back down to La Rabia. Once there I soon find a pool and fill up my belly and my bottles with water.

It appears that a storm had come through since last year and there are uprooted trees and piles of brush everywhere. The section of easy trail I had followed through here last year is completely washed away. Hours later, just past sunset I reach the San Sebastion wash and at the first possible campsite I set up camp and go to sleep.




Tomorrow I will be back at the car and I am laying there reminiscing about my last night on my previous hike on the ECR. I had camped near here in 2023 and the wind had howled all night long and I had trouble sleeping, while tonight was calm and quiet and I slept well.

Awakening on my last day I quickly broke camp and was on the trail early. Today had a small surprise in store for me. I found a nice section of the ECR, wide and almost perfectly straight. From there it wasn't long before I was back at the ranch where I had parked several days ago.

No one was home so I left a 8-pack of gatorade on their picnic table and opened the gate to leave. As I went to drive away, Juan and his wife pulled up. They invited me in for a 'Torta' but I sadly declined.



Now it was just a matter of driving the 50 miles of dirt road back to Mex Hwy 1, and then northwards to Villa Jesus Maria and from there a much longer drive to the border and then home.




There was several Deja Vu moments on this trip, one was in 2023 when Francisco at Rancho Nuevo invited me in to his home at the end of the trip, and in 2024 it was Juan at Los Corralles. Of course, there was the issue of taking the wrong path which I did in both 2023 and in 2024.

Then, at Jesus Maria in 2023, I had a conversation with a young couple, they were down Baja for the first time, were surprised at how nice the people were and they where just heading to where ever the winds blow them and on this trip it was a guy on a motorcycle, he was down here for the first time, and he went on how the locals have been extremely nice and helpful (he did not speak so kindly of all the tourists that passed him while he was broken down on the road) and how he to had no set plan on where he was going either.

Other than a rainy day in Southern California it was an uneventful trip home.


To Read about my 2022 Hike click HERE

To read about my 2023 Hike click HERE



[Edited on 10-1-2024 by Fatboy]

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

There is a reason the Padres had locals as guides! I never had a water bottle leak, except when cap was loose. REI sells good pba-free poly bottles that last for decades… literally decades, I got water bottles that have lasted forever, i lose them before I wear them out.

Funny, that in the article you link I actually own and use 2 of the nine products listed. Which is a pretty good percentage considering just how many water bottles are out there.

But, yes, my response was meant to imply the traits the PERFECT water bottle might have.

Your right that when buying from a reputable seller you get what you pay and paying more usually has it's advantages.

I am so thrilled to read your newest installment of a truly epic adventure, John!

Hiking the El Camino Real trail, here built in 1759-1762 as San Borja grew from a visita of Santa Gertrudis to being a mission of its own, has sure been difficult for you... and most anyone, I imaging.

The erosion of trail dirt leaving just bare rocks where a rideable trail had been plus the growth of thorny brush on the 260 year-old road, shows how Nature reclaims what man has done, left to its own.

A review of Harry Crosby's (RIP) book ('The King's Highway in Baja California', 1974) and the recent Google Earth map notes by Kevin & Genevieve in this section ( https://caminorealbaja.com/ ) will be interesting... Thank you!

For readers to orient on your hike area and ranch names, here are ECR maps of that region...



This is the land north of El Arco and south of San Borja in the center of the peninsula.

[Edited on 10-1-2024 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

....... Hiking the El Camino Real trail, here built in 1759-1762 as San Borja grew from a visita of Santa Gertrudis to being a mission of its own, has sure been difficult for you... and most anyone, I imaging. ...... A review of Harry Crosby's (RIP) book ('The King's Highway in Baja California', 1974) and the recent Google Earth map notes by Kevin & Genevieve in this section ( https://caminorealbaja.com/ ) will be interesting... Thank you! ....... [Edited on 10-1-2024 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

