The Trip That Wasn?t

It was supposed to be a trip to tie up loose ends. Accompanied by my wife, Marian and two Huskies, along with Gary (Cranky) Thomas in his S-10, we set out a week ago to check on a few things passed by previously because of lack of time. The first of these was to drive up the arroyo that goes by Santa Inez (next to Catavina) and see how far it could be run in a 4x4. Another was to take Highway 5 to La Ventana and GPS track the go-around that TW found at the end of the Pole Line Road (and to leave a message for Ken?s group). We changed some dollars for pesos and headed for Ensenada to pick up Cranky?s friend, Mariano, his spry 80 year old hunting buddy I had met once before. Halfway down, Cranky stopped to check out his errant automatic transmission and pronounced it dying. Barely making to Mariano?s house, it was no surprise that Mariano knew just the place to take it and get it checked. When a much younger man, before that smooth, black stuff called pavement, he drove a truck the length of the peninsula for years and knows everyone. He lived in an adobe in El Rosario with Mama Espinosa as a friend of the family doing his formative years, and it served him well.

The transmission required parts, so we transferred all the stuff into Mariano?s Isuzu and took off to El Rosario. Arriving without incident, after dinner at Mama?s, we ?camped? in the immaculately clean llantera belonging to a friend of his (19 on David K?s 2006 El Rosario map). The next morning we headed south and took a detour to Agua Dulce off the old road where Mariano told us that it was the place that El Marmol got its water. Continuing on the old road past La Virgen, we stopped at the Museum a few miles north of Catavina. It contains storyboards about the local environment. I particularly enjoyed the picture of the Gopher Snake that was used to illustrate the Rattlesnake story. We drove the few miles to Santa Inez and headed up the sand wash. We got a few hundred yards and the Isuzu was stuck. Investigation showed no front wheel drive. Back to the hard ground at Santa Inez for troubleshooting where we found the end of the half axle had lost the clip holding it so the spines would drive the wheel. Even worse, the spines were gone so there was no groove for the clip. Time to regroup. We went back to near La Virgen and took the 2wd road alongside Arroyo Guillermo to where the palm filled canyon starts and camped early.

The next morning, we parted company and we both headed home, Cranky and Mariano went to visit Rancho La Bocana, a few miles west (lots of water in the arroyo!), and Marian and I went back up the sand wash by Santa Inez to be skunked by boulders in two miles that require a Jeep-Jeep or quad to get by. Are you listening, Ken Cooke?

Heading north on Hwy. 1, we took the San Pedro Martir Observatory paved road for about ten miles and camped under a bridge for the night. The next morning, we went halfway to the Observatory and cut over north, planning to take a road on the Baja Almanac that headed back down to Highway 1. This proved to be, ah, interesting, as the road started to climb over 1000 feet and was obviously used as the November Baja 1000 course. Finally getting to the top of rolling hills near Rancho Buena Vista without incident, we left the race course and started down a two-track. Well, sometimes it was a one track. This did not bode well for our poor old 170,000 mile Toyota with pop-top camper on it. We continued over and downward, repairing a couple of washouts until it became obvious that the road was not going to make it ? at least we were not going to make it. Failure! We turned tail and made it back to the top of the hills and had lunch on a deserted, ?ditched? - to prevent drug runner use - airfield.

After lunch, we went back a few miles to the race course and rode the ridge tops of the two foot berms a few miles to Rancho El Coyote and a good graded road to the Observatory pavement. In a little while, we passed through Ensenada, took the road to Tecate, camped for the night at Area 51, out secret camp spot, crossed the border the next morning with a half-hour wait, and fueled by Burger King, we were soon home in Lytle Creek.

[Edited on 3-28-2006 by Neal Johns]

[Edited on 3-28-2006 by Neal Johns]

[Edited on 3-29-2006 by Neal Johns]

Neil----that is my kind of story-----

Thanks for posting it-------The stuff about the splines being missing on the Isuzu was interesting, if not a little dis-concerting.

geez son!!!

Neal, guess the trip plans gave way to common sense once again.........glad you and Marian made it home without difficulty. We'll try the ol' Jeep at Santa Ynez one of these days if Ken doesn't beat me to it.

Signed, dad

Rancho La Bocana site

In The 'bajataco' link, they follow the photos of Mision Santa Maria... There are a few of the petros and wet looking valley at La Bocana... then they arrived at the Pacific in the SECRET SURF AREA we aren't allowed to say anything about