BajaNomad - Gonzaga Bay Road 1974-1979

Gonzaga Bay Road 1974-1979

David K - 12-9-2010 at 12:07 PM

BryanMcKenzie's post on 1993 vs. 2010 Mex. 5 motivated me to pull out the photos from my earlier trips to Gonzaga... before pavement and BEFORE the graded road of 1986... back when it was a 'Jeep Trail'... and after 1974, no longer maintained as the truck drivers now came to Gonzaga from Hwy. 1 through Calamajue Canyon (until 1983 when the Laguna Chapala-Puerto Calamajue graded road was built).

April 1974 (I was 16) and my friend Pat and I took my dune buggy on a Baja loop trip down the Pacific side and back up the gulf side. Side trips were made to Mision San Fernando and El Marmol/ El Volcan.

I have two photos between Gonzaga and Puertecitos:

In 1975, I repeated the trip with another friend Mike and two other vehicles joined us. Two photos north of Gonzaga Bay:

Can you see the 2 burros?

In 1979, I was a co-driver in the Baja 1000 and I pre-ran the first section I was to drive (San Matias Pass to El Crucero) in my 4WD Subaru... The road to Gonzaga was very torn up from lack of care for over 5 years. I made it to Gonzaga that evening, but without an exhaust!

(skinny and shaggy 22 year old me, but having a blast in Baja)

El Huerfanito Island.

Barry A. - 12-9-2010 at 02:35 PM

David---------Great pictures!!! I tore my motor mounts out of my stick-shift Ford 2x4 pickup on those grades in the late '70's, and the engine tried to turn over and lay sideways. We had to stop for a 1/2 day, pry the motor back into place, and chain the motor to the frame before we could continue. What a road!!! Gonzaga was worth it, tho.

When the motor rolled over, the floor mounted stick-shift lever came over and nearly broke my right upper leg bone-------it hurt for months after that.

Barry

David K - 12-9-2010 at 03:23 PM

Isn't it funny how well we remember the 'bad' things... like that... and they turn out to be the great stories of our later life!

I have a lot of photos from my parents and my trips of the 1960's and early 1970's on SLIDES... They would be great to see again... One of these days, I hope to get one of those scanners that convert slides to photos.

I also have a box of slides that a Nomad (or Amigo de Baja) from Alaska gave me to share anytime I wanted taken from the old days... so that too!

bryanmckenzie - 12-10-2010 at 08:58 AM

WOW! Great follow-on post, David. The 1974 jeep trail makes 1993 look like an actually road. I'm jealous that you got to start exploring Baja so early on. And had the cajones of an older,more seasoned traveler so early in your life.

[Edited on 2010-12-10 by bryanmckenzie]

David K - 12-10-2010 at 09:17 AM

Thanks Bryan... I had GREAT parents and they showed me how to just go places and adapt to the conditions with whatever it took. My parents supported my Baja quests all the way... and when I turned 16 and got a driver's license... they had no worries about me going down into Baja for a week without them. That trip was Easter Vacation 1974, and my friend and I camped at Mision San Fernando, Gonzaga Bay and Nuevo Mazatlan.

bufeo - 12-11-2010 at 10:18 AM

I like these photos, David K. They bring back many memories.

Say, on a tech question. Are you scanning these from prints or transparencies?

I'm considering purchasing a digital scanner specifically for transparencies. I have over 3K of these little guys and the best price I've found commercially is about 29¢/slide.

Allen R.

David K - 12-12-2010 at 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bufeo
I like these photos, David K. They bring back many memories.

Say, on a tech question. Are you scanning these from prints or transparencies?

I'm considering purchasing a digital scanner specifically for transparencies. I have over 3K of these little guys and the best price I've found commercially is about 29¢/slide.

Allen R.

Hi Bufeo... These are scanned from prints out of my photo album... saved to a folder in my PC, then uploaded to Photobucket.com to share here.

I too have a lot of slides from my parents trips to Baja in the 1960's and early 70's... that I am sure would be fun to see again for all of us Baja freaks on Nomad.

Instead of paying a developer to make prints (and many could be printed in reverse)... I hope to get a new scanner/ copier/ printer that has a SLIDE reader (or whatever it is called) that scans your slides and makes them into a computer file that we can photoshop to improve the color, etc.

