BajaNomad - Sierra Juarez to Sierra Tinajas and Beyond Trip Report II

Sierra Juarez to Sierra Tinajas and Beyond Trip Report II

Taco de Baja - 4-8-2012 at 05:55 PM

Here are some more photos to add to Mexitron's trip report.
Weather was very nice, except for the first morning when we had freezing rain. Highs were usually no more than 90 in the day and low in the 40s at night.

I will work on getting a Google Earth KMZ track tomorrow. I first need to isolate and combine the paths from a trip up the mountain from Rancho El Mano with this trip (down the mountain) as well as remove all the other way-points and tracks that are in my GPS.

Warming up and drying out in the 30 degree first morning.

Abandoned Ranch part way down mountain

Steep road in burn area

Mesa La Vibora

Canyon El Mano

Hiking up canyon from Agua Caliente Spring

Agua Caliente Pool

One of the bad sections after leaving Agua Caliente. We did not know we were in for worse.

Yes, there's a road there someplace....

One of the white knuckle areas. Large rocks, off camber slippery.

One of the few remaining poles along the pole line road.

I believe this is "Basketball Hill"

Area on top of "Basketball Hill"

Taco de Baja - 4-8-2012 at 06:02 PM

Also found these strange rock piles south of Tres Pozos, east of the Sierra Tinajas on our last day. I have seen similar piles in the desert east of Barstow, CA along the Old National Trails Highway but without the sandbags under them, or at least not visible. Any ideas what they might be? they appear to be randomly placed and generally not close enough to be something like tent tie-downs.

Taco de Baja - 4-8-2012 at 06:12 PM

Alas, all was not without breakage.
This happened early on in the trip. I heard a large BANG! and thought I had broken a leaf spring, or something...a quick look around the truck at springs and drive shafts showed nothing amiss, and the truck operated fine. It was not until I got home and did a more thorough inspection that I found this:

Who knows, maybe it helped; kind of like an anti-swaybar quick disconnect :lol:

David K - 4-8-2012 at 06:20 PM

Excellent post Brooks! Great that you saw some poles (at least one)... from 1941!

TMW - 4-8-2012 at 07:24 PM

That was not basketball hill in the picture above. Basketball hill is right after turning out of the wash. Turn right out of the wash then left turn up BB hill and over and down to another wash. Total distance is maybe 1.5 miles wash to wash. The rock piles are called cairns and used to mark a trail usually found at a junction and just past the crossroad on the right.

TMW - 4-8-2012 at 07:26 PM

Holy cow on breaking the sway bar, never seen that done. Jeeps and some others usually disconnect it when going off road.

TMW - 4-8-2012 at 07:31 PM

Where the man is in the wash and appears to be walking with the SUV to his right that looks like the bottom of BB Hill. There was a large rock that fell down into the old road trail and we had to make a new road up and around it and that looks like it.

Mexitron - 4-8-2012 at 08:15 PM

Nice pics and report Brooks. Geez, so that was the sound you heard....wow! Huddo really missed it...

Taco de Baja - 4-9-2012 at 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Basketball Hill - 2005

Baskeball Hill - 2012

This long hill will take your breath away if you're not prepared for it. Worn tires with 3/32nds of tread didn't help, either.

I know, I know!

I think this was one of the worst areas. Had to take a break at the top for and wait for the adrenaline shakes to go away :lol:

Taco de Baja - 4-9-2012 at 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TW
The rock piles are called cairns and used to mark a trail usually found at a junction and just past the crossroad on the right.

The ones we saw in Baja and the ones east of Barstow do not appear to be trail marker cairns. They are scattered randomly over several acres (over 100 acres in for Barstow). The only trails near the ones in Baja were cattle/livestock and the trails did not really follow the piles....

I have seen similar cairns that mark mining claims in the Mojave Desert, but they are isolated, no other piles around. These Baja and Barstow "cairns" are sometimes several feet to 10s of feet to 100s of feet apart. The ones near Barstow are likely older, so if there were any sandbags under them they would have been made out of burlap and probably rotted away long ago.

