BajaNomad

Cajon Canyon via Matomi wash

BajaRob - 4-19-2010 at 08:51 AM

Nine of us South Campos residents set out for Rancho Matomi at 6:30 AM Thursday in five capable 4 wheel drive trucks. All went well until we reached the narrows and we spent two hours rolling rocks and building bridges. We thought that we had fairly easy going after getting through but that was not the case. It was the worst that any of us had seen in over 100 collective trips to the ranch. It got more and more impassable the further we went. We finally gave up when the end of the trail dropped off 8 feet and all that we could see ahead was a boulder strewn water course where the trail used to be.
We then backtracked and turned north with Agua Caliente as our new destination for the night. The canyon wash was smooth sand but after the tremendous water flow we were not able to access it by truck We set up camp just to the north and spent two pleasant nights there.
On Friday we walked up Agua Caliente and then drove north and explored Cajon Canyon. My mates had seen neither and were blown away. We broke camp Saturday morning and moved to Cajon. We set up camp in the sand next to the stream and it was incredible.
Unfortunately four of us had to return Sunday to attend to business today. We led the other two out through Valle Chico via the west road through El Chaparral to the east road and north to Saltito (sp) road out to Hwy 5.
All in all, one of the best camp trips ever.

[Edited on 4-19-2010 by BajaRob]

David K - 4-19-2010 at 09:55 AM

Hi Rob,

Please tell us more about what was seen in Agua Caliente Canyon... Did you get as far as the hot springs? Was there any sign of development or did flash floods this past season sweep the canyon floor?

Did you drive up Matomi from Hwy. 5? Was it impassable close to the ranch, so you turned around and headed north on the Valle Chico road?

Thanks!

Mexitron - 4-19-2010 at 11:22 AM

Thanks for the update on Matomi...good to know, we were planning on heading up there in June...may go around to the Arroyo Grande side instead.

Hi David

BajaRob - 4-19-2010 at 03:40 PM

We hiked about 1-1/2 to 2 miles up AC. We did not reach the hot springs and the water was still cold when we turned around. We saw marines in a humvee well west of a large boulder field up canyon when we stopped. It did not look like they could have come up canyon. Is there another way to get into the canyon? There were no tracks going into the canyon.
We did go in Matomi wash from the highway. We estimate that we were 2 to 2 1/2 miles from Matomi Resort when we gave up.
Mexitron- Over time roads to the good spots are repaired and rebuilt. Don't know if this will happen by June. Buena Suerte.

Barry A. - 4-19-2010 at 04:34 PM

Rob--------there is no other way into that canyon (Agua Caliente)that I know of, and I have driven to, and camped at, the Hot Springs several times in the past. It is a very complicated canyon, with lots of "tracks" in it in the past, most almost invisible until you actually walk or drive across them. I suspect that the HumVee came up the canyon, but perhaps on the other side than where you were--------like I say, the canyon is big, complex, and mis-leading. My son and I once drove to the Hot Springs on a very difficult track, only to find later that there was another "track" into the same area that was much easier, but several dozen yards southWest of the one we went in on. At that time the Canyon was a jungle (lots of "strange things" hidden in that jungle), but I understand that flash floods have completely changed it. It is good to know that the "marines" are now patrolling that area----hopefully eliminating the spooky things that were going on there before.

Your report was very interesting--------thanks for posting. It is disappointing to hear that the Rancho Matomi is no longer accessible by vehicle-----hopefully a temporary situation. Did you get as far as the old airport strip on the bench on the south side of the canyon?

Barry

Matomi Runway

David K - 4-19-2010 at 09:33 PM

The road to the ranch/ waterfall goes right on the runway (marked at both ends and pin at ranch to the west)



Valle Chico to Bahia Santa Maria view

David K - 4-19-2010 at 09:37 PM

Agua Caliente Canyon

David K - 4-19-2010 at 09:43 PM



Going into the canyon to the hot spring:









Photos at the spring and other canyons at http://vivabaja.com/404

David K - 4-20-2010 at 07:22 PM

Looking for some more details on visits to Agua Caliente Canyon by anyone...

BajaRob - 4-21-2010 at 08:15 AM

Great info David, thank you. Next trip we will hike to the hot springs.

