Memorial Day 2013 Offroad Camping Trip

It's been 3 years since a group of adventurous (and daring) 4-wheelers camped at the ruins of the Mision Santa Maria, overcoming various obstacles during that trip. My daughter and I were very fortunate to experience that ride and that night.

The magic of Baja is calling again, and Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner. I am open to something a little :-) easier than the Widowmaker, as long as there are Toyota and Dodge trucks to pull me back to civilization if my oversized offroad machine breaks down ;-) that's if field repair fails. I'm bringing the TIG welder ths time.

We have time to decide where (trails, camping sites) this adventure should lead us.
So, who's up to it?

I think CG is feeling the itch (if his calendar permits, of course).





[Edited on 4-7-2013 by edm1]

We are thinking Shell Island this Memorial Weekend. If you have improved on the tires for the new motorhome, you should make it!

Memorial 2011:







BajaRob and Connie even delivered champagne!







Take only pictures... leave only tracks!

[Edited on 4-7-2013 by David K]

Shell Island?? Russ, are you thinking what I'm thinking??

Quote:

Originally posted by David K We are thinking Shell Island this Memorial Weekend. If you have improved on the tires for the new motorhome, you should make it!

Well, we can all drive to the Tinaja de Santa Maria, but as for a long distance hike over the desert mountains, that's another deal.

Here is the Golfo Camino Real from Tinaja de Santa Maria on north to San Borja... and the Sierra Camino Real (main El Camino Real)...

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Well, we can all drive to the Tinaja de Santa Maria, but as for a long distance hike over the desert mountains, that's another deal. Here is the Golfo Camino Real from Tinaja de Santa Maria on north to San Borja... and the Sierra Camino Real (main El Camino Real)...

GE shows a 'road'...

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke Shell Island?? Russ, are you thinking what I'm thinking??

Quote:

Originally posted by russchung Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke Shell Island?? Russ, are you thinking what I'm thinking?? Use Shell Island as a base and do a day run to check out the condition of the road through Matomi Narrows??

Right, a 3 day weekend is best if it isn't all driving just to get there and then go back. If you get bored relaxing on the beach, then do a run to Matomi if you like.

I just looked at the tide calendar and there is a full moon with high tides over 19' all 3 days... This means Shell Island will be a full island and require driving through sea water slimy mud to get onto at low tide (or 1 foot deep sea water at high tide).

Viewing the former (1980's) road and bridge onto the island during high tide, July, 2011:






edm-1 didn't quite make it, even with front and rear lockers. The nearby fishermen camp was a lifesaver!

for those of you with a desire to offroad the motorhome, maybe time for an upgrade?

Quote:

Originally posted by willardguy for those of you with a desire to offroad the motorhome, maybe time for an upgrade?

Oh boy, now you gave Art a new project to work on.

edm1,
Art, if I can make the trip, we can go somewhere after the "official" run with anyone like us who do not use the W word.

Quote:

Originally posted by David K We are thinking Shell Island this Memorial Weekend. If you have improved on the tires for the new motorhome, you should make it! Memorial 2011: BajaRob and Connie even delivered champagne! Take only pictures... leave only tracks! [Edited on 4-7-2013 by David K]

Regional Image and Map

Good. Now, you can tackle the Pole Line Road and the tricky Laguna Salada River crossing!

Art, I sent you a U2U.
I will firm up decision real soon. TW, want a ride?

The W word is WORK.

Quote:

Originally posted by Neal Johns Art, I sent you a U2U. I will firm up decision real soon. TW, want a ride? The W word is WORK.

Quote:

Originally posted by Neal Johns Art, I sent you a U2U. I will firm up decision real soon. TW, want a ride? The W word is WORK.

If you guys still like seeing old stuff after the Golfo Camino Real, then the walls ('Lost Mission') at Las Animas Bay are not far off the road between L.A. Bay and Tinaja de Santa Maria: http://vivabaja.com/109

You can see the mission trail on Google Earth, but a cloud obscures some of the trail over the ridge...

The section of mission trail is between G12 and G13 on this map:



Google Earth View... from high to low at Tinaja de Santa Maria, then following the trail back north over the ridge to the old road to Punta San Francisquito (both the Golfo Camino Real and the Sierra Camino Real are shown in the highest view):





















Have plenty of water!


[Edited on 5-8-2013 by David K]

Hi Art, well Elizabeth gets only 3 days off, so Shell Island is the furthest south and she needs just some relaxation time on the beach.

I have driven to the Tinaja de Santa Maria twice, but that was 10 & 12 years ago. The Golfo Camino Real trail over that low ridge you can see as you drive up the valley towards the Tinaja, but you can't see it from the old road to Punta San Francisquito, on the north side (east of La Bocana ranch). We also drove up past La Bocana in the canyon (of San Pedro) where the Camino Real also ran, but didn't see any muestras (signs) of it.