I was just wondering if anybody had seen these in other areas, or knew their purpose. All the archaeologists in my office have their opinions, and for the ones in Barstow we can not even agree if they were historic, of prehistoric. :lol:

The plastic sandbags under the piles in Baja definitely indicates a historic origin, but still not a purpose. Who buries a sandbag under a pile of rocks? and why? :?:

Google Earth Track Log

Taco de Baja - 4-9-2012 at 11:45 AM

Here is an image of the track log. This is a combo track log with another 3 day trip we did in Dec 2011 when we camped in a canyon South of Palomar, Agua Caliente, and an area near Rancho El Mano and going up the Sierra Juarez road all in a clockwise loop. The latest trip was a longer counter clockwise loop, with a start on top (not shown) closer to Rumorosa going down the Sierra Juarez and through the Sierra Tinajas and up the Laguna Salada.

Anyone know how to attach the KMZ Google Earth File?
That way anyone can zoom in and out for more detail.

TMW - 4-9-2012 at 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Taco de Baja
Alas, all was not without breakage.
This happened early on in the trip. I heard a large BANG! and thought I had broken a leaf spring, or something...a quick look around the truck at springs and drive shafts showed nothing amiss, and the truck operated fine. It was not until I got home and did a more thorough inspection that I found this:

Who knows, maybe it helped; kind of like an anti-swaybar quick disconnect :lol:

Was this on the FJ or the Tacoma.

Taco de Baja - 4-9-2012 at 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TW

Quote:

Who knows, maybe it helped; kind of like an anti-swaybar quick disconnect :lol:

Was this on the FJ or the Tacoma.

This was my 1996 Tacoma that I have had since Jan 1996. First trip to Baja was in April 1996 with paper plates

. Looks like a new anti-sway bar is a little over $100 at the TRDParts4U.com (Toyota of Dallas). Not as bad as I first thought for a hunk of steel over an inch in diameter (27mm).

The FJ also wore out it's brakes on this trip and requires new rotors and pads. Another reason I prefer a manual transmission. :cool:

1st gear and 4-low will creep down most slopes with no braking.

No damage to Mexitron's second gen Tacoma that I know of.

TMW - 4-9-2012 at 04:16 PM

I don't remember how the sway bar was attached on the 2nd gen Tacoma like yours (I had a 2007 work truck) but my 2004 Tacoma I don't like the way it is attached, it takes an allen wrench to hold the bottom bolt while tightening the nut. I like the older way that my 1993 was done, just a straight rod about 6 or 8 inchers long with bushings top and bottom. The 2004 is a two piece L shaped gadget with no bushing, more like a balljoint.

Mexitron - 4-9-2012 at 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Taco de Baja
[

This was my 1996 Tacoma that I have had since Jan 1996. First trip to Baja was in April 1996 with paper plates

1st gear and 4-low will creep down most slopes with no braking.

No damage to Mexitron's second gen Tacoma that I know of.

Delia was wondering about the new desert pinstriping... :rolleyes:

Mexitron - 4-16-2012 at 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Cool map Ken!

BTW---when we came to where the Pole Line Road intersects with the Arroyo Grande/La Ventana Road it looked like the eastern direction was all washed out---couldn't tell if the road headed down the arroyo and hooked up with the Arroyo Grande/la Ventana road or not. We were interested in taking that route out to Mex Hwy 3 sometime. Have you driven that?

David K - 4-16-2012 at 05:31 PM

As I noted the last time you posted that nice map, the far right arroyo crossing labled is Grande, not Jaquegel...

David K - 4-16-2012 at 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mexitron

Cool map Ken!

BTW---when we came to where the Pole Line Road intersects with the Arroyo Grande/La Ventana Road it looked like the eastern direction was all washed out---couldn't tell if the road headed down the arroyo and hooked up with the Arroyo Grande/la Ventana road or not. We were interested in taking that route out to Mex Hwy 3 sometime. Have you driven that?

