BajaNomad

Valle Chico Trip, March 2005

Arthur - 4-28-2005 at 02:15 PM

Author?s note: In typing up these pages, which I composed daily while were on our trip, I can?t avoid being painfully aware of how comical ? or even frustrating ? the details of our sometimes-confused wanderings could be to someone who knows this territory well, or has approached it with a GPS or a knowledgeable friend. Let me assure one and all, however, that while we now wish we?d had a GPS, and had not taken an early shortcut, and had relied more on David K?s hand-drawn map, we were fully prepared for a week in the desert, and the desert is where we wanted to be. I think everyone who has been down that way can understand that I would rather be down there living those days again than doing virtually anything that I can think of up here. And I will be taking that shortcut again.

Friday, 3/25/05
Left Oakland around 7 am, drove straight through. Found ourselves outside El Centro about 12 hours later ? running out of gas, the Check Engine light glowing, and the freeway exit for Holtville (where Nomad Bufeo had recommended a hotel) closed. Kept heading east, took the next exit, and turned north toward El Centro, rolling along aimlessly through the rapidly darkening farmland, tempted to head for any light that we could see. Suddenly the giant orange orb of the moon appeared over the eastern horizon. It was a beautiful sight, with the sky somehow still blue and the fields glowing a deep green. Shortly thereafter we rolled right into Holtville, found a gas station, and got directions to the Barbara Worth Resort.

The place is truly an oasis, with giant trees that I?ll bet are over 100 years old looming over the parking lot and surrounded by farmland and a golf course. A $20 seafood buffet was laid out in the dining room, and we made good use of it. The engine looked (and sounded) fine when I looked under the hood, so we decided not to look for a mechanic with a code reader.

Saturday, 3/26/05
Got a leisurely start and headed out a farm road to Highway 98 and the east Calexico border crossing. Spent too long searching for good rum in Mexicali; saw no Flor de Cana or the standard (yellow-label) Havana Club that we enjoyed so much in Loreto. Settled for a couple 750?s of the dark Havana Club Anejo ? a fine thing to have along in any case ? and a liter of Appleton?s to keep in reserve. Hit lots of returning Easter traffic on the two-lane road south to San Felipe, entered the Sierra San Pedro de Martir around 4:30 and took the shortcut off the East Valley Road that connects to the West Valley Road north of Canyon El Cajon. Thought we had gotten as far as Canyon Agua Caliente, but couldn?t reconcile either the Almanac or David K?s maps with the features on the ground ? and we didn?t have a GPS. Checked out El Cajon (which involves a tough climb out of a streambed before the road ends anyway) and Canyon Barroso (which looked in our headlights like it had a dwelling at the canyon mouth), then made a dry camp on a side road that dead-ended against the mountains south of El Cajon. It was beautiful, of course: Lots of ocotillo, and a view of the Sierra San Pedro de Martir to the west and the Sierra San Felipe to the east.

Sunday, 3/27/05
Woke to a beautiful red-and-orange banded sunrise over the Sierra San Felipe, while the Sierra San Pedro de Martir to the west glowed red. Broke camp and headed south to take another shot at finding Canyon Agua Caliente and the spot where the East Valley Road comes in. Looked in vain for landmarks; as it turned out, our shortcut had put us onto the West Valley Road way short of where we thought we were. Couldn?t find anything resembling the Plan Agricultural, but located a settlement that we thought must mark Canyon Agua Caliente. No idea of how to get up into the canyon by road, which David K had done last year. No wonder ? we figured out later that we were at Algodon. Headed north, missed the sand track to Canyon Barroso that we had taken last night, and found Canyon El Cajon again.

Talked to a Mexican family out for a Sunday outing and confirmed the name of the canyon. They also showed us pictographs on the underside of a large overhanging rock just down from a large metal tank that supplied some settlement downstream but was also set up for swimming. Finally we know where we were. Parked just before the stream crossing and walked way up into the canyon beyond the dam, to where the stream does a radical ?S,? almost doubling back on itself. Returned to a shady, rocky spot well above the dam which has a small waterfall and lots of granite-colored frogs crouched in cracks in the rock. Took a good bath, and reveled in the water. Hiked back out to the truck and drove south. Didn?t see any other canyons, but found the track to Canyon Barroso, which has an intricate ocotillo fence and a flow that stopped at about that point. No human habitation. In the middle of a tumbledown corral, someone had impaled a worn-out washtub on a post. As Dick said, in the US it wold be full of bullet holes.

Camped near the wash ? below where the water stopped, but close enough. A small wet strip at the center of the wash marked where the stream coming out of the canyon recently ran. In the stillness after dark -- the whole area was amazingly still -- we could hear the water flowing 150 yards up the canyon near the ocotillo fence. A warmer night than the night before; a ring around the moon. We felt like people must have felt camping in the US before campgrounds and all the junk that goes with them had been created.

