astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 11:55 AM
Hi all,
Woke up to about 4 inches of snow here this morning! The contrast btween an impossibly blue sky and the brilliant new carpet of pristine snow was
spectacular. Now keep in mind previous to our new Baja life we had 20 years of Ontario winters, so normally I'm not too impressed by nieve! But this
was pretty!! The good thing in Baja is the snow goes away in a few days!
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 11:57 AM
our apple orchard and guest house
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 11:58 AM
under our oak tree
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 11:59 AM
our "house" for the last year, thank the maker for propane heat!
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 12:01 PM
view of the pines in the park, it must have been gale like winds this am in the park because you could see great plumes of snow being blown off the
cliffs!!!
BajaGringo - 2-10-2009 at 12:03 PM
Awesome images!
By the way, how is the house coming? Are the floors done yet??? Would love to see some more photos...
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 12:03 PM
Mario and Betto our house workers were enchanted by the vista of snow!
ELINVESTIG8R - 2-10-2009 at 12:21 PM
Very nice but would not want to live in the snow. Brrrrrrrrrrr.
DEVEAU - 2-10-2009 at 12:22 PM
What is your Elevation compared to Mike's? We are coming to Mike's this Friday.
Rancho Concepcion
David K - 2-10-2009 at 12:24 PM
Beautiful!
Look forward to seeing your astronomy bed & breakfast completed!
Skipjack Joe - 2-10-2009 at 12:52 PM
Thank you for the nice pictures.
astrobaja - 2-10-2009 at 02:47 PM
Hi all,
Glad you liked the pics, about half of the snow has already melted.
Deveau: where our house is on the the ranch its at 4900', I'm pretty sure Mikes is just below 4000'. Although parts of our ranch go up to 6000' (its
1200 acres). Drop by some time!
David: not sure if we will be open to the public this year, we are running short on funds! Our priority at the moment is to get the main house able to
be moved into. Water pipe gets put in next week with a 5000 litre tank (done by larson irrigation) and solar/inverter/passive solar hot water goes in
on the 18th. After that we will move our stuff in and finish bit by bit. Our guest cabin we will try to finish by ourselves as much as possible. Of
course Nomads are always welcome to visit, even if its just to camp out.
David in your map Concepcion seems further to the east than I imagined, but then in talking to the Condor scientists they say the periperhy of the
park has always been debated! Interesting thing, the state gov't has finally officialy banned cattle from grazing in the park, from now on they will
be shot and the meat donated to charities/hospitals. Seems like a good thing to me, I always wondered what they were doing in such a delicate
ecosystem, given how many 100's of endemic species there were.
Bajagringo: our saltillo floor goes in next week, I''ll post some pics soon.
DEVEAU - 2-10-2009 at 02:56 PM
Thanks for the info. This trip we will not have time, but I would love to stop in and meet you, have heard nice things. I only get to make a couple of
trips each year.
I have warned everybody that it will be cold and wet at times this trip.
David K - 2-10-2009 at 03:06 PM
The map above is a 1978 AAA map... it shows Concepcion (your place)... but the boundries of the park are very likely not correct!
Here is another map:
The location of Mike's Sky Rancho is not correct... it is a bit further downstream the Arroyo San Rafael, about where the word 'San' is along the
river.
Now, the park boundries are possibly more acurate in this map... but Concepcion is not shown... it is on the left side, where the dirt road crosses
the arroyo:
[Edited on 2-10-2009 by David K]
Mexitron - 2-10-2009 at 07:46 PM
Just out of curiosity--has the road to Concepcion just been recently (in the last 5 years)reopened after a regrading of the Meling/Mike's road? I
think that's the road we were looking for in the 90s but couldn't find it because the main road had been rerouted on the other side of the canyon.
Nice pics astrobaja!
sd - 2-10-2009 at 09:10 PM
Your first photo is so nice. If you had your picture taken sitting on the stump it would be a great photo for a Christmas card.
I love the wood fence.
I stayed on the mountain one short night New Years Eve 2004. It was 18 degrees when I left my tent for the comfort of my Jeep seat. Went to Meling
Ranch in the morning for an incredible breakfast, and stayed a night there in comfort.
Sure is a pretty area.
David K - 2-11-2009 at 10:51 AM
Mexitron, none of the maps I posted show it, but the road Astrobaja uses now comes in from the paved observatory road which is south of Concepcion.
The older road shown was continued east from the older/ original Mike's airport (Los Encinos)...
astrobaja - 2-11-2009 at 11:19 AM
David, cool maps! Yes I think the boudary of the park is close to the sierra corona ridgeline. Although now I find the best way to explore this area
is with google-earth as its all in hi resolution! You can follow our 6km long laneway from the observatory road all the way to Mikes! Then there is
the road leading to R. Coyote along the brutal Cerro Costilla road. Right now the road leading to Mikes is impassable with anything other than a dirt
bike, there is a much longer route that goes north but its about twice as long.
Mexitron - 2-15-2009 at 11:00 AM
Thanks David--didn't know there was another way in--been awhile I guess! I think the last time we were up there was around 2001--sheesh, didn't seem
so long ago. Taco de Baja's dad, Myron Smith, was forever trying to find that old road in to Los Encinos from the "brutal" Cerro Costilla road--I
went on three searches in the early to mid 90's and we could never find the turnoff...but after the Mission SPM expedition in 2004 (which you were
instrumental in getting us started on) we noticed the turnoff was open again and it looked as though it had always been there but the problem was the
main road had been regraded to the opposite side of the canyon for a number of years...
Santiago - 2-15-2009 at 12:03 PM
Astrobaja: is this your spot?
vgabndo - 2-15-2009 at 02:26 PM
I got a kick out of the little pile of snow on the hood of the car. That is a Honda Civic parked next to my truck this morning.
vgabndo - 2-15-2009 at 02:29 PM
It took a while to get into the wood shed. Snow is a bit more tiring here than in Baja!!!!
Timo1 - 2-15-2009 at 02:43 PM
Perry
Your turn to bring bait
be on the beach at 4:00
time to catch more bolca dolces
Ok...I'll lay down when I'm dreamin
Rancho Concepcion from space...
David K - 2-15-2009 at 04:22 PM
I THINK this is AstroBaja's spot... ? (I will edit if it isn't)
Higher... and straight overhead:
and even higher...
astrobaja - 2-18-2009 at 12:07 PM
Vgabndo:
Wow I sure as hell don't miss snow like that! Last winter in Ontario they had 10 feet of accumulation!
David: you got the location of our ranch exactly! The 1st sat pic has the ranch centred on that clearing where our house is. The ranch goes all the
way past the tear-drop shaped hill to the north.
Isn't google earth great!
David K - 2-18-2009 at 12:31 PM
yup
Mexitron - 2-26-2009 at 11:43 AM
Thanks for the sat-maps David--now I understand exactly where they are--nice place! Is the road into Concepcion from the Observatorio open or is
there a locked gate? Be neat to go that way to see Los Encinos.