BajaNomad - A Baja Off Road Trail that has been destroyed AND eliminated

A Baja Off Road Trail that has been destroyed AND eliminated

Ken Cooke - 5-15-2012 at 04:35 PM

Does anyone here still remember, "That Road"??

The route from Puertecitos to Gonzaga Bay that USED to be a DEMANDING 4WD route? This road has been destroyed in my opinion, leading to less pristine 4WD seat time.

The former end of the pavement - Puertecitos

What a quait 4WD road!

Jeeps flying by! :bounce:

Sea of Cortez scenery WAS easy to come by with this dirt road.

I was TOO HAPPY to drive over such rugged terrain. :bounce:

My Baja dust-collecting Jeep :!:

My Colorado-based Jeeper friend, Brad.

My L.A.-based Jeeper friend, Russ.

Baja-loving Jeep fun! :bounce:

Natural scenic beauty

This road had some real rugged charm. :bounce:

This spot was much easier to reach before the super highway was constructed.

So much dirt, all on one day! :bounce:

David K - 5-15-2012 at 04:42 PM

Great pictures Ken... Too bad you didn't experience it when it really was a 4WD Only kind of road (pre-1986 graded highway construction)!

Try and imagine 20 miles in compound low 4WD... averaging 5 mph or less... wooden crosses line the edge of the one lane wide, ultra steep grades where those in lesser vehicles careened over the side. :wow:

Ken Cooke - 5-15-2012 at 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Great pictures Ken... Too bad you didn't experience it when it really was a 4WD Only kind of road (pre-1986 graded highway construction)!

Try and imagine 20 miles in compound low 4WD... averaging 5 mph or less... wooden crosses line the edge of the one lane wide, ultra steep grades where those in lesser vehicles careened over the side. :wow:

That would have been no problem in my Father's wood panel-sided Full-Sized Jeep Cherokee. I bet it was a fun trail - even better before 1986!

woody with a view - 5-15-2012 at 04:55 PM

yeah, those look like any other dirt road in baja except the view is way better!

David K - 5-15-2012 at 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke

Quote:

That would have been no problem in my Father's wood panel-sided Full-Sized Jeep Cherokee. I bet it was a fun trail - even better before 1986!

While it would have been do-able without an issue in the 1960's and early 1970's, after the Transpeninsular Highway was completed (in late 1973) supplies and most traffic for Gonzaga came in from the south. The road in from Puertecitos no longer carried commercial traffic and maintenance ended... by 1979 the road was nearly impassable south of Puertecitos.

Desertbull - 5-15-2012 at 05:38 PM

Well IMHO it's never been barely passable.

Adventurers including me have gone south on this road since I was a kid and that has been a long time and my father in law traveled to Gonzaga via the road since the early 50's and he recounts the same, always took him 3 days from San Felipe to Gonzaga...and he's almost as old as Bufeo! :light:

rts551 - 5-15-2012 at 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Desertbull
Well IMHO it's never been barely passable.

Adventurers including me have gone south on this road since I was a kid and that has been a long time and my father in law traveled to Gonzaga via the road since the early 50's and he recounts the same, always took him 3 days from San Felipe to Gonzaga...and he's almost as old as Bufeo! :light:

I with you. first time on that road was in the 60's and it was not a "compound low 4 WD " road. Later in the mid 70's we pulled a 18 ft travel trailer through there. Scary in the sisters area but we made it.

bufeo - 5-15-2012 at 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Desertbull... always took him 3 days from San Felipe to Gonzaga...and he's almost as old as Bufeo! :light:

Okay, okay. Enough of that or I'll post pix of kids getting stuck in Punta Bufeo driveways. :yes:

Saw a local vehicle (2wd) making that final southern grade by negotiating it in reverse.

Ken, your photos and description are delightful. Too bad someone had to do the "Well-I-remember-when" bit, but that's the internet. In one of those pics (Puertecitos) if you'd angled the camera just a bit more to the right we'd be looking at the casita of another Baja Nomad.

Allen R

David K - 5-15-2012 at 06:04 PM

Taking 3 days to go 100 miles is pretty close to 'barely passable'... and in the end (BEFORE THE GRADED ROAD OF 1986) IT WAS pretty much all low range. I was trying to give something that Ken could relate to after the photos of the 2WD dirt super road of his photos. I was over the original road in '65, '67, '74, '75 and '79 (the first two years as a passenger).

I will someday get my family slides converted to a disc so I can share them of the good old days in Baja.

