A group of our friends in La Paz want to cross the Sierra La Laguna from Todos Santos to Santiago this fall. Since we all have carried the burden
of life for many, many years, we would like to find some beasts of burden to carry our packs, (otherwise we might not make it). We are not looking
for an outfitter, just a ranchero with a half-dozen donkeys and the good spirit to spend 3-4 days on the trail with a bunch of happy campers. Does
anyone know of a contact?Pompano - 3-26-2009 at 01:27 PM
Trudi Angell in Loreto could probably recommend someone ..if you don't want to hire her services.
We did a terrific mule/horse ride with her to rock art, etc to Santa Marta this last December. I would imagine Trudi knows all the burro and mule
owners by now. I first met her in 1976 or so....sheesh, where did the time go?
tourloreto@aol.com
044 613 100-8438
044 615 104-7967
(dial 045 if calling a cell phone long distance)
This is Trudi with another veteran outdoorsman, Tap Tapley.
[Edited on 3-26-2009 by Pompano]
comitan - 3-26-2009 at 02:10 PM
Someone that may be able to help you La Paz, Chayo 044 612 1115305 Spanish only.
Trail riding horses for sure.baja Steve - 3-26-2009 at 02:40 PM
Trudi is a great lady and dependable.msteve1014 - 3-26-2009 at 04:29 PM
Pompano, Why do I know the name Tap Tapley? Field & Stream, maybe?Pompano - 3-27-2009 at 08:23 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by msteve1014
Pompano, Why do I know the name Tap Tapley? Field & Stream, maybe?
Steve, could very well be Field & Stream or any of a number of outdoor publications. He's pretty well known in those areas of interest.
Earnest Tapley...'Tap' has been my Baja neighbor since forever. He's a wilderness expert, ex-alpine WWII warfare ski instructor, ski ranger,
violinist, painter, Outward Bound & NOLS pioneer, and too much to list here. I have him in my 'to-do' list of Baja characters met over the years.
Will write a thread about him soon. Met him here in '73, a great fellow...and a living legend. Pescador - 3-28-2009 at 08:40 PM
He wrote a column in field and Stream for years called "Taps Tips"Pompano - 3-29-2009 at 06:32 AM
Pescador, I believe you are thinking of a fellow named H.G. Tapply. He wrote the Taps Tips you mentioned..a feature I read avidly
for many years...always looked forward to it when I got my copy of Field & Stream.
Mi amigo and neighbor is Earnest 'Tap' Tapley. Quite by coincidence, these two fellows with almost the same last names both have
well-published backgrounds in outsdoormanship.
My nieghbor, Tap, part Passamaquoddy Indian, grew up in rural Essex County, Massachussets. His history is more of WWII mountain warfare, Outward
Bound, and NOLS affiliations. As said, I plan to write a thread about Tap fairly soon here on Nomads. He's had quite a lengthly career in Baja and
Coyote Bay.
[Edited on 3-29-2009 by Pompano]David K - 3-29-2009 at 06:57 AM
Roger... an updated or full story on J.W. Blask would be cool, too!
J.W. Black, the mechanical genious who created the
Grasshopper, Butterfly, Pak Jak, and Burrito off road vehicles.
A favorite Gardner camp... was here along the road to Bahia de los Angeles.
Clockwise from left: J.W. Black, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ricardo Castillo,
Bruce Barron, Jorge Yee, and Sam Hicks. Photo by Choral Pepper.
J.W. Black and Choral risked death to climb the canyon walls! The helicopter had landed across the canyon, from where Dr. Margain took this photo
Pepper Cave
J.W. Black provides scale of this tremendous discovery.Pompano - 3-29-2009 at 08:28 AM
David..JW was also a legpuller and led a lot of us 'down the garden path' with his tall tales around the campfire.
A little story...He indeed invented a lot of things in his life. He once showed me a food tube he created to be used on expeditions as an emergency
meal. It was filled with some ghastly stuff. This was a guy who chewed Beechnut constantly.
At the campfire that night, he went on about that food tube and then had me convinced he'd invented the first tooth paste tube..until
I found out later it had been invented by a Dr. Sheffield ...in 1892!
Another anecdote about Blackjack:
In 1979, while a bunch of us were sitting around my fire pit, the discussion turned to the nuclear power plant incident at 3-Mile
Island near Middleton, Pennsylvania. It had just happened a week before and was the talk of the world at that time.
A friend from Las Vegas said to Blackjack,
"JW, you know a lot about a lot of things. Can you explain to us how one of those nuclear reactors work?"
Blackjack (JW) was quiet for a bit, just sat there in his denim shirt with the Beechnut bag in the pocket, wearing his old campaign hat with a
dried-up scorpion on the band, and then spit a stream of tobacco into the fire.
He said, "Look here, Lloyd, do you know what bear scat looks like?"
"What?..uh, No. What's that got to do with it?", Lloyd says.
JW..."How about sheep pellets? Know about those?"
Llloyd.."Hell no, I'm from Vegas, you know that, JW."
JW..."Do you know what buffalo chips are?"
Lloyd..."Nope...no idea."
JW then spits again and says, "Well, look here, Lloyd. You want me to explain a nuclear reactor to you and you don't know sh_t."
.
We had some times, but that's for a different thread.
MY APOLOGIES TO twogringos FOR HIJACKING THIS ONE. Both Tap and Blackjack would have been good companions to you guys on your ride to Sierra la
Laguna. Have a good one and be sure to report back.twogringos - 3-29-2009 at 04:23 PM
Having been hijacked we find ourselves without a ride, we might as well walk!