I saw one at FRY's. They also have slide scanners alone that you can hook to your PC... That is the ticket!

bufeo - 12-12-2010 at 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

.... I hope to get a new scanner/ copier/ printer that has a SLIDE reader (or whatever it is called) that scans your slides and makes them into a computer file that we can photoshop to improve the color, etc.

I saw one at FRY's. They also have slide scanners alone that you can hook to your PC... That is the ticket!

I've looked on-line at a couple of those PC-dedicated transparency-scanners. I'm about to pull the plug and order one. I recently had a dozen transparencies (both 35mm and 2.25 sq) scanned to see how the color has held up and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality.

Thanks for the reply.

Allen R

bryanmckenzie - 12-15-2010 at 10:54 PM

Hey guys. I have an older HP 3670 flatbed color scanner, about 7 years old. It came with a little plastic device that you can insert up to 4 slides (standard cut length) at a time and lay flat on the scanner. Then let 'er rip at 600 d.p.i. for awesome scans. You have to do a bit of post-scan editing, like cropping, re-size, etc. But it works great. Even with older technology.

The secret is to to have a slide viewer or magnifier to pick the photos you want. Not scan everything. Be selective and cut 80% of what you don't need (want?) out. It's a bit slow. But forces you to reminisce. A be thankful for those wonderful past moments. Just my humble thots.

David K - 12-15-2010 at 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bryanmckenzie
WOW! Great follow-on post, David. The 1974 jeep trail makes 1993 look like an actually road. I'm jealous that you got to start exploring Baja so early on. And had the cajones of an older,more seasoned traveler so early in your life.

[Edited on 2010-12-10 by bryanmckenzie]

Finding the older roads in Baja and using them where possible is fun, too. Besides the original main Baja road (which I recently covered from El Rosario to San Ignacio), there are others... such as the original road south of Bahia de los Angeles to San Francisquito that was opened up in 1966 by the Erle Stanley Gardner party following their discovery of the lost mission/ mystery walls. I have driven it twice all the way through and three times part way seeking the lost mission location photographed in 1966.

Some photos:

On July 4, 2001 I drove the 4WD Viva Baja Van and Neal Johns was in his Tacoma with El Camote filming our Lost Mission Hunt #1 that took us to the Tinaja de Santa Maria, just south of Valle la Bocana (home of the largest cactus in the world... the largest cardons in Baja)

GPS DIRECTIONS: L.A. BAY & SOUTH (WGS 84)

Hunfreville's Hut at Las Cuevitas: N29°03.30' W113°32.35'

Casa Diaz, Bahia de los Angeles: N28°56.77' W113°33.55'

Camp Gecko, south of town: N28°54.05' W113°31.73'

Las Flores (jail house): N28°49.10' W113°31.77'

Jcn. with old road south: N28°40.77' W113°25.45'

Arroyo to Las Venecas: N28°39.40' W113°25.86'

Site of Paredones, Jesus' ranch: N28°36.81' W113°24.59'

Road ahead to La Bocana & San Pedro, turn sharp left (east): N28°28.40' W113°23.47'

We turn right, off road here: N28°28.01' W113°20.46'

Tinaja de Santa Maria: N28°26.09' W113°20.02'

In April, 2002, a second drive all the way out to the new road, south of San Rafael:

December 2002:

Once again to the Tinaja de Santa Maria (behind my son on the motorbike)

April, 2003:

Los Paredones at 28°36.70'/ 113°24.82' (NAD27 Mex.)

Rancho La Bocana Gym

Located just inside San Pedro canyon at 28°28.39'/ 113°23.62' (NAD27 Mex.) mislabled San Pedro on topo.

This is looking north, the old and new L.A. Bay to San Francisquito road junction at 28°26.05'/ 113°10.41', south of Bahia San Rafael.

Jan. 2004:

David K in his Toyota is joined by Pete in (GeoRock's) Hummer, traveling up Arroyo la Palma.

Baja is a land of adventure... and, like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!

(I was finally able to photograph the lost mission site in 2009, thanks to a Baja Nomad who spotted the walls on Google Earth!: http://vivabaja.com/109 )

bufeo - 12-16-2010 at 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bryanmckenzie
Hey guys. I have an older HP 3670 flatbed color scanner, about 7 years old. It came with a little plastic device that you can insert up to 4 slides (standard cut length) at a time and lay flat on the scanner. ...The secret is to to have a slide viewer or magnifier to pick the photos you want. Not scan everything. ...