Some photos of the old Gonzaga road:

thebajarunner - 5-15-2012 at 07:02 PM

Well, I can tell you that road was a bear.
First time we did it was 1971 pre running the 500
Wore out an entire set of brand new take off tires on the rear going up those rutted grades, Northbound.
Two wheel drive pickup, stick shift, that baby just chattered, jittered, shuddered and stuttered up those hills.
In the race, locked rear end, auto trans, lots of horsepower it was not so bad,
Until you came on a couple of Bugs broke down on the narrowest of grades, then it got real ugly,
Just leave that to my memory and your imagination.
(But, if you are thinking, "over you go" you are not far off....)
gotta keep that race pace going no matter what...

dizzyspots - 5-16-2012 at 05:53 AM

A relative newcomer to this road...we 1st did it in 2007 as Baja virgins...FJ Cruiser...bone stock..took almost 5 hrs for this rookie to get to GB form the Puertecitos cutoff...(wife swearing that she;ll NEVER do this again),,,and we LOVED it...been back 8 times since...miss the road? yeah kinda...like having more time on the bay...you bet!!

BajaBlanca - 5-16-2012 at 07:09 AM

those are some classic pics Ken ! the lineup of cars was great !

Petition

edm1 - 5-16-2012 at 08:28 AM

Maybe a group of nomads can petition the baja government to "preserve" what is left of the trail to Gonzaga Bay and through Coco's. Is there such a process in Mexico?

In 2007 (and again in 2011) I drove my motorhome through that long offroad trail and it took me 10 hours to get to Coco's. Great memories.

[Edited on 5-16-2012 by edm1]

David K - 5-16-2012 at 09:56 AM

The word is, the new highway will bypass Coco's Corner by a mile to the west (following the original route to Chapala built by Arturo Grosso in the mid 1950's). The El Camino Real between Calamajue and Santa Maria is along that section, as well... Two great old trails destroyed by modern road building!

Two great old trails destroyed by modern road building

durrelllrobert - 5-16-2012 at 09:58 AM

For those of us that don't own 4WDs it is called PROGRESS

David K - 5-16-2012 at 10:03 AM

Yah... to coin a phrase from Mama Espinoza, instead of just 'good people', now there will be 'all kinds of people'!

Barry A. - 5-16-2012 at 10:32 AM

I first "tried" to go over the grades south of PCitos in 1958 in a WW II 4x4 Army Ambulance--------we did not have enough power to get over the second grade, gave up, and camped for a week in one of the coves at the bottom (N end) of Grade II, as I recall. While camped, a jeep with two guys came by, tried the second grade above our camp (it may have been grade 3, can't remember exactly), rolled the jeep on the grade and one sustained severe injuries---their trip was over.

The next time in 1963 was in a VW bus, and it took many runs at it to finally make it over the worst part. The vehicle was never the same. I was not the driver, that time, and the driver was insane IMO.

Then again in about 1976 in an Ford F-100 2X4 with HUGE tires. I tore the motor-mounts out in Compound low coming north on the first grade south of Huerfanitos. We had to chain the motor to the frame, and limped on after that.

After that, I had a Ford F-250 stick-shift 5-speed tranny 460 engine 4x4 and it was a slow slog, but no real problems. Still have that vehicle, as well as the old F-100 Ford.

The grade was a terror (horror?), to me, and I remember it well. It was an adventure, for sure, but not pleasant for any of us. Gonzaga Bay was the magnet that kept us coming over "that road".

Barry

[Edited on 5-16-2012 by Barry A.]

bigboy - 5-16-2012 at 11:53 AM

I travelled that road at least five times between 1971 and 1975! It was bad but I drove a 1971 F250 4X4 with a granny first gear and a two speed transfer case so I never worried too much about those grades!

I would just crawl up those grades at about walking speed with my buddy looking for wheel placement and large rocks that might be a problem. I seem to recall that the road took the better part of a day to traverse!

Neal Johns - 5-16-2012 at 12:49 PM

I think I saw some of you kids there back in the late seventies when I was middle aged. :lol:

David K - 5-16-2012 at 01:49 PM

Barry A. and bigboy, that sums it up as best as I can recall... I also drove the grades in a 2WD dune buggy in '74 and '75... Big tires, short wheel base, motor in the back, fiberglass body all made it easy, but slow. In the 60's we were in my parent's Jeep Wagoneer... I recall my mom getting out and walking some as the danger was so real as well as to listen for vehicles coming the other way (no room to pass on the grades).

Barry A. - 5-16-2012 at 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neal Johns
I think I saw some of you kids there back in the late seventies when I was middle aged. :lol:

Boy, that sure triggers my mind. I do recall there was a wild hermit with a lot of babes (WIW?) hanging around in one of the coves between the "grades" in a little driftwood shack. He was not to pleased when we pulled in with an ambulance full of wild beer-soaked "kids" in there early 20's-----and he made it clear that we should "move on" if we knew what was good for us. Of course we could not as our vehicle was plumb tuckered out, so we camped at the other end of the little beach, only sneaking down there to the shack after dark looking for prospects, but to no avail, as I recall----the hermit had a short leash on those gals (WIW?). In those days, Neal (?) was a hostile guy---------he has mellowed since, I hear.