Thanks for the good read and photos for your most recent ECR trek. I have an old Nalgene one-liter bottle that I have been using for 30+ years. For the last four months I have been hiking, ...... Jugs like I have described can be reinforced by wrapping them with duct tape; I have done this with good effect in the past. [Edited on 10-1-2024 by cupcake]

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   Thanks for the good read and photos for your most recent ECR trek. I have an old Nalgene one-liter bottle that I have been using for 30+ years. For the last four months I have been hiking, ...... Jugs like I have described can be reinforced by wrapping them with duct tape; I have done this with good effect in the past. [Edited on 10-1-2024 by cupcake] Thanks! As to the water bottles, Nalgene are/were really popular, but for me I was never one to use them. Part of the problems in the desert are thorns puncturing them, duct tape could certainly help with that.

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by David K   ....... Hiking the El Camino Real trail, here built in 1759-1762 as San Borja grew from a visita of Santa Gertrudis to being a mission of its own, has sure been difficult for you... and most anyone, I imaging. ...... A review of Harry Crosby's (RIP) book ('The King's Highway in Baja California', 1974) and the recent Google Earth map notes by Kevin & Genevieve in this section ( https://caminorealbaja.com/ ) will be interesting... Thank you! ....... Thanks, David! I do need look at Kevin and Genevieve site again to se what they show. Crosby's book is kind of vague on the route they took from Rancho Nuevo to San Sebastion, but he did clearly state that they did go to San Sebastion. I need to read that section closer, it seems that some of the times listed do not seem to fit?

I sent Kevin the link to this thread and he replied. Let me see if I can share his reply here... in short, they found that going from north tom south on ECR made it easier to spot the old route in these difficult places.

I recall Harry going via the San Sebastian arroyo rather than the La Rabia one on his travels. Likely due to it being a better route to use in 1967 or that is what his guide used or believed to be the missionaries trail.

Interestingly, on his 1977 edition of the El Camino Real maps, he has the trail north from San Sebastian as being 'well-definesd' (a double line): https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/77winter/images/p24-25.g...



Below is the 1974 'King's Highway in Baja California' Map of that section, followed by the 1977 map:

Quote: Originally posted by David K

in short, they found that going from north tom south on ECR made it easier to spot the old route in these difficult places.

From Kevin of www.CaminoRealBaja.com:

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric

Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, then returning south to the rancho where the car was parked. Gabb, in 1867, mentioned seeing some old arrastras at San Sebastion from an abandoned prospecting effort. I find it usually takes a couple of trips to get the "lay of the land" when exploring an unfamiliar area without any landmarks. Very easy to get disoriented and stray off of the intended route. Maybe those pots hanging in the trees were like "ducks" to help someone remember where the trail was. The El Camino Real web site has some detailed "waypoints" or "breadcrumbs" all along the route, I would think some techie person could load the satellite view of Google earth on to some sort of electronic device with the trail and waypoints shown on it.

The thousands of waypoints do make a breadcrumb trail. Nomad map guru 'geoffff' made some versions (linked) as well as the Benchmark Baja Atlas put their track onto the Atlas...
https://octopup.org/img/misc/davidk/ecr/ecr-davidk.jpg




https://octopup.org/img/misc/davidk/ecr/caminorealbaja-com-t...



The above two and more are on my website page: https://vivabaja.com/hgreal/

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy   Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   Thanks for the good read and photos ...... [Edited on 10-1-2024 by cupcake] ....... I've added a small bear horn to my hiking kit, as I had two close bear sightings recently. The horn should also work well for dogs, coyotes, lions, etc. The horn I have weighs next to nothing and is relatively inexpensive. Bear Horn Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xYYn64uXU [Edited on 10-2-2024 by cupcake] Roughly, what part of the country you in? Bears are interesting, in Grizzly country I carry bear spray but here in Northern California I rarely carry anything for bears. I do have a winter hike planned in February of 2025 here in Plumas County that I will most certainly be carrying bear spray on. One reason is, of course, there are lots of Bears around here, but now there are also wolves. Second reason is because of an odd set of circumstances I will start hiking around midnight and hike until the next morning on the first day.