Barry A. - 4-21-2010 at 11:20 AM

When we were there, there were two great shallow swimming holes about 100 yards below the Hot Spring along the very active creek-------they were great, and quite warm from the influence of the hot spring runoff. We camped there for several days one time, just sitting in the swimming holes most of the time-------heaven!!!

Barry

Thx Barry

BajaRob - 4-21-2010 at 12:06 PM

We will do it justice next time in, Rob

BajaWarrior - 4-21-2010 at 03:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaRob
We will do it justice next time in, Rob


Sounds like it was a great trip Rob, wishin' I was there.

Next trip south for us isn't until May 6th.

David K - 4-21-2010 at 04:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Barry A.
When we were there, there were two great shallow swimming holes about 100 yards below the Hot Spring along the very active creek-------they were great, and quite warm from the influence of the hot spring runoff. We camped there for several days one time, just sitting in the swimming holes most of the time-------heaven!!!

Barry


I was last there with Jide, April, 2004... The road ended 1.1 miles from the hot spring... No way could any vehicle go closer as boulders and vegetation blocked the way. This was the same situation I saw the previous trip there on Dec. 31, 2001... The mile walk wasn't bad, and the marijuana farm project we found in 2001 was all gone in 2004!

The hot spring flowed off the sandy bench and down about 4 feet to a man-made pool... which was far too hot to get into... the hot stream then flowed down the arroyo floor for several hundred feet before it was cool enough to enjoy... The cool mountain stream was about 50 feet away from the hot stream... too far to hand dig a canal... otherwise we would have had hot and cold running water side by side... and that would have been awesome!



Here see great amounts of super hot water flow out and go about 400 feet to where it merges with the cool mountain stream. HOT SPRING GPS: 30°38.85', 115°12.41', elev. 2,041'



Jide is by a hot water tub built where the spring water flows down from the terrace, then heads downstream. The water was too hot in the tub. Photo looking south.



Photo looking north/ downstream. Here is the tub just below the spring, but the water is a scalding 140°F! We go over 300 feet downstream and make a tub where the temperature is closer 105°F.



I climb high up the canyon for an 'almost aerial' photo (looking south) of the hot springs and hot stream, along right edge of arroyo. Beyond, at the next bend is a lone blue palm tree.


SKY VIEW (Thanks to Baja Lou!)

Photo looking eastward, down stream. Shown (going upstream) is: the end of the 4WD road, a former cilantro* farm area, hot springs, and a palm tree location. (*or other cash crop)

Map from 2004 trip:



Photo of me at the hot spring waterfall, 12/2001... notice the steam rising from the stream!

mailedd19.jpeg - 24kB

Barry A. - 4-21-2010 at 08:08 PM

You got me curious, David, so I just checked my slide files and note that my son and I were camping at the hot springs in Oct. of 1996-------I really did not think it was that long ago-----time does fly.

At that time there were actually two roads that went all the way into the Hot Springs, one a very rough road right up the stream bed, and the other on the south side of the canyon on a bench and somewhat easier to navigate, but both were pretty bad. We went in with a Isuzu Trooper and a Toyota FJ-40, and tho very slow going it was not that bad. A 4 wheel drive pickup came in late one night while we were there, got out and approched our camp, but when they heard our German Shepard bark vigorously they got back in there pickup and drove out the way they came in, so we did not actually talk to them.

We camped beside a corral, on a bench, and about 200 yards upstream from the actual Hot Spring and on the same side of the canyon as the Hot Spring.

I am thinking that there must have been a flood to alter the canyon after we were there, which would explain why the "roads" no longer existed when you were there.

It is a magical place and we lingered several days-----then pushed on to Rancho Matomi and other points south, and canyons in between (Barrendo, Carrizo, Parral, etc.. )

Barry

bajalou - 4-21-2010 at 08:55 PM

Hurricane Nora hit this area in September of 97. All roads washed out and spring not accessible for quite some time. As Rob mentioned rain this spring washed out the road that was there last fall. I was there about a month ago on a quad and we were stopped by a 8 foot cliff where the road used to go up. There was another storm since then and I would expect another cut through the canyon floor similar to the one in Canon Cajon.

Barry A. - 4-22-2010 at 08:19 AM

Thanks, Lou-----that explains it. Glad we went when we did.

I am still wondering just where the "road" to Rancho Matomi P-nches out and becomes impassible? Also, I wonder if Rancho Parral in upper Parral Canyon is still accessible?

