Baja Trip - The Last Frontier Part 2

Back to Hwy. 1 south, we jogged east over to Agua Dulce to show a couple of the guys where travelers on the old dirt road and the El Camino Real got their water. Back on the highway, we drove to Bahia de Los Angeles, gassed up (two Pemex's – will wonders never cease!) and headed south to Las Flores to camp. The next morning we checked out the jail which is the last building left standing, and the narrow, pinstriping road to the tram terminal site.

We then continued south on the old inland road. Our first stop in a couple of miles was Arroyo San Vicente for a scenic lunch. There is a ranch about a half mile into the canyon but we did not go to it. Maybe next time. The next stop was Rancho Los Paredones. The ranch was in a pretty canyon but completely abandoned. The rock work on the corral fence caught the eye of one of our travelers. The rocks were placed to fit perfectly and present a smooth face on the inside of the corral with no cement used.

The next stop was a ranch in the mouth of Arroyo San Pedro variously called Rancho San Pedro or Rancho La Bocana. No one was home but some supplies were there and it was obviously used as a line shack for cowboys. We looked around but did not disturb anything. Oops, where is the road continuing? The AAA Baja mapper guy only put part of this old inland road on the map because he told me it turned into “just sand”. It did just that at the mouth of Arroyo San Pedro but TacoFeliz quickly found the good road on the other side of the wash and onward we went.

Part 3 coming soon!

Here we have some Candelaria we passed on the trail.

[Edited on 4-13-2009 by Neal Johns]

And it' real easy to make new friends in Baja!

This is more work than I even want to think about!




Rancho Los Paredones corral:

Rancho San Pedro/La Bocana:

The Palo Adan is in bloom!

Neal Johns, Went to Baja for the Sea of Cortez fishing, very disappointed to say the least. Exploring all the roads back in the boonies? Fantastic!!! Spending time at the ranchos etc. , drinking beer, eating some fresh fried pig skins(cincharonies?), tamales, homemade goat cheese. Next time I'll leave my fishing gear back in the states.

Cypress, you got it right! After nine years in the Navy, all I want to see is sand.

You got me there, Sharks. Don't know what the Gardner Walls are.

The inland route jogs west, inland, and then comes back to join the main road south before climbing out of the valleys and coming to a tee, left to San Francisquito and right to El Arco.



Climbing out of the valleys looking back north:

Sharks, I'm old and slow, next time, if anything is going to happen, be gentle.
We planned to visit Gardner Walls but ran out of time.

Zac, I have not been to Rafael in years, all I remember I remember is a lot of shell middens with a few broken metates.

DK, I didn't pay any attention to the old beat up cars/trucks. They all looked like new Jeeps to me.