Just last New Years we drove from La Ventana out to Arroyo Grande (water well for gold mine), then down Arroyo Grande to the Pole Line road, then back.

Arroyo Grande in that section is a SCORE race course and was the Nov., 2011 Baja 1000... Nicely whooped up and very slow driving. However, from the well to Hwy. 5 at La Ventana (just south of La Ventana)... is VERY fast!

[Edited on 4-17-2012 by David K]

Barry A. - 4-16-2012 at 05:36 PM

------to be picky----- I question the designation "highway 5 N/S".. Surely that is not correct!?!?!?! Highway 5 would be much further east, it seems to me?!?!?!?!

Barry

Ken Cooke - 4-16-2012 at 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
As I noted the last time you posted that nice map, the far right arroyo crossing labled is Grande, not Jaquegel...

Correct. The label is for the *junction* - a road which bisects the Pole Line Road.

Ken Cooke - 4-16-2012 at 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
------to be picky----- I question the designation "highway 5 N/S".. Surely that is not correct!?!?!?! Highway 5 would be much further east, it seems to me?!?!?!?!

Barry

Barry - I utilized GPS data to assemble the map. Trust me, I spent hours on this particular map.

Barry A. - 4-16-2012 at 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Barry - I utilized GPS data to assemble the map. Trust me, I spent hours on this particular map.

Hmmmmmmmm, OK I trust you. Maps are sure fun. :yes:

Barry

Out with the old, in with the new.

Taco de Baja - 4-17-2012 at 07:35 AM

Fixed the anti-sway bay this weekend.
Came out to $140.00 plus my time of a little over an hour. I hate to think what the dealer would charge for this....

If anyone has a Toyota and you like to fix things yourself I can't recommend TRDParts4U enough. They are the parts department of Toyota of Dallas and carry genuine OEM Toyota parts at a great discount. The local Stealership wanted $173 for the anti-sway bar; TRDParts4U had it for $103 with $17 shipping in less than a week. I have ordered several other parts in the past , and they are always well below the local dealer even with the shipping.

Before

Temporary fix. Duct tape held up for a week of freeway driving

Out with the old, in with the new.

Fixed.
Also took the opportunity to replace the 12 year old polyurethane bushings with new ones at $20. Much improved ride now! Had I known, I'd have done this years ago

Taco de Baja - 4-17-2012 at 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Here's my GPS track of the same area. compared to Ken's map, almost the same scale :yes:

.

Nice to be able to compare.

BTW Barry is correct, Hwy 5 is well to the east (approx 8-9 miles) in the mountains in the upper right of Ken's image.

Ken Cooke - 4-17-2012 at 05:21 PM

David K - 4-17-2012 at 05:25 PM

Nice repost of Neal Johns' article in Discover Baja!!!

Ken Cooke - 4-17-2012 at 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Nice repost of Neal Johns' article in Discover Baja!!!

My favorite article from the Discover Baja Newsletter archives!

Mexitron - 4-17-2012 at 06:06 PM

Thanks for posting the cool articles Ken. Until we found it had been named Basketball Hill we were calling it the "Drainpipe" and the "Laundry Chute" .

Nice job on the truck Brooks!

Taco de Baja - 4-17-2012 at 07:58 PM

Thanks for posting the articles Ken. Sounds like it was a little easier for us.
Although we did have to stop numerous times to move rocks, fill in gulleys,
trim branches, and relocate the road.....it does not seem as the road needed
quite as much maintenance.

As a side note, camped at the "lodge" you mention back in December. Although we called it the "resort". We too wondered who in the heck spent the pesos to build it. Quite impressive.

[Edited on 4-18-2012 by Taco de Baja]

Ken Cooke - 4-17-2012 at 08:24 PM

Thanks guys. The lodge is very impressive. Neal Johns said that it belonged to a government official, a drug lord, or both.

Ken Cooke - 4-17-2012 at 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Barry - I utilized GPS data to assemble the map. Trust me, I spent hours on this particular map.

