Jack Swords - 4-9-2004 at 01:00 PM
Just got back from San Pedro Martir Mission. Drove 2 1/2 hours from Meling Ranch to trailhead and hiked to San Antonio, San Isadoro, and Mission San
Pedro Martir. Total was 23.55 miles on my pedometer, one way. Had to do some brush busting. Mission site was clean of brush due to a fire, lots of
wildflowers, all streams full flowing with clear water. Got some good photos. Attached is overview shot of the mission site from nearby mountain.
Group included myself, Matt, Hudson, Steve, Brooks, Richard. Snow closed road to park at entrance, we had rain, hail, thunder, lightning.
There is a good window for this hike with lots of water, flowers, cool temps, and brush diminished by fire. It is regrowing and will make future
hikes difficult. This is a moderately tough hike. Details to follow. Photos to follow.
Jack Swords
Congradulations!
Don Jorge - 4-9-2004 at 02:14 PM
Mr. Swords you are the man! And to think D Rat is going up the eastide to El Diablo right now! Thanks so much for the inspiration and showing us 50
year old puppies how it is done!!!! Happy Easter!
Jorge
San Pedro Martir
academicanarchist - 4-9-2004 at 03:32 PM
Jack. Great picture, and thanks for the report. I am attaching Peveril Meigs's diagram of the ruins, as they existed in 1926.
attaboy Jack!!
thebajarunner - 4-9-2004 at 04:53 PM
I could not be with you in person (alas) but was with you in spirit and urging you on.
Glad the brush was not too bad, 23+ miles each way, not bad for old geezers!
Looking forward to the fotos with great interest.
Ligaments permitting we hope to do a short hike in Hetch Hetchy-Yosemite on Saturday April 24, any chance to come up and join us?
Will be pretty wimpy by your standards, but a beautiful hike nonetheless...
Baja Arriba!!
by the way??
thebajarunner - 4-9-2004 at 05:06 PM
Jack,
Was it pretty cold at night?
8000' had to be brisk...
also, did you take the horses and/or pack critters?
that had to be a big help for that long of a trek.
how was the topography? lots of ups or pretty level??
again>>>> good show!!!
Mission San Pedro Martir
Jack Swords - 4-9-2004 at 06:03 PM
Robert, Meig's drawing is exactly what's there. Each of the lines is evident. The N side of the photo is the lower right. We had the drawing at the
site.
Dick, We came up from the south, not the north, via San Isadoro. The 8100 ft trail was closed by weather. Some frost in the AM, perfect days for
hiking. Used a mule to carry some gear, vaquero from Meling Ranch who had run cattle in the area. He knew every square inch of the territory. Earlier
fire had cleared brush, but he said it's still passable when overgrown.
Photo: SPM Mission Plateau
Desertbull - 4-9-2004 at 07:51 PM
Like the boyz of yesteryear...Great job gentlemen!!! Excellent Baja report!
pappy - 4-12-2004 at 08:13 PM
it was a journey well worth the effort! If any of you have an interest to see this beautiful location and what remains of an extensive mission
compound, I HIGHLY recommend going within the next 2-3 years before the brush on top grows back.It is also a god idea to be in relatively fair shape,
especially if you are going to carry a backpack, as the ascent can be challenging.It truly is beautiful country, in particular rancho San Antonio.If
you want to go hook up with Jack and he can clue you in or go direct to Duane Meling-she is a gem!
Matt
SPM Mission Hike
Jack Swords - 4-13-2004 at 09:30 AM
Matt, how about posting a trip report? This is a great hike with many stream crossings, wild flowers, geological formations, old mines, and then
the most isolated mission in Baja. Several experienced hikers have tried to get there in the past few years, but all failed. It is very doable. The
mission site is awesome, particularly with a full moon.
Photo: one partial mission wall
Mexitron - 4-14-2004 at 07:16 PM
Hey Jack!
Thanks again for leading a great trip up to the mission......my feet have almost healed, so I'm getting ready to do some more!
I was rereading Graham's attempt at the mission and it sounds like he was very close--I think he was on top of the Sierra San Miguel, because he came
back down thru the abandoned pot farms.
Maybe I can get some GPS tracking points from Brooks, as well as info on the mines to help put together a trip report with pappy.....actually, it
would be easier if we had Richard's pics to help remind us of all the points of interest--we'll wait for the cd!
