Originally posted by elfbrewery
On Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, 3 jeeps and a 4wd pickup turned onto the Icehouse Road on the north side of Mulegé at 09:01.
Our goal was to drive the loop that goes west to the turnoff for Rancho Estanislao, then north through Guadaloupe, northeast through the pass, east
through San Jose de Magdalena to Highway 1, returning to Mulegé.
A recent report by a motorcycle rider on the Baja Nomad website gave us confidence to make this trip.
First stop, though, was to buy some citrus fruit at the orange grove west of Mulegé. Our vehicle had already aired down a few pounds because we knew
there was heavy washboard just getting that far. Fruit in hand, we carried on. Our vehicle deferred the lead to another, because I always get lost
finding the main road.
Turns out I’m not alone, because we followed the wide, well-traveled road into the huertas, only to turn around and search for the turn (to the right)
that we missed. By now we have delayed our travel time by 20 minutes, but we have all day.
Soon we pick up speed and whiz into the valley with its lovely scenery with clear, clean air that makes the mountains look so close. The serpentine
road along the cliffs is such a treat. But then, the rock dam we used to take a break by has vanished.
Hurricane Jimena has caused the current road to go around the track we used to take, leaving the small paved bridge we would have driven over to be
isolated in a washout.
No sense stopping here. Kilometers 34-37 with the 3 rough climbs were soon behind us and we zigzagged along the canyons skirting ranchos. We turned
north onto the road towards Estanislao at 10:48.
Over the hills and down along and through the arroyo we go. We were feeling good that we made it farther than last year in such good time, when we
made an unplanned stop. One of our drivers was experiencing stomach problems. Well, it’s 11:28 and we might as well have lunch while deciding what to
do.
The lead vehicle finally returned after feeling lonely, suspecting a vehicle breakdown, not a human one. We travel in a group for safety, no question
about it. It’s just part of life that some things are not meant to happen on some days. And when it comes to health, those first 2 hours are very
important. So, after a bit of lunch, we got ready to retreat. Lo and behold, our poorly driver is cracking jokes and we’re ready to push on.
The road is better than last year. We aren’t even sure that there was a road past Guadaloupe last year. On that trip, a DHL truck had passed us and
returned without a clue as to passage beyond the nearby ranchos he had delivered to.
Rain in the mountains made us turn back anyway. But that was last year and a couple gringos just stopped to tell us they had come through the pass
from San Jose de Magdalena, camping up in the mountains last night.
Because we didn’t want to take extra time, we skipped hunting for the ruins of the Guadaloupe mission, took the road to the right at La Presa and
headed into the mountains. So nice to be out of the arroyo and so happy to view these picturesque rocky structures.
Wow! What a great scene! Whoa! Why are we stopping? There’s a pickup parked in the road and our lead driver has stopped next to it. Oh, it’s the road
construction we heard about. Lots of things can hold you up when taking the back roads, but we were in for a new one -- wet cement. A nice long
section, about 25 feet in length, running the full width of what roadway there was, hacked from the cliff on one side, drop-off on the other, had just
been laid.
The work crew was taking their lunch break and the lead driver and I walked down to see what our chances were for getting through. After turning down
the offer of gorditas, the foreman answered our plea with, “Please. Give me two hours.”
Well, at least that meant we might get through today, but it was already after 2pm. Turning back was an option, but no one really wanted to do that;
it had taken us a fair chunk of time to get this far (5 hours, but only 2.5 hours full-on driving in reality).
Figuring it would be about 1.5 hours from here to Highway 1 via S. J. de Magdalena, we decided to kick back and enjoy this hiccup in our plans. Out
come the chairs, books, cameras,... What, no playing cards?
Unexpectedly, we get a shout at 2:40pm that we can come through. Everything was slung into the vehicles and off we went trying to be careful driving
over the fresh cement. We handed out candy and fruit to the crew, who were very happy to receive it. These guys live up here while working on the
road, so fresh food is very welcome.
A 2wd car was in front of us. The driver swerved around every 3 inch high rock, but floored it when he hit the dusty patches of road. We followed his
slolum for miles as we wound our way out of the canyon. He opened each ranch gate for us, but we were responsible for closing them.
Eventually, the 2wd car stopped at a ranch and we scooted onward. The pretty part of the trip was over as the land flattened out ahead. We were in the
mood to get to Magdelena, Highway 1 and Mulegé. We made a brief stop (less than 10 minutes) in Magdelena and were back to the highway by 4:14. We had
accomplished our mission and have stories to tell.
As for others who may want to try this road, my partner and I rated it a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 in difficulty. This was because we drove a jeep and
used 4wd for most of it with tires at about 25psi. We would definitely recommend 4wd for both the uphills and steep downhills.
According to my GPS, the maximum slope was approximately 15% up, 21% down; max. elevation was 2653 feet. The distance was about 65 miles (if you don’t
make any wrong turns) from highway to highway. Full-on driving time (in a group) was about 4 hours (we took about 7 hours all toll), but you will want
to take plenty of breaks to enjoy this area.
As it turns out, we could have stopped at the Guadaloupe ruins. Oh well, next year. |
. That roadwork is building cement sections that are either just a cement coat
several inches thick over the dirt/gravel roadbed, or, in some areas is a road surface of flat rock cemented like flagstone. The barrels are likely
to store water as they mix cement by hand on the ground.
....with one hand free taking pics 