All these years I have wondered just WHO that hermit was----------------now I know.

Barry

David K - 5-16-2012 at 04:06 PM

Granville King (aka Desert Fox) lived just north of Puertecitos in the late 1970's, and 1980's... beyond pavement's evil grip.

Before then...

Maybe Neal hid out in a shack at OKIE LANDING?

Desertbull - 5-16-2012 at 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bufeo

Quote:

Originally posted by Desertbull... always took him 3 days from San Felipe to Gonzaga...and he's almost as old as Bufeo! :light:

Okay, okay. Enough of that or I'll post pix of kids getting stuck in Punta Bufeo driveways. :yes:

Haha Señor Grider....so true!

Bug - 5-16-2012 at 06:30 PM

In March..I left Coco places and drove to San Felipe in two and half hours..

Where usually it takes me at least 5 to 6 hours to get to San Felipe.

In April when I seen coco he was filling out some goverment papers to have

them pave a section to his place off the new highway.

bigboy - 5-17-2012 at 06:25 AM

I remember there was a man that filled in the holes in the road in the area of the grades. He had a small camp just off of the road and he had a tin can set up on the road for donations! A tough way to make a living!

dean miller - 5-17-2012 at 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
I first "tried" to go over the grades south of PCitos in 1958 in a WW II 4x4 Army Ambulance--------we did not have enough power to get over the second grade, gave up, and camped for a week in one of the coves at the bottom (N end) of Grade II, as I recall. While camped, a jeep with two guys came by, tried the second grade above our camp (it may have been grade 3, can't remember exactly), rolled the jeep on the grade and one sustained severe injuries---their trip was over.

The next time in 1963 was in a VW bus, and it took many runs at it to finally make it over the worst part. The vehicle was never the same. I was not the driver, that time, and the driver was insane IMO.

Then again in about 1976 in an Ford F-100 2X4 with HUGE tires. I tore the motor-mounts out in Compound low coming north on the first grade south of Huerfanitos. We had to chain the motor to the frame, and limped on after that.

After that, I had a Ford F-250 stick-shift 5-speed tranny 460 engine 4x4 and it was a slow slog, but no real problems. Still have that vehicle, as well as the old F-100 Ford.

The grade was a terror (horror?), to me, and I remember it well. It was an adventure, for sure, but not pleasant for any of us. Gonzaga Bay was the magnet that kept us coming over "that road".

Barry

[Edited on 5-16-2012 by Barry A.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brothers in Automotive...

After Korea I had a 1942 4X4 1/2 ton Dodge Ambulance..my Baja companion at the time had a 1943 4X4 1/2 ton Dodge Ambulance.. which we traveled the wilds of Baja making our own roads.

In 1960to 1980 a VW Kombi

Then Toyota trucks , Now 4x4 Toyota...

Memories!

SDM

David K - 5-17-2012 at 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigboy
I remember there was a man that filled in the holes in the road in the area of the grades. He had a small camp just off of the road and he had a tin can set up on the road for donations! A tough way to make a living!

In the 60's we didn't see him, but a sign in his wheel barrel asked for donations. Photo from Cliff Cross' 1970 Baja Guide.

nomad 040.jpg - 22kB

He was there in the early 70's

thebajarunner - 5-17-2012 at 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

In the 60's we didn't see him, but a sign in his wheel barrel asked for donations. Photo from Cliff Cross' 1970 Baja Guide.

He had, at best, a quarter mile of road somewhat improved.
At least once we came up on him while he was sitting in the shade, he saw (or heard) us coming and jumped up and "got to work"

Maybe he is reincarnated at Catavina as the "PesoMan"

Barry A. - 5-17-2012 at 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigboy

I remember there was a man that filled in the holes in the road in the area of the grades. He had a small camp just off of the road and he had a tin can set up on the road for donations! A tough way to make a living!

We too saw his equipment (wheel barrow and shovels, pick, etc) on the "grades" but never actually saw him in person. We had the impression that he actually helped the road quite a bit. (It needed all the help it could get).

Dean Baker---------our WW II Army Ambulance was owned by a guy from Coronado named Chips Everette, but Chips did know how to drive back then (or so he indicated), so he always recruited somebody to drive, sometimes me, to make these Baja trips. Chips made a living trading and buying Military Surplus (I think) and that is how he acquired the Ambulance. It was powered by a 6 cyl engine, with a 4 speed tranny, but I don't believe it had a 'transfer case' so was lacking in the gearing for real power to the wheels on the steep grades. Still, I loved that tough old vehicle, and we went a lot of places in N. Baja in it. It was built like a tank!!!

Barry