Sure would be fun to be part of a trail cutting crew to open the path up......
Hope your drive back to SLO wasn't too bad. After the mission trip we went to Matomi Canyon and lazed about in the pools there licking our wounds and
eating Matt's great BBQ food and Hudson's awesome pit baked pork loin---whatever weight we lost on the trek I think we put back on. Only real bummer
of the whole nine days in Baja was driving back thru the chewed up Matomi narrows and out thru San Felipe on Easter Sunday when everybody was heading
home--some guy even rear-ended me on the main highway north of town where the federale checkpoint had caused major traffic jams and
bedlam--fortunately his car took all the impact--for me only a couple dings and my bumper was pushed in a little--normal Baja wear and tear. I let
that one go rather than get caught in a Mexican Police situation.
Anybody else get snarled up in that traffic jam?
Anyway, great trip to the mission--that one will stand out for me. And high praise to Soren Meling, Alfredo and Scott for blazing the trail. Say
hello to Richard for me.
wilderone - 4-15-2004 at 08:22 AM
Where, exactly is the trailhead? Was there a trail, or cross-country with compass? Fantastic trip - thanks for sharing.
Mexitron - 4-15-2004 at 10:11 AM
The trailhead is the end of the dirt road from Vallardes to Rancho San Antonio....the road stops about halfway down a mountain, from there its about a
mile hike to Rio San Antonio and Rancho San Antonio. From there you need a map/GPS or guide because the trail, while quite evident in some places,
goes thru stream crossings and up seasonally flooded sandy washes; also, the trail leaves the El Horno drainage and goes up the Secundino drainage,
only to return to the El Horno again---a topo map with good trail markings and GPS points would get you there.
Isolation
academicanarchist - 4-15-2004 at 11:37 AM
The isolation of the site is one of the major reasons why San Pedro Martir did not survive long. A second was the limited agricultural potential.
There is very little data on the mission:
San Pedro
Year Wheat Corn Barley
1795 200 25
1796 600 30
1797
1798 400 14
1799
1800 300 6
1801 300 10 20
San Pedro Martir
Cattle Sheep Goats Year
255 52 78 1795
358 45 88 1796
70 70 103 1797
400 300 43 1798
1799
600 400 300 1800
700 500 150 1801
Population
58 1794
108 1795
100 1796
99 1797
90 1798
94 1799
92 1800
89 1801
92 1802
91 1803
92 1804
83 1805
92 1806
1807
91 1808
Mexitron - 4-15-2004 at 01:45 PM
I'd believe it.....a short growing season(5,000' elev.) and porous granitic soils are not conducive to grain or vegies. Not too bad for livestock
though......
.......one wonders why the mission wasn't built at Rancho San Isidoro as it was originally thought of as a magnificent site by the padres.
San Pedro Martir
academicanarchist - 4-15-2004 at 03:43 PM
They chose the site to relocate the mission to because of the presence of natives who lived in the vicinity. The Dominicans in the missions down on
the coast probably supplied extra food to the mission, but there was never more than about 100 neophytes. The natives moved to Santo Domingo when they
decided to close the mission.
Mexitron - 4-15-2004 at 04:00 PM
Just out of curiosity, were gold or lumber supply ulterior motives as well? There were some mines on the way up to the mission....
lumber maybe
academicanarchist - 4-15-2004 at 06:32 PM
Lumber for building. Have seen nothing about gold.
San Pedro Martir de Verona
academicanarchist - 4-15-2004 at 07:03 PM
Keep in mind that the Dominicans established the mission at another site, and then relocated it.
Mexitron - 4-15-2004 at 08:04 PM
Thats true, at La Grulla, apparently.....can't imagine trying to grow anything except pines up there!
Yes
academicanarchist - 4-15-2004 at 08:24 PM
That is exactly what happened. The first crop was destroyed by frost, and they realized that the site was too high.
One more bit of data
academicanarchist - 4-16-2004 at 05:32 AM
This graph shows the population of San Pedro Martir, along with several other missions.
Mexitron - 4-16-2004 at 09:03 AM
I can't seem to open that file--I have Microsoft Works Suite, but not Excel.....