Hmmmmmmmm, OK I trust you. Maps are sure fun. :yes:

Barry

N31 51.754 W 115 10.962

Taco de Baja - 4-18-2012 at 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Barry - I utilized GPS data to assemble the map. Trust me, I spent hours on this particular map.

Hmmmmmmmm, OK I trust you. Maps are sure fun. :yes:

Barry

N31 51.754 W 115 10.962

N31 51.754"; W115 10.962" Does indeed plot on Hwy 5 at a dirt road intersection.

However, your point labeled "HWY5 N/S" on your map is at: N31 46.60"; W115 15.00".

This is at a road intersection a little over 6 miles southwest of Hwy 5 (as the cuervo flies) with a couple of routes that make their way to Hwy 5, including the N31 51.75"; W115 10.96" intersection....

Ken Cooke - 4-18-2012 at 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Taco de Baja

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Barry - I utilized GPS data to assemble the map. Trust me, I spent hours on this particular map.

Hmmmmmmmm, OK I trust you. Maps are sure fun. :yes:

Barry

N31 51.754 W 115 10.962

Sorry, I had a buddy download his GPS waypoint data and email it to me.

pappy - 4-19-2012 at 10:58 AM

i remember that article. when i saw the pics i was pretty impressed with the toyota/camper combo rock crawling some of those sections!

Neal Johns - 4-19-2012 at 06:44 PM

pappy,
Driven by a mere woman, too! (now 71 and still crawling).
Neal (current husband) :lol:

Mexitron - 4-19-2012 at 09:15 PM

Just out of curiosity why didn't they run the pole line along the Mex Hwy 3 route---even back then there would have been a decent dirt road there, I would think.....much easier country to go through.

Neal Johns - 4-20-2012 at 07:42 AM

Mexitron, Good question, I have often wondered the same thing.

DK, was there a dirt road along the Mex Hwy 3 route in the 1940's?

David K - 4-20-2012 at 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neal Johns
Mexitron, Good question, I have often wondered the same thing.

DK, was there a dirt road along the Mex Hwy 3 route in the 1940's?

Oh yes, indeed... It has been a wagon road to San Felipe, for ages...

Northern Baja in 1930, see the Ensenada to San Felipe road:

Here is a close up from 1930 map:

The trail called 'Buck Canyon' is approx. the Pole Line route.

The 1941 map, doesn't show any road across to San Felipe, as it was primarily a map showing north-south roads:

Just the road from Ensenada to El Alamo is shown:

As to why the more difficult route over the summit and across the desert before turning south at Arroyo Grande...? Who knows. maybe they thought San Matias Pass could get washed out too often or they wanted a route in no man's land for security?

[Edited on 4-20-2012 by David K]

Mexitron - 4-20-2012 at 03:38 PM

I thought about the security thing but then the pole line road apparently joins up with the Mex Hwy 3 route around Trinidad.

David K - 4-20-2012 at 05:07 PM

Well, keep in mind there was no Mex. 3 between Ensenada and San Felipe until about 30 years ago... and before then it was BC Hwy. 16... and pavement didn't reach Hwy. 5 until late in 1977/ early 1978.

Pole line road probably went to Santa Catarina (near today's Independencia) and to El Alamo?

In 1967, pavement went about 10 miles out from Ensenada... and the rest was dirt road... no Hwy. designation, not graded. We got lost on the south end of Diablo Dry Lake and went to Rancho Algodon, before turning back and heading to San Felipe! Fun times!

[Edited on 4-21-2012 by David K]

Mexitron - 4-20-2012 at 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Well, keep in mind there was no Mex. 3 between Ensenada and San Felipe until about 30 years ago... and before then it was BC Hwy. 16... and pavement didn't reach Hwy. 5 until late in 1977/ early 1978.

Pole line road probably went to Santa Catarina (near today's Independencia) and to El Alamo?