Monday, 3/28/05
Awoke to an overcast day, a muted sunrise. More bird noises now. Hung our small cooler from a tree in the wash and draped wet towels over it to make an improvised swamp cooler. Our rum and fruit juice bob in a collapsible French army-surplus water bucket, which keeps things surprisingly cold. No cold beer and no ice cubes on this trip. To our surprise, there was a thin band of water flowing all the way down the wash and out of sight. Did it rain somewhere? Is this snowmelt from yesterday? Should we be camping this close to the wash?

Canyon Barroso can be identified by wide horizontal bands of white granite on two pyramidal peaks set back between the slanting walls that form the mouth of the canyon. These markers disappear for awhile when you start hiking up the canyon, but the rock you?re walking on offers quite a jumble of bands and dikes of differing material with water cascading and pooling over them, broad granite slabs stained with rust, and sprinklings of mica and garnet here and there. We saw the same thin white dikes in Canyon Agua Caliente, where, as David K has noted, one swoops down into the canyon to point directly to the hot springs. Few cows had made it past the elaborate fence, but several of them had never made it back out again. Fortunately, they were, by and large, pretty dried out and eviscerated, and none of them were lying directly in the water.

Once again we walked a long way up into the canyon. When we finally decided to turn around, we had our pick of beautiful places to bathe, although shade was hard to find. When we returned to camp the little creek in the middle of the wash was running well, but in fact it was already receding, and as the sun went down we saw that it was now underground again from the point where the fence went across the mouth of the canyon.

The overcast that had made hiking quite comfortable burned off late in the day, and I walked back up the canyon to improve a little pool that I had noticed. There was also shade on the sand bank nearby, so I had my choice of reading in the shade or sitting in the pool up against a little waterfall and gazing down the wash all the way to the Sierra San Felipe. Several hummingbirds came around, and there were many varieties of desert wildflowers. No one had come up the road since we arrived the day before. Life is good.

Copyright 2005 by Arthur Comings

(To be continued)



[Edited on 5-3-2005 by Arthur]

David K - 4-28-2005 at 03:37 PM

Baja is a magic place, 'eh Arthur?

My map, or any is only designed to tease you enough to explore and make your own discoveries. No number of photos or GPS waypoints can rob anyone of making new discoveries of their own. Baja California is far too special to be so easily revealed.

Thanks for sharing your travels with your amigos here!

David K - 4-28-2005 at 03:44 PM

Here is the map, if it helps to follow Arthur's trip report with...
Barroso canyon is between El Cajon and Algodon...

Arthur - 4-28-2005 at 04:48 PM

Thanks for posting the map, David. That's the very one that we came to rely on heavily. Barroso is the first canyon south of El Cajon. We also went up into the next one, Novillo.

The shortcut that I mention extends from about the "T" in "East Valley Road" southwest to the "3.4" on West Valley Road on David's map.

If you redraw that map, David, maybe you can put in the shortcut. I actually prefer it to taking the East Valley Road the whole way. We got into some pretty big sand dunes on that road as we headed home.

David K - 4-28-2005 at 05:00 PM

Thanks Artrhur, I suspected that one or both roads going east, off the 'west valley road' (north of El Cajon) did cross over to the 'east valley road'... at a point about 6.8 or 6.9 miles south of the original Ensenada- San Felipe road, at the top of the map. I show the east end of it on my other maps, but didn't include the junction on this one because I didn't travel it last year or mention it in my trip report on the Exotic Canyons...

The east valley road has always been super fast, graded road from near Algodon all the way to Hwy. 5... surprised you found so much drift sand on it!



[Edited on 4-29-2005 by David K]

Arthur - 4-28-2005 at 05:09 PM

It was the kind of place where (with the 2WD Prerunner) I just keep my speed up and hope that my momentum and whatever the rear wheels can contribute will carry me through. I didn't even care for the road north of the sandy spots (which were right by a working ranch, if that places them for you). There was plenty of washboarding, and you're out in the open, between the two ranges. On the West Valley Road you're close up to that range, and the "shortcut," when it comes, is a nice, hard-packed "unimproved" desert track.

David K - 4-28-2005 at 05:12 PM

Here's (part of) my map from several years ago, and it shows that short cut junction... there was a sign then labled 'El Cajon'...

I cut it to just the valley, so it was small enough top post here, and still see details...



[Edited on 4-29-2005 by David K]

Good stuff...

Mike Humfreville - 4-28-2005 at 07:05 PM

Looking forward to a continuing thread. That's barren country. Several of us tried to get up to another canyon, Matomi, via different route using David's maps. The maps were correct, but the road was horrible and we turned back because my pal hadn't filled his gas tank. Was I whizzed? You bet!