That is probably why
academicanarchist - 4-16-2004 at 01:00 PM
You have to have excel. Let me see what I can do.
Population of San Pedro Martir
academicanarchist - 4-16-2004 at 03:49 PM
Let's see if this works. Sorry for the delay in posting this. If you have any problems opening it, we will try something else.
[Edited on 4-16-2004 by academicanarchist]
Mexitron - 4-16-2004 at 07:45 PM
Got it! Thanks.......guess it was hard to grow missions with declining populations....
Populations
academicanarchist - 4-17-2004 at 05:44 PM
The missionaries were able to develop the missions with native labor. However, as you point out, the natives had a bad habit of dying off very
quickly. Actually, the building complex at San Pedro Martir was fairly well developed, based upon Meigs description of the mission site in 1926.
pappy - 4-17-2004 at 06:39 PM
yep- from the ruins you could tell it was a very extensive compound...
SPM
academicanarchist - 4-18-2004 at 08:28 AM
I am in California for several days to attend a funeral. When I get back to Texas, I will dig out what information there is on building construction
at SPM. The missionaries were required to prepare annual reports on the missions, and they included details on building construction. There are
recrods from about 1794-1801.
SPM Mission GPS track
Taco de Baja - 4-18-2004 at 08:53 AM
Attached (hopefully) is a GPS track of our route to the mission.
SPM Mission GPS track
Taco de Baja - 4-18-2004 at 08:58 AM
Here is an overhead view.
The mountain with the red dot in the upper right is Diablo.
SPM elevation track
Taco de Baja - 4-18-2004 at 09:21 AM
And finally here is the elevation track.
The elevations are correct, but The scale on the bottom should be in Miles, as the total miles is around 17, according to my GPS.
maps
Taco de Baja - 4-18-2004 at 10:51 AM
The white is just an elevation change.
I set it up so the elevation grades from tan-green-white.
The approx values are:
tan less than 2,500'
green 2,500'-7,500'
white 7,500'-9,500'
red 9,500'+
The map was grenerated using digital elevation models (DEM) from a NASA space shuttle flight in 1999 (accuracy is around 90 meters per pixel).
Mexitron - 4-18-2004 at 12:48 PM
Hey, Baja Taco, is that you Brooks? Parched! Excellent Maps!
3DEM
bajalou - 4-18-2004 at 03:23 PM
Baja Toco - great map with your track on it. the graph really shows what you accomplished on that climb.
Mexitron - 4-18-2004 at 09:13 PM
Jack Swords and friend Richard--almost at the mission--note recent fire has cleared chapparral.....Sierra San Pedro Martir proper is behind
them...we're at about 5,000'.
Mexitron - 4-18-2004 at 09:18 PM
Baja Taco, Huddo, and pappy on their way up the steep 2,000' face of the Sierra San Miguel.
This forum is much richer, now!
David K - 4-18-2004 at 09:46 PM
Thanks to new Nomads like Mexitron and Baja Taco! These maps and photos are just wonderful! Graham Mackintosh will really enjoy them... I will send
him the link tonight!
FYI: We now have two Baja Tacos... the first is 'bajataco' (Chris of Arizona). His web site is http://www.bajataco.com taco is short for Tacoma (Toyota truck). Brooks is 'Baja Taco' (the map man)!
Talented hikers
Jack Swords - 4-19-2004 at 06:52 AM
Wow, a pleasure to have hiked in with such amiable and talented people! Need to plan more trips like this.
Photo: a bit of brush busting on the way to the mission. (there was a lot more)
Mexitron - 4-19-2004 at 08:59 PM
And here's the awesome tres vaqueros who guided us: Soren Meling, Alfredo, and Scott, L to R
SPM
academicanarchist - 4-20-2004 at 05:18 PM
This has turned out to be a great thread, sharing information.
Building Construction in the Dominican Missions
academicanarchist - 4-21-2004 at 06:48 AM
I am going to append several tables that summarize building construction in the Dominican missions, including San Pedro Martir.
Building Construction Reported at Rosario Mission, 1794-1800
1793: The church was an adobe structure with dimensions of 46 x 9 varas.
1794: A new cemetery opened.
1795: Two infirmaries built, one for men and the other for women. Other structures built included a forge and a wing of habitations for Indian
converts.