Barry

bajalou - 4-22-2010 at 08:34 AM

Don't know about Matomi this spring, but there has been a locked gate keeping us out of Parral for the last couple years. Haven't checked myself this season,

David K - 4-22-2010 at 11:31 AM

BajaRob mentioned he estimated he was about 2 miles from Matomi when the washout stopped him (see above)... here's his words: "We did go in Matomi wash from the highway. We estimate that we were 2 to 2 1/2 miles from Matomi Resort when we gave up."


For details on our trip to Rancho Parral in 2004: http://vivabaja.com/404

That trip we met Nomads: BajaLou, Taco de Baja, Mexitron, Pappy, and more!

The gate was unlocked, we drove over the runway to the corral where we all camped... the road went through the corral and eneded at the arroyo a short distance beyon (where the road was washed out)... We all hiked the remaining mile to Rancho Parral (abandoned)... Loui and others hiked even further up the canyon. It was a beautiful place!

Photo taken right behind Rancho Parral, 2004...

3-5.jpg - 30kB

Barry A. - 4-22-2010 at 12:08 PM

We have tried to drive to Rancho Parral 3 times over the past 15 years, or so, and the gate close to the cross-over road to Berrendo Canyon has always beeen VERY locked, and VERY secure each time, and we never had the time (or the nerve) to hike on in. The furthest south I ever got before that (back in the early 60's) was Berrendo, with Myron Smith and Bud Bernhard, and several others. On that trip we used the mouth of Agua Caliente canyon as a basecamp, and branched out from there for several days further south, exploring canyons as we went, stopping at Barrendo where we hiked up about 2 miles, as I recall-------blue palms everywhere in Berrendo--------I still love all that country, but the "growers" spooked us out.

Barry

David K - 4-22-2010 at 12:40 PM

Berrendo Canyon is really nice... blue palms galore!

After my first visit there with Jide and Baja Lou in 2004, I returned with Baja Angel in 2006...









The giant grotto at the end of the canyon is something to see... boulders this size in one piece are pretty amazing!

It was perhaps a half mile hike to the grotto from the parking spot... maybe a bit more.

Mexitron - 4-23-2010 at 06:55 AM

At the grotto the canyon splits...to the south is a canyon full of believe it or not Oaks (Q. chrysophylis if my memory serves me)...to the west is the canyon that leads into the ampitheater--its got a couple of white knuckle spots (or you can hike behind and around the canyon to avoid)...its the ampitheater that is the epic destination and one of the main population centers of the blue palms--they are growing on the exposed Sierra type granite everywhere!

David K - 4-23-2010 at 07:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mexitron
At the grotto the canyon splits...to the south is a canyon full of believe it or not Oaks (Q. chrysophylis if my memory serves me)...to the west is the canyon that leads into the ampitheater--its got a couple of white knuckle spots (or you can hike behind and around the canyon to avoid)...its the ampitheater that is the epic destination and one of the main population centers of the blue palms--they are growing on the exposed Sierra type granite everywhere!


Cool! Never hiked further up than the grotto... It looked like the end of the canyon was there, as it is steep to the ridge line right behind the grotto... I guess you have to hike up to that ridge?

Here is a photo of the grotto from a distance before reaching the giant boulder, and the area past it:


Barry A. - 4-23-2010 at 08:42 AM

On "Berrendo Canyon" ------Great pics and information. Fun, fun!!! Thanks Mexitron and David.

Barry

Mexitron - 4-23-2010 at 03:28 PM

Berrendo:

mtgoat666 - 4-23-2010 at 04:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Cool! Never hiked further up than the grotto... It looked like the end of the canyon was there, as it is steep to the ridge line right behind the grotto... I guess you have to hike up to that ridge?


dk: it is true that all of the best places are roadless and inaccessible. put on your hiking boots!

David K - 4-23-2010 at 04:24 PM

Hmmm... I will need to have a new look! We are leaving to Plaster City now (off road race pit support), so in a couple days ... Thanks Steve!

Barry A. - 4-23-2010 at 04:41 PM

David-------Is your aerial shot (google earth) oriented north towards the top??-----I am having a little difficulty with it. Whats the light colored area in the lower right? Parral??

Barry

bajalou - 4-23-2010 at 06:48 PM

Barry

Look at the compass int the upper right corner of the Google earth shots. In in the last two of Davids, the arrow points right indicating the right margin is North so west is up.

