BajaNomad - OUT IN LA BAJA SOMEWHERE

OUT IN LA BAJA SOMEWHERE

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-22-2013 at 05:16 PM

ON OUR WAY TO TRACK A LARGE MOUNTAIN LION THAT WENT ON A KILLING SPREE OF CALVES AND A YEARLING. DON'T CAMP OUT IN THE SAN JUAN DE DIOS MOUNTAIN, LAS CRUCES, CORRAL DEL CHINO OR THE ARROYO GRANDE AREA.

David K - 10-22-2013 at 05:25 PM

Did you see Sony (or is he one of the blurred faces on muleback)?

Did you hear the lion at night?

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-22-2013 at 05:31 PM

CORAL EL CHINO

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-22-2013 at 05:33 PM

LAS CRUCES

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-22-2013 at 05:38 PM

ARROYO GRANDE

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-22-2013 at 05:43 PM

TINAJA LAS CRUCES

Paulina - 10-22-2013 at 05:45 PM

I liked the photos of the corral and the deer. Thanks for posting.

P>*)))>{

elgatoloco - 10-22-2013 at 06:09 PM

Nice.

Why do they call it Arroyo Grande?

rts551 - 10-22-2013 at 07:29 PM

Nice pics and a fun adventure David. This is the way the outback of Baja should be explored.

uhhh,, cats

captkw - 10-22-2013 at 07:45 PM

I don't know if your from the city,,But A cat will almost,always make one (1) kill and eat it before it moves on and makes another kill.... :?:

are ya talking over a period of time...btw,,,that cat can be less than 10 meters from ya and a human would NOT detect it.....

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-23-2013 at 04:57 AM

I know the things you brought up but did not want to sound like a pompous @ss by boring people to tears regurgitating everything about mountain lions. I just wanted to show a picture with a brief synopsis of what was going on.

Quote:

Originally posted by captkw
I don't know if your from the city,,But A cat will almost,always make one (1) kill and eat it before it moves on and makes another kill.... :?:

are ya talking over a period of time...btw,,,that cat can be less than 10 meters from ya and a human would NOT detect it.....

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-23-2013 at 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by elgatoloco
Nice.

Why do they call it Arroyo Grande?

I don't know!

jimgrms - 10-23-2013 at 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by captkw
I don't know if your from the city,,But A cat will almost,always make one (1) kill and eat it before it moves on and makes another kill.... :?:

are ya talking over a period of time...btw,,,that cat can be less than 10 meters from ya and a human would NOT detect it.....

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by captkw]

Those mules will

Ateo - 10-23-2013 at 06:59 AM

That coral was no easy construction project.

bkbend - 10-23-2013 at 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by elgatoloco
Nice.

Why do they call it Arroyo Grande?

Maybe because it's a large gully???

mulegemichael - 10-23-2013 at 08:05 AM

the only way yer gonna get that cat is with dogs.

Taco de Baja - 10-23-2013 at 08:08 AM

Beautiful area. That's the "Real Baja" IMOSHO

.

I remember seeing the corral on a camping trip around 15 years ago. We were all impressed by the amazing engineering and likely the very time consuming and labor intensive effort it must have taken to build it in the middle of nowhere.

Mt. Lions are all over the wilds of Baja and shy away from people, so I'm not worried about camping out in any area. We even saw cat prints and poop on the hike into the San Pedro Martir Mission almost 10 years ago. The only time I have seen a live one, anyplace, was near Punta Blanca in 1986, trotting along the dirt road. We were all surprised to see each other.

Thanks for sharing.

Barry A. - 10-23-2013 at 08:45 AM

I spent a lot of time in the boonies as a Ranger and I have always been intensely interested in CATS------I have never seen a Puma in the wilds other than for brief mili-seconds sighting of one crossing the road, but lots of evidence. I have seen very briefly 2 bobcats in all that time, both crossing a road at night. Saw one Lynx in Glacier Natl. Park in the housing area at night snooping around. Cats see you, but you seldom see them. Keep an eye on your back-side and you will be fine.

Love the pics. There is a similar but smaller stone corral in excellent condition many miles south of El Barril (San Francisquito area) in the bottom of the upper reaches of La Fortuna/San Maguel arroyo near El Venado along the old road into Rancho San Miguel and on to Los Corrales on the SOC.

