BajaNomad

El Rosario and more, 7-05 (Part 8, Agua Dulce)

David K - 8-2-2005 at 07:59 AM

Agua Dulce (Sweet Water) was an important spring along the Camino Real between Mision Santa Maria and Mision San Fernando. During the construction of Highway One, in 1973, road crews bulldozed the spring for easy access to water trucks as water was needed for highway construction. The spring is 2.0 miles from Highway One over a fair road.

A good access road was found by Neal Johns after I had used the original construction access road (badly washed out) a couple years ago... that original road is at Km. 157-158. The improved, shorter access is at Km. 160-161, just south of a small 'rancho on the west side of Mex. 1. The road goes east (left) from the highway and travels 1.4 miles to where it intersects with the original dirt road to La Paz (pre-1973).

The Baja Almanac shows Arroyo Agua Dulce (Map 16, D-5) crossing the highway... however, the highway is wrong... that is actually the old main road location 1.4 miles east of the actual highway location. The spring is 1/4 mi. up the arroyo from the (incorrect) highway crossing, on the map.

In this photo, my truck is at the junction of the access road and the old main road (the original Baja/Mexican 1000 course), 1.4 mi. from Mex. 1...

David K - 8-2-2005 at 08:00 AM

There is a boojum with flowers and bees pollinating... I take this photo...

Bruce R Leech - 8-2-2005 at 08:02 AM

David do you have a photo of the spring?

David K - 8-2-2005 at 08:10 AM

Traveling northward on the original transpeninsular road, we go 0.3 mi. to a fork, Agua Dulce is 0.3 mi. more, to the right (east). A lone blue palm in a gully to the left is your marker sign. The water hole is just north of it.

Nearing the spring, there is a ton of quail trying to escape... Baja Angel says to look up, and this tree was filled with butterfly... A butterfly bush?

N29?52.97'/ W114?49.38' (NAD27)

David K - 8-2-2005 at 08:15 AM

Standing near the large spring is Baja Angel... Early Baja travelers, including missionairies and native Indians all came here over the hundreds of years of Baja history.

Additional photos here at http://vivabaja.com/1102 and http://vivabaja.com/neal2

Cattle and bees use the spring now, so we stay clear of the water!

[Edited on 8-2-2005 by David K]

David K - 8-2-2005 at 08:20 AM

Returning to my truck, we look back and take a last photo that shows the blue palm...

David K - 8-2-2005 at 08:26 AM

Nearing Highway One, we stop and size up a boojum tree and check the flowers...

Next: Coco's Corner, Rancho Grande, El Huerfanito and Shell Island (near Laguna Percebu), stay tuned!

[Edited on 8-2-2005 by David K]