David,

Here is my path through La Rabia, the flags (g105 ect) are Kevin & Genevieve while my path is the blue line and as you can see they are quite different though a section of it.

Then you compare that with what Crosby wrote..... "After 2 hours...indicated a sudden left turn up a side canyon. ....soon climbing a long cuesta of decomposed granite. ....three hours from the Romero Ranch (Tres Palmas) we had gained over a thousand feet....)

So that put in the neighborhood of La Rabia. It is around 4 miles(probably closer to 4.5 miles) from Tres Palmas to the junction of La Rabia. So that is really close to the '2 hours' and the 'sudden left turn' Crosby talks about.

Also, the upper half of my 'loop' away from the wash, you climb, quite sharply, up a hill of decomposed granite!

Now there surely could could be another 'side canyon' past La Rabia and it could take you up a hill of decomposing granite, but nothing really fits.

The point where I regain the the bed of La Rabia is about 850 above Tres Palmas, so that fits also.

Now I will say that the odd thing is when you go the La Rabia route you have to DROP DOWN to San Sebastion by 350 feet or so. I would tend to believe that Crosby what have also mentioned that, so who knows?????

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric

Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, ..... remember where the trail was. The El Camino Real web site has some detailed "waypoints" or "breadcrumbs" all along the route, I would think some techie person could load the satellite view of Google earth on to some sort of electronic device with the trail and waypoints shown on it.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

It is my belief that when making a track or just locating a prominent place using Google earth is very accurate and duplicable in the field using my GPSs. In the field using a hand held GPS to find that place you created from Google earth requires some movement of the handheld GPS. Then it gives you the correct reading. Creating a Wp using a handheld GPS is not as accurate. It depends on how many satellites are in view and how many channels the GPS has, and if the user allows enough time to allow the satellite to lock. The result is much better when Wp or breadcrumb is part of a track.

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric

Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, then returning south to the rancho where the car was parked.

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy   Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   Thanks for the good read and photos ...... [Edited on 10-1-2024 by cupcake] ....... I've added a small bear horn to my hiking kit, as I had two close bear sightings recently. The horn should also work well for dogs, coyotes, lions, etc. The horn I have weighs next to nothing and is relatively inexpensive. Bear Horn Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xYYn64uXU [Edited on 10-2-2024 by cupcake] Roughly, what part of the country you in? Bears are interesting, in Grizzly country I carry bear spray but here in Northern California I rarely carry anything for bears. I do have a winter hike planned in February of 2025 here in Plumas County that I will most certainly be carrying bear spray on. One reason is, of course, there are lots of Bears around here, but now there are also wolves. Second reason is because of an odd set of circumstances I will start hiking around midnight and hike until the next morning on the first day. My recent close bear sightings were very near the Mankar Flats campgound, which is at about the 6,500 foot level on the south escarpment of Mt. Baldy (Mt. San Antonio), in the San Gabriel range of southern California. My first sighting was at around 8am when a bear walked across the ground that my tent had been on just 5 minutes prior. A daytime sighting of a bear which obviously had no, or little, fear of humans. My second sighting was days later, not too far from the first sighting, and it might have been the same bear. This was also daytime and the bear was walking around a cabin. I've been hiking in this area for decades, with many hundreds of ascents of the local mountains, and this is the best bear sighting I have had (a fact which surprises my friends, who have had a number of bear encounters). I never carried bear deterent in this area before, but will from now on. The fires of this past summer have destroyed a good portion of the food source these bears relied on, which might see them migrating to the unburned areas (such as the Mankar Flats area described above). [Edited on 10-3-2024 by cupcake]

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric   Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, then returning south to the rancho where the car was parked. My understanding is that the car was parked at (or near) the Rancho San Sabastian, and that the direction of hiking was south through the San Sabastian wash towards Tres Palmas. The return to the car was then northward. This is what I see on the topo map that David posted previously (the first map in this thread). While compass direction is not marked on the portion of this posted map, it can be determined by David's statement that it is the section south of San Borja and north of El Arco. Please correct me, anyone, if I am misreading this. [Edited on 10-3-2024 by cupcake]