David K - 4-24-2010 at 08:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajalou
Barry

Look at the compass int the upper right corner of the Google earth shots. In in the last two of Davids, the arrow points right indicating the right margin is North so west is up.


Exactly... the first one in north at top showing the overall area... the next ones are looking into the canyon and flying over the canyon to the hot spring.. so all are facing west... as it is west from the entrance to the hot spring.

Mexitron, I am having a hard time figuring out your image... and may do a 3-D version of it (to help me, anyway)! :light:

Goat... You cannot drive to the grotto in Berrendo, so we did hike to it... I did not hike any more, because I didn't see any more canyon... it looked like a dead and past the grotto. Mexitron gives new reasons to have a third look. However, we are a bit more mature (older) than you, so pretending to be a mountain goat isn't as much fun as driving a Tacoma to places in Baja.

Update

BajaRob - 4-25-2010 at 07:26 AM

Five of our neighbors driving three Polaris side x sides ( two RZRs and an XP ) made a day trip to Matomi Ranch yesterday. They said that the trip was about the same as going into Mike's Sky Ranch from the South.

Mexitron - 4-25-2010 at 10:05 AM

David--the actual location of the Grotto may be further up--see if you can verify, that may be throwing you off--- its where one of the side canyons splits off, but its been around eleven years since I was up there....

Barry A. - 4-25-2010 at 07:49 PM

David, Lou, Mexitron, etc.---------Been gone to Chico for two days, so catching up here. I mis-spoke before------it was the aerial that Mexitron posted of Barrendo Canyon that was (and still is) confusing me. I am having a hard time orienting myself on that photo, and ID'ing just what is a "canyon" and what is a "ridgetop". And, what is the light colored area at the lower right? I now understand the compass rose in the upper right------thanks Lou.

Help. (if that's possible) :rolleyes: :lol:

Barry

bajalou - 4-25-2010 at 09:07 PM

Barry

The areal was taken by me during a fly over several years ago. It is taken from deeper in the canyon looking east or out to Valle Chico . The white areas are gravel and sandy portions of the canyon.

From "Road End" you hike up the canyon past the "farm area" and around a bend to the hot spring. If you go farther up you come to a lone palm in the middle of the canyon where it splits, the main portion heading west and the smaller heading south. About where the word"Palm" is, there is a fence and remains of a corral on the right side heading up stream.

Hope this makes sense to you Barry,

David K - 4-25-2010 at 09:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mexitron
David--the actual location of the Grotto may be further up--see if you can verify, that may be throwing you off--- its where one of the side canyons splits off, but its been around eleven years since I was up there....


Is what I call the grotto the same as your 'grotto', I wonder?

The photos I posted of the giant boulders with me standing at the base is what I call the grotto... It is 1/2 to 1 mile hike up Berrendo from tyhe furthest place you can drive in the white sand arroyo (blocked by rocks).

Thanks and this is fun! I will do my version of a fly-over with Google soon, as I did with Agua Caliente.

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 06:53 AM

Okay, I think I've found your grotto David--its further down the canyon than where I'm thinking of---check out the large rock in the background---it looks like the same one in your photo:

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 06:56 AM

Here's the grotto I'm thinking of--further up canyon--its a pool you can almost swim in:

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 07:04 AM

And then a little higher up view of the same place--gets pretty steep through this gap but once you get around this its probably another hour or two to the ampitheater...its all doable up and back in a long day if the canyon has been scoured out by heavy rains but veeerrryyy slow going when all the thorny flora has grown in along the watercourse. In fact, on this hike in 1995ish, Huddo and I stopped here because it had taken us until 2pm to get to this point because of the thorn scrub. Later, in 1998, after Hurricane Nora cleaned out the canyon we scampered all the way up to the ampitheater in about half a day.:

bajalou - 4-26-2010 at 08:07 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajalou
Barry

The areal was taken by me during a fly over several years ago. It is taken from deeper in the canyon looking east or out to Valle Chico . The white areas are gravel and sandy portions of the canyon.

From "Road End" you hike up the canyon past the "farm area" and around a bend to the hot spring. If you go farther up you come to a lone palm in the middle of the canyon where it splits, the main portion heading west and the smaller heading south. About where the word"Palm" is, there is a fence and remains of a corral on the right side heading up stream.

