Neal Johns - 10-31-2008 at 12:22 PM
The below Google Earth sat photo is the trail Nomad Baja Bucko carried a mule down. Well, maybe she didn't carry it, but she sure could not ride it.
The steep trail (part of the El Camino Real) has been reworked by Mother Nature for a few hundred years and this go-down into A. El Paraiso was almost
impassable. The mules had to be led down and even then there were a few accidents.
![El Pariso Go Down [800x600].jpg - 45kB](https://forums.bajanomad.com/files.php?pid=365674&aid=22157 "El Pariso Go Down [800x600].jpg - 45kB")
Paulina - 10-31-2008 at 03:38 PM
Yikes, I sure wouldn't want to try that on horseback. Mules have the best
footing for the job, but even this grade looks to be too much. No wonder she walked them down. It looks more like a butt-slider trail to me.
Thanks Neal!
WIW#1
dtbushpilot - 10-31-2008 at 04:22 PM
Looks a little like the trail we went down to see the cave paintings at San Francisco de la Sierra. The trip in and out and the 3 nights of primitave
camping overshadowed the paintings.......sorry for the hijack....dt
TMW - 11-1-2008 at 10:37 AM
I don't think I would want to ride anything down that.
Neal Johns - 11-1-2008 at 04:19 PM
dt, I have been down the cave painting trail twice on mules and the difference is it is maintained (more or less) and the Paraiso go down has had
little or no traffic the last hundred years.
Paulina, please don't slide down, you would lose your burro, and that would be a shame! 
Paulina - 11-1-2008 at 05:59 PM
Oooh Kneal, that is why I love you, and fight to keep my place in line...
WIW#1
Barry A. - 11-1-2008 at 06:41 PM
Incredible image, Neal. Many thanks. (I was thinking that there MUST be a better way down that "cliff"----but probably not as the ancient ones had a
habit of finding the "best" way thru anything)
Barry
bajajudy - 11-1-2008 at 09:59 PM
Amazing. Glad that she made it!
WIW#but we bearly know each other
intentional misspelling
so what is my number?
Hook - 11-2-2008 at 06:53 AM
ANYTHING worth doing..........is worth doing SLOW.
Can anyone tell us what the elevation descent is at that location?
Neal Johns - 11-2-2008 at 07:09 AM
Hook,
About 1,000 feet elevation loss in 0.4 miles horizontal distance (like the crow flies).
Hook - 11-2-2008 at 07:31 AM
Amazing, Neal.
What is the theory on the creation of that? Glacial path in the arroyo below? Edge of a cinder cone? Simple uplift?
Neal Johns - 11-2-2008 at 09:29 AM
Water cut the arroyo the usual way over thousands of years.
Arroyo Paraiso is a major canyon/arroyo and this pic is south and a little east of Mission San Borja about 17 miles. Google Earth is free and the Long
Lat of this is 28deg 31.56min and 113deg 38.22min. The "Eye alt" (apparent elevation of the camera) is about 9,000 feet. The El Camino Real travels up
the arroyo, takes the left split for a mile and goes north to Rancho Las Cabras, then northwest to Rancho Compostela area and then north to San Borja.
[Edited on 11-2-2008 by Neal Johns]