Thanks for those suggestions, b-mck.

You're correct about reviewing your photos beforehand. I already have a light table for multiple transparencies and a single slide magnifier/viewer.

I made the decision yesterday to purchase a high-resolution, 5MP 35mm film and slide scanner. It has the capacity to download directly to a computer or a memory stick.

I'll experiment soon.

Allen R

Bob H - 12-16-2010 at 09:44 AM

Wow, fantastic images David... would love to see your slides from the 60's. A few years ago I had some slides made into paper photos and the quality was unreal, bringing back memories from the early 60's of a visit with my great-grand parents in North Carolina. Unreal memories brought back to life.

David K - 12-16-2010 at 09:49 AM

Thanks Bob... those photos are on VivaBaja.com... I have a lot of Baja in there!

SFLowTide - 12-16-2010 at 12:32 PM

Finding the older roads in Baja and using them where possible is fun, too. Besides the original main Baja road (which I recently covered from El Rosario to San Ignacio), there are others... such as the original road south of Bahia de los Angeles to San Francisquito that was opened up in 1966 by the Erle Stanley Gardner party following their discovery of the lost mission/ mystery walls. I have driven it twice all the way through and three times part way seeking the lost mission location photographed in 1966.

David,

Do you have any pictures of the old Huerfanito grade (pre 1985)? Or, even better, before somebody thought it would help by pouring cement on it? Like you, almost all of my family’s photos are slides and, so far, I cannot locate any pics of that monster...

David K - 12-16-2010 at 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SFLowTide
Finding the older roads in Baja and using them where possible is fun, too. Besides the original main Baja road (which I recently covered from El Rosario to San Ignacio), there are others... such as the original road south of Bahia de los Angeles to San Francisquito that was opened up in 1966 by the Erle Stanley Gardner party following their discovery of the lost mission/ mystery walls. I have driven it twice all the way through and three times part way seeking the lost mission location photographed in 1966.

David,

Do you have any pictures of the old Huerfanito grade (pre 1985)? Or, even better, before somebody thought it would help by pouring cement on it? Like you, almost all of my family’s photos are slides and, so far, I cannot locate any pics of that monster...

I posted all the 'Gonzaga Grades' photos I had handy above... The Huerfanito grade was the southernmost... and was even steeper at the top before theu made that cut... Crazy steep grades!

Cliff Cross labled them well in his 1970 guide map:

baitcast - 12-17-2010 at 09:00 AM

The last climb if you made it that far :lol:

mid 60's there is a road in there somewhere.

SFLowTide - 12-17-2010 at 09:23 AM

Thanks David & Baitcast,

Great picture Baitcast. That's exactly what I was looking for. You even caught some of the cement at the bottom. That was fun when it was covered with gravel...

David K - 12-17-2010 at 07:54 PM

What a road... Those were the good old days!!!

baitcast - 12-19-2010 at 09:24 AM

My first trip up that thing was in 64 in a 64 VW bus,after three tries my wife two kids and buddy walked up while I made one last run up it :lol:

Rob

David K - 12-19-2010 at 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baitcast
My first trip up that thing was in 64 in a 64 VW bus,after three tries my wife two kids and buddy walked up while I made one last run up it :lol:

Rob

Oh yah... I can remember my mom and me getting out of the Wagoneer and walking as it was way too scary steep and narrow... looking down into the canyon and seeing the wrecks of vehicles that didn't make it!

The next trip, after witnessing my Dad's four wheel drive ability in '65, we rode with him!

Barry A. - 12-19-2010 at 10:17 AM

We followed you, Baitcast, only in 1965. My buddy and I were also in a VW bus, and it took us several trys also to make it up over the "steps" near the top of one of those grades. What a road!!! (if you could call it that).

WE proceeded on to Gonzaga Bay and immediately got stuck in the dunes trying to get to the waters edge midway between what is now Alfonsina's and Punta Final------stuck for two days in the dunes, and it was HOT. Hand carried all our cargo back to solid ground (which took all day) and then the next day with deflated tires we finally were able to drive out to the "road" and camped on the water near Okie Landing for a week.

There were very few people at Gonzaga in those days.