Hope this makes sense to you Barry,


Later - 2-3 years ago, the road was built right to the east edge of the farm. Parked under the edge for the mesquite trees. They had also improved the path to the springs.

Barry A. - 4-26-2010 at 08:24 AM

Yeah, that's great Lou. My son and I camped (Oct. '96) right by the "fence and remains of a corral" about 10 or 15 feet above the stream bed on that bench, just below (downstream of) the "lone palm tree". We hiked up the "canyon to the south" a little ways-----interesting, but don't remember seeing anything of note in that canyon.

We always wanted to hike up Agua Caliente further, and in fact Bud Berhnard did hike up the main canyon in the '60's on what he reported was a "historical trail" all the way to Mission San Pedro Martir. Bud always felt that the main access to the Mission was Cajon canyon, however, and he also reported a "historical trail" up that canyon, as I recall.

Barry

BERRENDO EXPOSED!

David K - 4-26-2010 at 09:25 AM

Okay, I did a Google flyover...

Mexictron, yes... my grotto is further downstream from yours... Seeing this from above on Google satellite, the size of Berrendo becomes clear... it is huge!

First, looking north from high above Matomi:



Now, closer to Berrendo, still looking north:



A bit closer up of the lower Berrendo canyon. Dart is on my grotto (the giant boulder in photos), still looking north:



Okay, now I am rotated around, looking up the canyon... mostly southward. Here is the Berrendo arroyo from where you leave the Carricitos-Parral road:



Here is much closer, where we park our trucks and begin to hike:



Here we approach the lower (my) grotto... other giant boulders can be seen from space here:



Past the lower grotto...



Here is a major split (the one Mexitron mentions?):



The top of Berrendo... the yellow pin on the left edge is Rancho Parral:



SO MUCH BAJA... SO LITTLE TIME!

Barry A. - 4-26-2010 at 09:39 AM

David------those are fabulous aerials---------it looks to me that Mexitron's "amphitheater" could be possibly driven to, or easily hiked to, via an un-named wash between Parral and Berrendo that appears to drain it, and that is visible on the left of one of your shots, and that unnamed wash would intersect the "cross-over" road between Berrendo and Parral Also, there is not much (if anything) separating the "amphitheater" from Rancho Parral (which almost is at the upper end of the amphitheater???)

Those aerials sure give a different (and definitely more accurate) picture of what that country is like.

Barry

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 11:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Barry A.


We always wanted to hike up Agua Caliente further, and in fact Bud Berhnard did hike up the main canyon in the '60's on what he reported was a "historical trail" all the way to Mission San Pedro Martir. Bud always felt that the main access to the Mission was Cajon canyon, however, and he also reported a "historical trail" up that canyon, as I recall.

Barry


Wow, interesting...be nice to check that route again and see if anything is left.

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 12:35 PM

I'm trying to gather pics from the Berrendo ampitheater (or as Myron Smith used to call it---the Berrendo Bowl)......Libby Durfee (Taco de Baja's sister) sent this one...doesn't show much except our motley crew on an overnight campout but you can see how the canyon opens way up. From left to right: Jonathan Smith, Taco de Baja, me, Libby, and her husband Miles:

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 12:46 PM

Barry---maybe Taco de Baja will chime in on this topic--I'm sure he would remember Myron mentioning a connection between Parral and Berrendo.

I tried reaching Berrendo from the Pacific side in 1996---my old girlfriend and I drove past the Rancho Nuevo area and started hiking east---we got up onto the beginning of the mesa-lands in the afternoon but didn't quite have enough daylight to get into the ampitheater and make it back before dark. Myron said he and Frank Nordhoff did it in the 60s or 70s but they started early in the morning and didn't get back until well after dark...also, it had just rained so there was plenty of water along the way.

Mexitron - 4-26-2010 at 12:54 PM

Nice job with the google maps David---thanks for doing that! Gotta get back to work...will try to dig up more info later....

David K - 4-26-2010 at 05:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mexitron
Nice job with the google maps David---thanks for doing that! Gotta get back to work...will try to dig up more info later....


It was fun... only made me late to get the Tacoma in for its second oil change!

Hey Nomads... if this back country stuff looks interesting, you just might enjoy seeing Mexitron's photos of climing MATOMI MOUNTAIN and hiking up MATOMI CANYON (beyond the ranch)! SEE: http://vivabaja.com/mexitron/




Mexitron and the mountain...Matomi Mountain!