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric   Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, then returning south to the rancho where the car was parked. My understanding is that the car was parked at (or near) the Rancho San Sabastian, and that the direction of hiking was south through the San Sabastian wash towards Tres Palmas. The return to the car was then northward. This is what I see on the topo map that David posted previously (the first map in this thread). While compass direction is not marked on the portion of this posted map, it can be determined by David's statement that it is the section south of San Borja and north of El Arco. Please correct me, anyone, if I am misreading this. [Edited on 10-3-2024 by cupcake]

Unless specified, maps I post are oriented north, on top.
I see Fatboy cleared up the question of his car and hike direction.
San Sebastian was once a major ranch and appeared on many old maps but is abandoned and nearly vanished today. It is off the original El Camino Real, to the east and downhill from the top of La Rabia canyon where three or more trails converge.
[I hope I got this right, eh Fatboy?]

Los Corrales is shown on the Benchmark Atlas (along with the 'ECR' trail). San Sebastian is not shown but its arroyo is named. It was located near where the trail that splits at San Nicolas comes back together again. The left trail branch is La Rabia. Another La Rabia is on the map, near the bottom. Tres Palmas is located just past the 'ECR' on the map on the right fork a short distance:







[Edited on 10-3-2024 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   Quote: Originally posted by bajaric   Great report, describing second half of the hike north from San Sebastion, then returning south to the rancho where the car was parked. My understanding is that the car was parked at (or near) the Rancho San Sabastian, and that the direction of hiking was south through the San Sabastian wash towards Tres Palmas. The return to the car was then northward. This is what I see on the topo map that David posted previously (the first map in this thread). While compass direction is not marked on the portion of this posted map, it can be determined by David's statement that it is the section south of San Borja and north of El Arco. Please correct me, anyone, if I am misreading this. [Edited on 10-3-2024 by cupcake] No, the car was parked at Los Corralles, which is not on most of the maps. From there I hiked north to Tres Palmas, then on to San Sebastian, then further north another 7 or 8 miles. Then I hiked back south to the car. The ranchos go Rancho Nuevo, in the south and as you go northwards you pass Rancho Los Corralles, and they are both operating ranches. Then further north is Tres Palmas, then even further north is San Sebastian which are just place names for the most part.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Unless specified, maps I post are oriented north, on top. I see Fatboy cleared up the question of his car and hike direction. San Sebastian was once a major ranch and appeared on many old maps but is abandoned and nearly vanished today. It is off the original El Camino Real, to the east and downhill from the top of La Rabia canyon where three or more trails converge. [I hope I got this right, eh Fatboy?] Los Corrales is shown on the Benchmark Atlas (along with the 'ECR' trail). San Sebastian is not shown but its arroyo is named. It was located near where the trail that splits at San Nicolas comes back together again. The left trail branch is La Rabia. Another La Rabia is on the map, near the bottom. Tres Palmas is located just past the 'ECR' on the map on the right fork a short distance: [Edited on 10-3-2024 by David K]

Hi cupcake (reminds me of Guardians of the Galaxy),
All the Baja maps I have available to everyone (most you can zoom in for real close looks) are on my website (VivaBaja.com) on this page: https://vivabaja.com/maps/

More from Kevin of CaminoRealBaja.com

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Unless specified, maps I post are oriented north, on top. I see Fatboy cleared up the question of his car and hike direction. San Sebastian was once a major ranch and appeared on many old maps but is abandoned and nearly vanished today. It is off the original El Camino Real, to the east and downhill from the top of La Rabia canyon where three or more trails converge. [I hope I got this right, eh Fatboy?] Los Corrales is shown on the Benchmark Atlas (along with the 'ECR' trail). San Sebastian is not shown but its arroyo is named. It was located near where the trail that splits at San Nicolas comes back together ... [Edited on 10-3-2024 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