1796: Existing buildings repaired, and a corral built.
1797: Existing buildings repaired and reroofed.
1798: A dispenary 8 varas long built.
1799: An adobe structure and oratory built at Rancho San Jose. The mission was moved to San Jose about three years later.
1800: Four adobe structures built including a storeroom that measured 12 x 6 varas, a kitchen, forge, and weaving room.
_________________________________
Source: Annual Reports, Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, D.F., Misiones 2 and Provincias Internas 19; Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., Missions and
Missionaries of California: Lower California, 2nd edition (Mission Santa Barbara, 1929), 613-614.
Building Construction Reported at Santo Domingo Mission, 1793-1801
1793: The church reportedly was a structure of adobes and poles measuring 18 x 8 varas.
1794: A new cemetery was laid out, and an adobe structure and adobe corral were built.
1795: The church was lengthened by 20 varas, and walls on existing structures were raised. Corridors with pillars were added to existing structures.
An underground storeroom to store wine was built. Other projects begun in 1795 and completed in the following year included a residence for the
servants, a kitchen and common (dining?) area, and a bell tower with two arches. All structures were whitewashed.
1796: An adobe structure measuring 50 varas in length was built at Rancho San Telmo. The building contained a reception room, bedroom, granary,
dispensary, and chapel. A corral and residence for the overseer were also built.
1797: A stone corral was built that also helped to control run-off. An irrigation ditch 2 leagues long was built to irrigate the fields. Stream waters
near the mission were blocked by a large sand dune and could not be used when the level of the water was low. Flooding by the stream also damaged the
fields by depositing sand. A chapel was built at San Telmo, and three structures begun in 1796 were completed with the addition of a roof. Structures
at San Telmo were whitewashed.
1798: A new structure was built at San Telmo with bedrooms, granary, dispensary, chapel. Lands for growing corn were cleared.
1799: An adobe corral was built at San Telmo. A new residence for the missionaries is mentioned again, which may indicate an on-going building
project. A residence was also built for workers assigned to San Telmo. A dam and irrigation ditch were built, and pillars were placed around a pond of
water to prevent cattle from entering it.
1800: Additional rooms were built including a smithy and carpenter shop.
1801: Quarters were built for the mission guard.
Source: : Annual Reports, Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, D.F., Misiones 2 and Provincias Internas 19; Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., Missions and
Missionaries of California: Lower California, 2nd edition (Mission Santa Barbara, 1929), 618.
Building Construction Reported at Santo Tomas Mission, 1794-1801
_________________________________
1793: Church described as being of adobe with dimensions of 12 x 5 varas.
1794: Mission, originally established in 1791, was moved to a new site. An adobe chapel and residence for the missionaries were built.
1795: Seventy varas of foundation laid for new buildings.
1796: An adobe structure was built containing a reception room (sala), two bedrooms, another room, and a common area. A dispensary was built, as well
as dormitories for single men and single women. A weaving room with an adjoining corral was built.
1797: A corral for sheep and goats was built. 1,400 varas of foundation were laid for building projects.
1798: No building projects reported, because indigenous workers prepared new agricultural fields.
1799: Four adobe structures were built measuring 20, 14, 7, and 6 varas in length respectively. Foundations were laid for a new church.
1800: Work continued on the church. A corridor, weaving room, and granary were built.
1801: The adobe church begun in 1799 was completed. It measured 30 x 6 varas. Two store rooms, each measuring 10 x 8 varas were built, as well as a
new dormitory for single women and girls measuring 9 x 6 varas.
_________________________________
Source: Annual Reports, Archivo General de la Nacion, Misiones 2, and Provincias Internas 19. Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., Missions and Missionaries
of California: Lower California, 2nd edition (Mission Santa Barbara, 1929), 625-626.
Building Construction Reported at Santa Catalina Mission, 1797-1802
_________________________________
1797: Adobe structures built that included a granary that measured 12 x 6 varas, offices measuring 6 x 6 varas, and a dormitory for single women and
girls that measured 6 x 6 varas. Use of other structures not specified.
1798: Two adobe structures were built.
1799: An adobe dormitory for single women and girls that measured 5 x 6 varas was built. A second adobe structure was built.
1802: Adobe structures were built.