Glad you had fun and looking forward to the next segment.

bajalou - 4-28-2005 at 08:48 PM

A couple coments - on your second (older map) what we call Cross Valley Rd is the one you show going to rancho El Cajon, It continues straight past hitting West Valley rd just north of the turn to Canon El Cajon. I drove across the sand Arthur was talking about one windy afternoon and returned 30 min later and had to find the road all over again. Where there's any sand, the wind can change things in nothing flat.

There is another road across the valley, just S of the cattlegard on East Valley rd. about where the "12.5" is. Heads straight west past a ranch now housing a drug and alcohol rehab.

All this gives me the reasons you are so excited about here. As I have been for quite a while.

:biggrin:

Neal Johns - 4-28-2005 at 11:17 PM

Arthur, Now you are a REAL Nomad. Girliemen don't get semi-lost! :lol::lol::lol:

Arthur - 4-29-2005 at 08:00 AM

We checked out that other road, Lou, but coming from the West Valley Road. It runs right along a fenceline that we thought for awhile must be the fenceline that appears to the south on David's map. Soon after you leave the West Valley Road, there's an abandoned spread to the north consisting of a plywood house and a water tank. It's kinda sad to see these places and to imagine all the hard work and dreams that went into them before people finally gave up the fight.

Lou, it looks like we'll be in town (my son and I) the long weekend starting May 13th. Are you going to be at the flea market? How can we tell who you are?

bajalou - 4-29-2005 at 08:09 AM

I'll be here on the 13th and maybe the 14th, if so, I'll be at the flea market at around 730-8am. By 830 it's kind of shutting down. Email me and maybe we can set something up for Fri evening? I'll be out of town from the 15th thru 18th.

bajalou - 4-29-2005 at 08:11 AM

And let's hear about the rest of your Valle Chico trip.

:biggrin:

David K - 4-29-2005 at 08:24 AM

Here's slightly more recent photo of BajaLou!

meme - 4-29-2005 at 08:39 AM

LOU! IS there still a Flea Market going on in May? We thought it was finished for the season the end of April?

bajalou - 4-29-2005 at 09:00 AM

Meme - heard from a couple people it'll go till Memorial day. Time will tell I expect.

:biggrin:

Arthur - 4-29-2005 at 09:10 AM

Now, that is some kind of early-closing flea market!

The valle

bajalou - 4-29-2005 at 09:13 AM

Here is a shot of the roads we've been talking about with the road into Agua Caliente the longest line heading west (left) near the bottom of the picture.

The track which apears to be a southern extension of East Valle Rd is a race road - not for usual traffic.

The very short line near the center (heading west) is to the corral in El Cajon.

The lines heading E and NE are thru canyons not used for everyday traffic and not for 2WD.

:biggrin:

burro bob - 4-29-2005 at 12:09 PM

Arthur
When you were here in Cajon----

burro bob - 4-29-2005 at 12:15 PM

You were less than 100 yards from these finger paintings. This is a small part of the pinturas on this rock.
You were only half way to the "Pato de Gallo" where a the three branches of Cajon come togeather.
Sounds like you had a great trip. Canyon Cajon is easy to find, most everybody ends up there when they go south at Morelia junction, into the mountains.
burro bob

Arthur - 4-29-2005 at 01:58 PM

That water spot looks like where we washed off the sweat. We looked for the pinturas at the mouth of the canyon but saw only the ones that I described. Where are these beauties?

burro bob - 5-2-2005 at 05:07 PM

Arthur
You were looking at the boulder they are under when you were in that pool. They are on the south side of the canyon under the biggest boulder within a 100 yards of the pool.
burro bob

David K - 5-2-2005 at 06:12 PM

I missed them as well Arthur... we met Burro Bob after we hiked out... an he told us about them. The only petro we saw (Jide spotted it), was up on the cliff, north side, not far inside the fence from the parking spot.

Arthur - 5-2-2005 at 07:20 PM

David, not sure what you mean by the parking spot, but on the north side would put it across the creek, right? My buddy looked pretty carefully and couldn't find anything up on that wall of the canyon.

Bob, thanks for the tip. And it gives me another reason to go back up the canyon. It would be good to see that place where the 3 rivers join, but, jeez, we walked a long way that day. That shot of the water hole is great -- I stuck it on my desktop and the resolution looks fine.

David K - 5-2-2005 at 09:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Arthur
David, not sure what you mean by the parking spot, but on the north side would put it across the creek, right? My buddy looked pretty carefully and couldn't find anything up on that wall of the canyon.

Bob, thanks for the tip. And it gives me another reason to go back up the canyon. It would be good to see that place where the 3 rivers join, but, jeez, we walked a long way that day. That shot of the water hole is great -- I stuck it on my desktop and the resolution looks fine.


Well, we parked near the fence, on the south side of the arroyo (up on the bank)... Walked through the cattle opening... and very soon jide saw the big pintura on the right/ north face (before the tank)... he climbed up for a photo, but it didn't show very well on film.

Here is the water tank in El Cajon...