Barry

mtgoat666 - 10-23-2013 at 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
I spent a lot of time in the boonies as a Ranger and I have always been intensely interested in CATS------I have never seen a Puma in the wilds other than for brief mili-seconds sighting of one crossing the road, but lots of evidence. I have seen very briefly 2 bobcats in all that time, both crossing a road at night. Saw one Lynx in Glacier Natl. Park in the housing area at night snooping around. Cats see you, but you seldom see them. Keep an eye on your back-side and you will be fine.

Love the pics. There is a similar but smaller stone corral in excellent condition many miles south of El Barril (San Francisquito area) in the bottom of the upper reaches of La Fortuna/San Maguel arroyo near El Venado along the old road into Rancho San Miguel and on to Los Corrales on the SOC.

Barry

For some reason I have great luck seeing wild cats in the Cuyamacas. Once had a picnic at mt laguna meadow and spent 1/2 hour watching cougar family play on the hillside about 1/8 mile from us, they did not care the least that we were watching. have seen many bobcats there while mtn biking. a couple times have encountered bobcats sleeping under trees in heat of daytime, they just stay quiet and watch me ride by, looking like they dont care.

i estimate i see less than 1 in 100 cats i happen to pass by, they are probably all over and we never know it.

motoged - 10-23-2013 at 09:33 AM

Thank you for the pics.....especially the Arroyo Grande one.....just makes me scroll back and re-read the maps DK provided....another adventure destination.

I have encountered cougars here in BC several times while outback riding moto.....never a dangerous situatiion when I saw them (considered it a blessing to see them).....but I am much more wary of cats lurking than a bear stumbling by......

There are usually several cougar attacks on people reported in BC annually....sometimes fatal.

durrelllrobert - 10-23-2013 at 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by elgatoloco
Nice.

Why do they call it Arroyo Grande?

Book cover from David K's earlier post:

David K - 10-23-2013 at 10:29 AM

A book of Baja Place Names would be interesting! Why do they call it Arroyo Matomí, for example... what is a Matomí?

motoged - 10-23-2013 at 11:20 AM

My Spanish skills are very rudimentary, but I also get curious as to how places get their names.

Some names describe the characteristics of the place (e.g. Arroyo Grande= big stream)....while others are named after a person.... (maybe Matomi is a person's name???).

Interesting stuff :light:

mtgoat666 - 10-23-2013 at 11:23 AM

where is THIS arroyo grande shown in Elvis8's photo? can you provide a google map link? i know of one on east side of sierra, dont know of one on west side, this appears to be west side?

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-23-2013 at 12:56 PM

30°19'30.48"N 115° 1'29.88"W

nandopedal - 10-23-2013 at 01:00 PM

@ Goat, look at El Rosario on Google map and follow the main arroyo going East, not far after "The castle" you will notice how the arroyo begins to turn on a NE direction and the satellite imagery will tell you how big it is, also on the same general area you will see only one dirt road going on a N to NE direction, follow it and you will see the big corral right where the road ends.
Arroyo: 30.1792,-115.550
Corral: 30.275,-115.540

Mexitron - 10-23-2013 at 02:21 PM

moto---find El Sauce de Carter in Central Baja and follow the arroyo upstream---that's Arroyo Grande...or if that doesn't work start at El Rosario and follow the river upstream---same drainage!

Mexitron - 10-23-2013 at 02:28 PM

Quote:

I see bobcats all the time when I'm working around the UCI area---they've moved in from the San Joaquin Hills and become suburbanized:

[Edited on 10-23-2013 by Mexitron]

motoged - 10-23-2013 at 02:43 PM

Some pics of the area south-east of that arroyo leading out of El Rosario (red dirt area seen on Google Earth/Mapssouth side of arroyo where road leads easterly)....very good variety of flora...

Heading east up ridge and out of arroyo (red dirt area):

BIG asparagus here: :biggrin:

[img]

[/img]

Great Cirios:

A pass heading north:

Looking south from pass:

South of the pass:

tripledigitken - 10-23-2013 at 02:50 PM

Motoged,

The flora is pic #2 is stunning.

The road in the last photo looks recently graded. Who do you think it graded it?

Ken

ARROYO SECO

captkw - 10-23-2013 at 02:56 PM

I hang out at the best kept secret in the usa...Hawaii wished it had waterfalls and pools like this...about 30 miles east of big sur ca.. and has the most cats of anywhere in the USA..Its called arroyo seco in the los padres nat. forest...but if you google (any browser) all you will find is the los padres near santa barba ca...camping on a clear,clean river with turtles,frogs,crawdads,fresh water eel's and condors that are not on a list....btw..First time in my life that I have put this in print.....The only book in print about this secret JEWEL is called "arroyo seco" "calif. centrails coast grand canyon"...and to top it off...the camp ground that you can drive to has host/managers that hang in LA PAZ for the winters...Go figure...don't beat yourself trying to find it on the internet....Nobody that knows,,,,,,would ever put it on the web...../. K&T for nomads only !!!