Barry

(OMG---edited to correct a spelling error on a place name :lol:

)

[Edited on 12-19-2010 by Barry A.]

baitcast - 12-19-2010 at 10:55 AM

Barry you never mentioned that before,with no HP those old VW's were great climbers but yes the sand was something else.

We got stuck three times on that trip :lol:

first time was just outside of San Felipe,right in front of Isla Huerfanito and the canyon just before Pa Pa's,no AC sick kid and one big headache.

Wised up and bought a Power wagon before the next trip :biggrin:

Rob

David K - 12-19-2010 at 11:12 AM

Baja 'makes us' buy better vehicles for 'badder' roads!

My dad bought the steet legal dune buggy for us to have fun with and when I turned 16, became my car... It would go anywhere a four wheel drive would... but being an older VW motor, things would keep needing to be fixed on it. I had it rebuilt and increased it to 1650cc...

Less than 2 years later and after a few Baja trips (including a breakdown going to Baja), I received a new Jeep Cherokee Chief as an early graduation present or perhaps just a more secure and safe mode of transportation. The sad part is that the new Jeep was so poorly made, it was always in the shop for stupid repairs... and the 12 mpg was not good with gas going over 50 cents a gallon!!!

It only went to Baja a few times before I traded it for a new Subaru 4WD Wagon (per Tom Miller's recomendation)... That was super... 25 mpg, and I was able to take it everywhere I wanted to go. It never broke down and was made so well, had no warantee issues. I had a total of three Suabaru Wagons (77, 80, 86)... My next 'Baja vehicle' would be my '01 Tacoma.

Barry A. - 12-19-2010 at 11:23 AM

My buddy, the owner of the "VW bus", was a maniac and drove like a bat out of H-ll, so normally we "powered thru" (term "powered" used loosely) sand using insane speed, but every once in a while we just did not quite make-it, and then you were in BIG TROUBLE. We once buried that "bus" in a dust-bog on Laguna Diablo at the eastern foot of Picacho del Diablo in the winter of '62----no WAY we could get it out, until a Mexican rancher came along and yanked us out with a very long rope.

I remember well over the early years driving our 4x4 up crazy difficult washes and "tracks" only to find a VW bus parked at the upper end----amazing vehicles.

Having a "sick kid" along on those "challenging" adventures would sure add an element of stress------poor kid, and poor Mom and Dad, too.

Glad everybody survived.

Barry

David K - 12-19-2010 at 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
My buddy, the owner of the "VW bus", was a maniac and drove like a bat out of H-ll, so normally we "powered thru" (term "powered" used loosely) sand using insane speed, but every once in a while we just did not quite make-it, and then you were in BIG TROUBLE. We once buried that "bus" in a dust-bog on Laguna Diablo at the eastern foot of Picacho del Diablo in the winter of '62----no WAY we could get it out, until a Mexican rancher came along and yanked us out with a very long rope.

I remember well over the early years driving our 4x4 up crazy difficult washes and "tracks" only to find a VW bus parked at the upper end----amazing vehicles.

Having a "sick kid" along on those "challenging" adventures would sure add an element of stress------poor kid, and poor Mom and Dad, too.

Glad everybody survived.

Barry

In 1978, after always walking across the lagoon entrance onto Shell Island... I saw a VW bus parked... on the island!

I walked through the mud of the back bay (behind Bahia Santa Maria) to the 'island' and asked the guys how did they 'drive' onto the island... they showed me the track I had missed seeing from the salt flat road to Percebu. From that trip on, I camped on Shell Island instead of Nuevo Mazatlan, unless even the track through the mangroves was under water... as it was every full or new moon.

Rear engined VWs are amazing off road vehicles!

Barry A. - 12-19-2010 at 11:50 AM

I understand from friends that the newer VW vans (Vanagans?) don't do nearly as well as the old one's, tho, even tho they have much more power. The old one's were so simple, yet so tough!!! The newer one's are a lot more complex, and not nearly as competent, from what I hear. No personal experience with any "bus" after about '75 tho.

(this thread is sorta going estray, I fear, and I am contributing :rolleyes:

)

Barry

baitcast - 12-19-2010 at 12:00 PM

Thats ok Barry I always loved VW buses,bought three more over the years but stuck with the power wagon on the trips south,ended up a regular at PaPa's place, .50$ aday for the paplapa in front of his place.
Rob