_________________________________Sources: Annual Reports, Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, D.F., Misiones 2 and Provincias Internas 19; Zephyrin
Engelhardt, O.F.M., Missions and Missionaries of California: Lower California, 2nd edition (Mission Santa Barbara, 1929), 630.
: Building Construction at the Other Missions
1793: The church at San Vicente was an adobe structure 22 x 7 varas. The church at San Miguel was an adobe structure 26 x 7 varas.
1795: A dormitory for single women and a storeroom were built at San Vicente. A granary 26 x 6 varas was built at a site 4 leagues from San Miguel
mission where corn was grown. The Dominicans at San Pedro Martir directed the construction of an adobe structure with a sala 10 x 6 ? varas, 2
sleeping quarters each 8 x 8 varas, a granary, a kitchen, and a dispensary.
1796: A granary 18 x 5 varas and two residences for the overseers each 10 x 5 varas were built. Three adobe structures were built at San Miguel.
Buildings erected at San Pedro Martir included an adobe church 20 x 8 ? varas, a sacristy 5 x 8 ? varas, a baptistery 5 x 5 varas, a granary 8 x 4 ?
varas, and a kitchen 7 x 5 varas.
1798. Three adobe rooms and 2 granaries built at San Miguel.
1800: A new residence for the missionaries and their servants was built at San Miguel.
1801: Building at San Pedro Martir included a new adobe church 25 x 6 varas, along with a long adobe structure that contained a sala 14 x 7 varas, 2
rooms each measuring 7 x 8 varas, and a dispensary 7 x 12 varas.
_________________________________
Source: : Annual Reports, Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, D.F., Misiones 2 and Provincias Internas 19; Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., Missions and
Missionaries of California: Lower California, 2nd edition (Mission Santa Barbara, 1929), 63599-600, 622, 628-629.
[Edited on 4-21-2004 by academicanarchist]
Mexitron - 4-21-2004 at 05:54 PM
Great info! Most of the soils at the San Pedro site seemed very sandy/granitic--was wondering where they got good clay for building adobe structures
up there...maybe Baja Taco or Jack Swords saw some good adobe materials up there? I didn't spend to much time nosing around the mission site......
Baja Taco - software used for maps?
richard nauman - 4-22-2004 at 08:32 AM
Great stuff folks!
Baja Taco - what program did you use to make those 3D maps. They don't look like ArcGis output. Could they be the Manifold 5.5 extension? I'm working
on trying to develop some GIS layers of Baja since there seems to be few to none available. If you know of any sources of data I'd love to know about
them.
Thanks,
RN
3-D program
Taco de Baja - 4-22-2004 at 01:02 PM
The name of the 3-D program I used is 3DEM (www.visualizationsoftware.com/3dem.html).
This is a Freeware program I discovered while looking for mapping programs associated with Baja There are not very many). You can do numerous things
with the program including downloading data (tracks and routes) from a GPS, apply a geo referenced overlay, like a Land-Sat image,of a scanned topo
map.
There is a learning curve with using the program, but is is fun.
3DEM is actually only the program for manipulating elevation data, but the data is FREE too, you just have to take the time to download the data you
need. For Baja the data is available in 1 degree longitude by 1 degree latitude files, so you have to know the lat/lon of the area you are trying to
map. You can seam adjacent files if you are happen to be near a lat/lon line. I do recommend that you have a cable of DSL line, as it could take
15-20 minutes per file on a dial up, and it may crash just at the end...just ask BajaLu 
.
The Baja elevation files are based a Space shuttle mission in 1999 that bounced radar off the majority of the earth surface to measure altitude. The
Baja accuracy is around 3 degrees (or 90 meters) while data is availble for the USA at an accuracy of 1 degree (or 30 meters). Maybe someday they will
release the more accurate files for Baja, but of course the more accurate they are the larger the file size and the longer it takes to download the
data. 3 DEM will read other elevation file formats, but currently only the space Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) are the only ones that are
avaliable for Baja. You could also map Iraq with this program, if you wanted to . A 10 meter accuracy file I downloaded for the LA and Orange County area was 100MB in size, the Baja files, I believe are around 5 to 10 MB each.
Check out the 3DEM site, there is a lot of info and they should be able to answer any questions you have. If you can't find an answer, just ask me
and I will try.
-Brooks