The Tinaja is a 'coyote well', in that there may not be any surface water, but it lies not far below the sand and gravel where the sand arroyo meets the big boulder step.

Dec. 2002:
Tinaja Santa Maria, photo looking west. That's Chis on his motorbike...the tinaja is under the sand at that big boulder step rock in the background:

The end of the 'road'. This water hole served travelers on the Gulfo Camino between Santa Gertrudis and San Borja. GPS is N28°26.07'/ W113°19.99'in the Almanac (NAD27 Mexico). On Google Earth (WGS84) TINAJA DE SANTA MARIA is 28°26'05.20" 113°20'01.40"

Cerro la Sandia is in the distance. This is the same peak seen south from L.A. Bay

In 2001, several of us (including Neal Johns, DavidE, Paulina, Desert Rat, El Camote) searched for the lost mission and our guide (Jesus Flores) took us to the Tinaja de Santa Maria: http://www.vivabaja.com/van1/page6.html


Neal Johns, July 4, 2001 at Tinaja de Santa Maria


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'

[Edited on 5-9-2013 by David K]

I wish I could join this great group! I will be exploring the Big Island 'til the 28th

I can't wait for the "rest of the story"!!!

Glad you guys are home!

Standby, DK and other interested readers, for the rest of the "Art and Motorhome Saga" staring lady gas station attendants and assorted other ladies.

I can't wait... Good to read stuff, indeed! FYI, since it was discussed in the beginning of this thread: Baja Angel and I did go to Shell Island over Memorial Day weekend... and because of the full moon, it was indeed an island... Instead of using the raised 1984/5 roadbed, towards the useless bridge, we used the original route (through the sea water and mud) that heads for the fisherman's camp on the island, with no problem (L4 & A-TRAC . I am glad Art did not try with the motorhome, however!

Well it was supposed to be Memorial Day, but was delayed a few days. No worries, we were on Baja Time. There were supposed to be six or eight vehicles but somehow all but three dropped out or never signed up. Weaklings! Chris (with friend Luis) and I had real pickups with pop-top campers while Art had Frankenstein’s Monster (FM from now on). Art is handicapped by having an Electronics Engineer degree but really writes software. (Software Puke from now on). SP is not a derogatory term, just a Naval descriptor used to separate these inferior types from Hardware Pukes, a much higher organism on the evolutionary scale. Ask any HP, me for example.

To balance out his life a bit and emulate certain higher organisms, Art took a perfectly good full sized motorhome, ripped out the axles and gasoline engine and put Dana 80’s with ARB lockers underneath and a Cummings diesel in front. Eureka! A Frankenstein Monster! An amazing job, especially for an SP. He is also quite a likeable fellow so grudgingly I treated him as an equal. Chris, I treated like a God because he came back to rescue me with replacement parts on the Mision Santa Maria trail a couple of years ago after Art stopped towing me and left me to die. Oh, the shame, the shame, (I was in a Tacoma too, DK!).

We camped halfway down in Erendira the first night, all the way past town with a view of breaking waves on a large guano covered rock just offshore. Quite a nice campsite, kudos to Art for this. The next morning, onward to Bahia de Los Angeles; we paused on the top of the mesa just before dropping down into BOLA to take pictures of the amazing bay with its many islands and then proceeded to Daggett’s Campground. It was quiet with a nice palapa on the beachfront. If you need a sand beach near the water rather than rocks, you can go to La Gringa, but it is about seven miles north of town. We checked it out the next day; there was only one isolated camper on a long sandy beach.

Chris wanted to kick back in BOLA, the weather was nice and why not? We paid Herman Hill, the Baja author, a visit and enjoyed his Baja stories.

FM didn’t like Art’s tugging at its door to get inside so it ate poor Art. See picture of Art’s feet sticking out of FM’s mouth. Luis tried to save him but failed. Art survived but was never quite the same.

We decided to visit Misión San Borja rather than the original plan to visit Tinaja Santa Maria since Chris had to get Luis back to work Monday morning. Everyone but me (been there, done that) took the tour of the Church, adobe Misión ruins, surroundings and then visited Jose, who lives in the house adjacent to the Church. He was adding a metal enclosure to his pickup bed to haul a horse using a broken drill bit. Art gave him a new bit. Good dog! Art! We got the tour of the hot springs that irrigate the garden and orchard, and the mini-museum by Jose’s wife and daughter. All of Jose’s son’s have left the ranch for town life, the story of most Californios.

Jose can supply guide service with or without mules to the several interesting spots nearby. Two friends and I rode mules with Jose and son Jose Jr. a few years ago to visit El Aguaje, an abandoned visita on the El Camino Real.