In 1967, pavement went about 10 miles out from Ensenada... and the rest was dirt road... no Hwy. designation, not graded. We got lost on the south end of Diablo Dry Lake and went to Rancho Algodon, before turning back and heading to San Felipe! Fun times!

[Edited on 4-21-2012 by David K]

True dat! Did do some cursory searches in the National Archives and other places for history of the road but didn't turn up much except to learn about Mexico's involvement in the war---in fact they had their own regiment(?) in the Phillipines. They were neutral in the war until two of their oil tankers were torpedoed by the Germans---in fact I think one of the tanker's names was the "Baja California"----reason enough!

David K - 4-21-2012 at 10:07 AM

Good research Steve! The road was attached to the radar station at San Felipe (and there is even confusion if it was next to the village or out by Punta Diggs/ Punta Estrella... Punta Radar?).

In Gene Kira's web pages (MexFish.com) is a story written by the son of a delivery man that brought food to the U.S. station at San Felipe from Calexico.

David K - 10-11-2012 at 05:59 PM

Worth a bump up! :yes:

Ken Cooke - 12-25-2013 at 07:32 PM

I had been looking for this thread, and I finally found it. This was a really challenging route for my Jeep friends - Mano Canyon was really tough!

David K - 12-26-2013 at 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I had been looking for this thread, and I finally found it. This was a really challenging route for my Jeep friends - Mano Canyon was really tough!

Ken, several of your photos/ maps that were in this thread are recently gone... as if you moved them on Photobucket? Can you replace them... The one of Basketball Hill from many years ago in particular. (Remember to set the Photobucket upload size to 800 pixels to fill, but not distort Nomad)
Thank you!

TMW - 12-26-2013 at 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I had been looking for this thread, and I finally found it. This was a really challenging route for my Jeep friends - Mano Canyon was really tough!

Mono canyon is a Toyota route others will pay the price.

Ken Cooke - 12-26-2013 at 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I had been looking for this thread, and I finally found it. This was a really challenging route for my Jeep friends - Mano Canyon was really tough!

The links were all broken, so I just deleted the posts to reduce everyones frustration.

Basketball Hill (2004)

Ken Cooke - 12-26-2013 at 01:46 PM

Neal and Marian

Brad and Neal

woody with a view - 12-26-2013 at 02:07 PM

in all of the pics you guys look like you're aired up. any issues with flats?

Ken Cooke - 12-26-2013 at 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view
in all of the pics you guys look like you're aired up. any issues with flats?

There were no flats on this particular run. When running a BFG AT/KO, you don't want anything less than 18# in your tires. The tire sidewalls have moderate to poor protection, so all contact must be made with the tread section of the tire.

Barry A. - 12-26-2013 at 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view
in all of the pics you guys look like you're aired up. any issues with flats?

-------unless you are in very bad sand with few rocks, then you can drop below 18 lbs, but I never go below about 15 unless actually stuck, then I sometimes go as low as 8 to 10 to get out, quickly reinflating to 15 to 18 when able to move on in the sand, and switching to about 25 lbs in rocks.

My rig is a Ford F-250 4x4 with a 800 lb steel CALLEN camper and 285x16 BFG TA/KO tires. So far never had a flat with them, but Ken is right and the sidewalls are vulnerble even tho 3 ply.

Barry

David K - 12-26-2013 at 05:45 PM

My BFG friends who drive on Shell Island need to drop to 10 psi, as the sidewalls of the All Terrain TA are just too stiff to provide good floatation at the pressure I can get by with in what I run (15-18 psi) for the same degree of floatation. I had the same issue when running Cooper Discoverer ATT Mud Terrain tires (3 ply sidewall)... They would not float until I was at 10 psi.

Even on the firmer wet sand below the high tide line, you need to deflate... the beach is so well mixed with sea shells that there is no compaction as you would have with pure sand when wet!

36 psi.

18 psi.

On the dry sand, at 18 psi... Hankook Dynapro ATM (2 ply sidewall) dropped in LESS than my own feet... and I weigh less. well a little less! LOL