I am not sure what needs downloading. Please tell me which map you can't view

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

John, Do you wear snake gaiters and full leather (snake) trail shoes on your dessert treks? If yes, can you recommend a source for these? [Edited on 10-4-2024 by cupcake]

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

Quote: Originally posted by David K   I am not sure what needs downloading. Please tell me which map you can't view I was able to find and view a good interactive topo map that covers the entire peninsula. I could zoom in, which would add contour lines (changing the elevation intervals). Everything seemed to work properly, but I couldn't see how to download a given screen as a PDF. Perhaps this is not possible and the maps are not equiped with this option. I am old school; I have never owned a tablet, a mobile phone. The maps I take on the trail are the paper type, so I was hoping to download and print some of those maps from your website. [Edited on 10-4-2024 by cupcake]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Have you checked the caltopo.com link? That has the IEGI topo maps and allows customizing.

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   John, Do you wear snake gaiters and full leather (snake) trail shoes on your dessert treks? If yes, can you recommend a source for these? [Edited on 10-4-2024 by cupcake] No, I don't. I know they are popular with many hikers, though. Kevin and Genevieve do, and watch the videos of Cosby trips, he does also...

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

My hiking wear for my local San Gabriels (even when traveling cross country) consists of lycra type tights and Merrell Moab trail shoes; both items I imagine a snake could really sink its fangs into! Looking forward to seeing the maps from your trip, please do post them. [Edited on 10-5-2024 by cupcake]

2024 ECR HIKE KML post

Here is a screen shop of my path it goes Green(DAY 1), Yellow, Blue, White and DAY 5 is Red

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake   My hiking wear for my local San Gabriels (even when traveling cross country) consists of lycra type tights and Merrell Moab trail shoes; both items I imagine a snake could really sink its fangs into! Looking forward to seeing the maps from your trip, please do post them. [Edited on 10-5-2024 by cupcake] I started this hike with a brand new pair of Merrell hiking shoes and 1 came apart on me, kinda sucks, trusted the Merrell name and reputation. While I am kinda careful and watch where I am walking, snakes do not bother me too much it would suck to get bitten.

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

https://filebin.net/5d3tohtydv79do3b John, The above link is to a free online file sharing website. From that webpage, you can download a 23mb PDF I made of 40 topo map sheets for the San Borja to Santa Gertrudis section of the ECR. I don't know if this is anything you can use for the San Sebastian to San Borja section of the ECR that you might do in the future. The file stays available for 6 days (so the website claims), then I will delete this post. The ECR is not marked on these map sheets, but I believe these are the sheets that cover the trail. [Edited on 10-5-2024 by cupcake]

Well done, you!
Here is the northernmost map you made:

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Awesome... and after watching Star Trek (the movie with Chris Pine), I realized my earlier 'cupcake' reference (to Guardians of the Galaxy) was wrong... It was in Star Trek, bar fight scene.

Quote: Originally posted by cupcake

John, Do you wear snake gaiters ... a source for these? Also, I would like to know what make/model of water filter you carry, and how well you like it. [Edited on 10-4-2024 by cupcake]

Missed that second question, I use a Sawyer Mini Squeeze filter and it does just fine.

It is easy to plug up, but also easy to back flush.

Here are some places I get water from.....

A listed spring, it can be hard to get water from sources like this without getting a bunch of silt.




A stock tank on the trail, this was fairly good tasting water....




This was one of only 4 springs listed in 20 square miles. I spent several hours trying to free them, sinking in mud up to my waist and getting a terrible sunburn.



This is the water from where the cows were, I took some because I had no choice.

It was in the high 90's that day and I had miles to go to get to the next water source, that was NOT a fun day.




There was a bad drought in Baja in 2022 and several 'waterholes' had dead cows near them and no water.



[Edited on 10-7-2024 by Fatboy]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

John, do you ever dig a hole ....and contaminated? I am thinking of Naked and Afraid episodes where that is a common practice.