The most interesting part of the trip occurred after Chris and Luis left. As I remember it, Art insisted upon visiting Tinaja Yubay on the El Camino Real. It is accessed by a typical Baja two track. Can you see the fun coming? Things started off rather poorly, I took a wrong turn and almost got to a rancho in Arroyo Yubay before realizing my mistake and telling Art to turn around. The sounds of FM tuning around on a narrow two track haunt me to this day. It was out of sight but is must have been Ugly. After taking a turn that I assured Art went toward the road we should be on, we came to a locked gate a few feet from the road we wanted. Sigh. By this time I had lost all credibility with Art. We backtracked and took the right road but every mile or so I heard a plaintiff little cry on the CB “How much further?” The road is what I classify as “Interesting”; we will see how Art describes it. In an hour I arrived at the wide spot on the bank of Arroyo Yubay sometimes referred to as The Parking Spot. I looked behind me and there was no Art or FM in sight. He was 0.2 miles back with a tree or part thereof sticking out of his tire. The air inside the tire was not sticking in, but pouring out. He said something I dare not quote. After jacking the tire up and filling the hole with countless plugs, we proceeded to The Parking Spot and checked for other damage. There were a few things wrong, such as:

One of the shock mounts broke and the shock flopped around until it died.

One of the sway bar mounting brackets broke.

The Beauty Trim Covers on the wheels were no longer beautiful.

And then there was collateral damage: Halfway through welding the broken shock mount Art’s Expensive, High Tech, Chinese welder bought from Ebay died. His first Chinese welder had died too. Art, why can’t you get high quality stuff like Harbor Freight makes?

The next morning we hiked a mile or so up Arroyo Yubay to the tinaja (a bedrock depression in the arroyo that catches and stores rainwater). Tinaja Yubay was one of the most important waterholes on the El Camino Real because it held so much water which was prevented from evaporating by being partially filled with sand. Due to the several years of drought in Baja, the water level was about four feet lower than normal. We stayed there all day and camped there one more night. The next morning the trail seemed much shorter because we were familiar with it. Meeting an oncoming vehicle, we pulled over in a nearby bare spot and the passing men whipped out their camera to take pictures of the unlikely motorhome on this two track. When Art started to pull out, he was temporally stuck in the silty sand and they asked him if he needed help. Art said “No thanks”, engaged his lockers and drove away. :-)

Somewhere during the trip, FM decided that the engine would not shut off. A piece of cord was tied to a manual fuel valve by Art and routed into the cab. Ta Da! You pull, it quits. But later….the engine would not run over idle speed with or without load. Cough, sputter, smoke resulted when you gave it a little gas. This was a harder one. But…. Art has everything! In this case, a repair manual on a CD! And a printer! Working down the checklist, Fuel Contamination was under suspicion as some diesel was bought out of cans in Punta Prieta. Testing with good fuel sucked out of a can showed no change. Darn! Other things were checked but it looked like a fuel injection pump. But…Art had an injection pump repair kit and had rebuilt one before. I may have to quit picking on Software Pukes! Double Darn! Bottom line, after two hours of disassembling things, he found the problem was an open solenoid – which Art had and replaced. It ran! I left out a few fun things like idling along the highway at 30 mph for many miles to get back to camp, etc.

It was a fun trip with great company.
Honest Neal Johns, a man you can trust

Art's and Chris' Wheels


BOLA


Locked out!


Eaten!


Hot spring pool


Hot spring 1


Hot spring 2


Our guides


Arroyo Yubay


Looking west


The tire tree


The tire fixer


No beauty


Broken shock


The welder


La Lobera







[Edited on 6-12-2013 by Neal Johns]

My camera battery died before we actually got to Tinaja Yubay, so here is an old picture I took.

That's no excuse, go back and take another camera!

Went there once, following the arrow you (Neal) scratched in the sand, July, 2001



El Camote video taping us and that is Miguelito Humfreville, Sarah K and Mike Humfreville.



My shadow seen as I go up the boulder for a photo looking down into the (low level) tinaja. The fig tree is to my right.

GPS DIRECTIONS TO YUBAY (WGS 84)

JCN. hwy.1 & L.A. Bay hwy. N29°02.76' W114°09.17' 0.0 mi.

TURN NORTH onto dirt road N29°04.31' W114°02.41' 7.0 mi.

FORK right (left is Desengano, 0.3 mi.) N29°06.84' W114°01.65' 10.0 mi.

JCN. go right (ahead to rock palm hill, 4.2 mi.) N29°09.17' W114°01.40' 12.8 mi.

RIDGE TOP, 4WD only beyond N29°10.19' W113°59.77' 14.8 mi.

END OF ROAD in arroyo/TRAIL is straight across N29°10.29' W113°59.65' 14.9 mi.

TINAJA DE YUBAY N29°10.69' W113°59.26' 15.5 mi.
note: mileages are direct, not road miles.