David K - 10-23-2013 at 05:14 PM

Sony Espinoza (one of Mama's boys who looks identical to his dad) made a lot of the roads out there around San Juan de Dios 10+ years ago.

Everyone here on Nomad should really get a Baja Almanac... but, as long as I am around, I will help as much as possible!

El Sauce de Carter is on the left side of this map, and it is on Arroyo Grande... the solid lines are roads I added in, that are not on the map. Note San Juan de Dios and El Metate. See a road going north between them to Arroyo Grande. That is the access road used by Dr. Bob Vinton in his 1990 article...

Older Almanac, see Arroyo Grande just above the shaft of the arrow pointing out San Juan de Dios:

[Edited on 10-24-2013 by David K]

My 16 footers in Punta Banda

durrelllrobert - 10-23-2013 at 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by motoged
Some pics of the area south-east of that arroyo leading out of El Rosario

BIG asparagus here: :biggrin:

[img]

[/img]

Barry A. - 10-23-2013 at 05:34 PM

I am totally jealous of those of you seeing multi-cats in the wild!!!!

Not being a hunter, I probably don't know how to look for them. :no:

I love everybodies input into this.

Barry

motoged - 10-23-2013 at 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
Motoged,
The flora in pic #2 is stunning.

The road in the last photo looks recently graded. Who do you think it graded it?
Ken

Ken,
I do not think a grader had been up there recently....my thought was that recent rainfall had created a "sweeping flow" on that section of road that was not quite strong enough to create washouts. The berms/curbs on either side display some grading, but that section of road was unique....the roads before and after were the usual rough stuff:

At the pass:

Before the pass....south side:

Other parts:

North side of pass:

motoged - 10-23-2013 at 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
I am totally jealous of those of you seeing multi-cats in the wild!!!!
Not being a hunter, I probably don't know how to look for them. :no:

I love everybodies input into this.
Barry

Barry,
My cat sightings were all by chance while riding dirtbikes in BC....first was a cat lounging comfortably beside a large Ponderosa Pine deadfall:
it was just looking at my buddy and me as we pulled up to a stop to converse....it watched us (about 100' away) for about 2-3 minutes before it stood up and sauntered away down the hill. No drama....I guess we interrupted a snooze or a hunt :biggrin:

Second and third were cats bounding across a logging road from one side to the other in one jump.....it was a two lane gravel road and each time the cat bounded from the bush on one side, one landing in middle of road, and it disappeared into bush on other side.

These cats seem to be able to jump 10-15 feet with no problem when running....or from a dead stop.

I am a cat lover, so seeing big ones in the wild is a special experience.

I stopped hunting in 1978 after murdering my second deer (a kill from a distance is "hunting"....shooting it in the head from 4' away was like murder. Just don't need to kill to eat....would if I needed to).

Please folks, let's not turn this geography/cat story into a debate on hunting ethics.... let's keep it "on the road" :cool:

P.S. I have seen Baja bobcats three times....Shari has cats that are crossbreeds and offered kittens some months ago....SO tempting :biggrin:

[Edited on 10-24-2013 by motoged]

elgatoloco - 10-23-2013 at 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ELINVESTIG8R

Quote:

Originally posted by elgatoloco
Nice.

Why do they call it Arroyo Grande?

I don't know!

I think its because its a Grande Arroyo. :saint:

I was just kidding. Really. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Makes me want to head out that way. Maybe this fall.

I have seen a big healthy bobcat at Bajamar whilst golfing. Saw Lion in Botswana and Cheetah in Zimbabwe. Cheetah caught a very large Spring hare right in front of us. That was something to see. All the time that I have spent in the wilderness of So Cal never seen a mountain lion, darnit.

motoged - 10-24-2013 at 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry A.
I am totally jealous of those of you seeing multi-cats in the wild!!!!
Barry

Barry,
There is a zoo out there.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihvuZiDhsg

Cats at the end....

[Edited on 10-24-2013 by motoged]

VERY SHORT VIDEO COMING BACK FROM LAS CRUCES BAJA CALIFORNIA

ELINVESTIG8R - 10-24-2013 at 01:16 AM