Exploring Summit #3

Roy (the Squarecicle) and I want to move on exploring summit #3. To determine if it is passable or not.

Here is the topo maps David K posted.


Here are the three summits traced on Google Earth showing accesss from Hwy 3 at KM`108 and the direction to Cohabuso Jct.


A little closer view on GE.


The area that appears to be not passable.


Anyone wanting to join us let us know. I suggested next weekend June 27 and 28. I'm open to other dates.

Roy and I were thinking to first check out the area from the Pole Line Road end. Start at Laguna Salada Hwy 2. Drive to Cohabuzo Jct then to the bottom of summit #1 and over to the Y etc.

If indeed the road is out we can backtrack go over summit #1 or #2. The last time I was on summit #2 it was pretty rough. Summit #1, the race summit, I think would be a better route.

Anyone interested?

Tom/Roy, a family birthday is that weekend, so I am out. Take many photos. Perhaps take a copy of the Gulick photo of the Jamau canyon shack to compare with one taken this year at the same spot?





[Edited on 6-22-2015 by David K]

The guy that never stops moving ... TW .. good on ya

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

No problem Mick we will have plenty of water and other refreshments. Paul thanks and we'll let you know if we need any GPS tracks but I think we have it covered, I hope. No input from Emerson yet.

Merely FYI, doing a little orienteering ...



On the northern part where Summit 3 "ends" (green arrow) there appears to be a foot/animal trail running south (orange arrows). From the south end, I can see pieces of a foot trail headed north. But without boots-on-ground, can't be sure.



[Edited on 6-22-2015 by StuckSucks]

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Then walk that part to where a road starts again, or drive it if the trails is OK

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

Hi there, sorry for the late reply... So whats the plan? leaving Friday or Saturday? Can we all group and convince DavidK to join the expedition? -Emerson

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Wish I could join you guys. [/rquot Greetings, ehall Just throw some gear into your cage and do it and stop wishing about it!! >>>>> I don't know what you are driving but if it is not air conditioned that could be a limiting factor. Could be very hot out there. >>>> Waiting to hear from "emerson" on what day >>Saturday or Sunday. >>>>> Best, sq.

Quote: Originally posted by The squarecircle

Quote: Originally posted by ehall   Wish I could join you guys. Greetings, ehall Just throw some gear into your cage and do it and stop wishing about it!! >>>>> I don't know what you are driving but if it is not air conditioned that could be a limiting factor. Could be very hot out there. >>>> Waiting to hear from "emerson" on what day >>Saturday or Sunday. >>>>> Best, sq.

Ed has a VERY capable Jeep Rubicon... here it is on the Pole Line Road run:

Best of luck Squarecircle!

This reminds me of the time that you, TW, and others opened up the abandoned La Turquesa Grade to your 4 wheel drive Land Rover (previously only a motorcycle route from the mine to the grade bottom)!

2007: Grade discovered: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=22806

2007: Roy goes to the mine: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=25035

2008: Enterprise organized, and completed: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=30726













The Squarecircle is without a hat and TW is holding the big stick.


Nearing the top of the grade.

Quote: Originally posted by Emerson

OK, so Im almost positive I can make it on Friday. Lets meet at 7:15pm at the Laguna Salada entrance. Plan is to cross all the desert at night, and sleep Friday night at the base of Jamau Canyon, Saturday will be mostly exploring and somehow climbing one of the summits to check the other end of Jamau. What communication method are you using?, I have a Ham Radio on the Cruiser. I guess we all would take our own supplies, food, water, gas, including extra for any emergency. I'll be taking my DeLorme InReach Communicator, just in case. I'll give Tom a call to confirm all this. All set!

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Great, will he mind if you post his link to the delorme page?

TW's Spot Friday Afternoon, 2:20pm... at La Rumorosa:

TW SPOT at 4:30pm Friday... looks like he and Roy went down the Cantu Grade (dirt switchbacks) instead of Hwy. 2?






TW SPOT at 4:16pm...



[Edited on 6-27-2015 by David K]

Friday PM Reports

6:45pm Tom was at the Laguna Salada entrance, just off Hwy. 2

7:45pm Tom was on the lakebed south about 10 miles.

9:49pm Tom was just north of Cohabuzo Junction.

11:13pm Tom was near La Palmita, about 7 miles north of the bottom of Summit #1.

11:32 Emerson's DeLorme sent this signal... a couple miles southbound from Tom's position 19 minutes earlier.



The good news is they are traveling together and nearing their goal.

11:42pm

About a mile from the Pole Line Road locked gate/ bottom of Summit #1:

12:24am Saturday

They arrived at the locked gate on the Pole Line Road (bottom of Summit #1) and set up camp just south of it...



The DeLorme inReach device also allows short message exchanges. Here is what came with the above map:

"Hey David, every thing ok, were sleeping here tonight! -Emerson"

TW also sent a Spot signal at the same time and place:



A new Spot signal just came in... stand by...

Close up:

8:11 am at the Jamau Y

8:47 am Bottom of Summit #3/ Cañon de Jamau

They are at the end of the visible road on GoogleEarth... Now, they will try and drive up (if there is a road we don't see) to Rancho Jamau (shack site), about a mile up the canyon. From there, we do see a road to the top of the mountain and beyond. It is this 1 mile gap that needs to be explored.

9:01 am

Emerson is progressing up the canyon. The dots are 10 minutes apart. My guess is they are hiking?

OK, now that Nomad is back online, and I am back home, let's get up to speed with Tom, Roy and Emerson...

I posted a couple of locations on Baja Nomad Facebook earlier, when the forums were off line...

Basically, that they got to the bottom of Cañon Jamau and could not drive any further than the satellite images showed was a road... and could not even hike the mile up to the ranch/ shack site (which is at the bottom of the road down from the top (Summit #3).

In the following Spot emails I got, they headed back to Summit #1, on the Pole Line Road, and climbed to the top... and out to Hwy. 3.

3-4 PM SAT

Emerson sent a message that the summit was VERY rough and then his track shows he began to go to the other summit roads, but about 3 pm turned around and headed out. Both Emerson's in Reach and TW's SPOT signals show them in Valle de Trinidad at 4 pm today.





There is a signal gap between the mountain road and Hwy. 3.

Quote: Originally posted by Mexitron

Not surprised they couldn't find a way up #3---we took a look around there for a way across and couldn't see anything...must have been quite a gully washer to scour the canyon out like that. Happens in those mountains though.

Thank you for the report!

I was on the phone with Roy this afternoon, as well.

Here's the GPS for your waterfall TW. The Mile 0.8 is the end of the road from the Y on the Pole Line Road. The 1.0 Mile Hike is about where the cabin was in 1961, per Howard Gulick.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Access to #2 At the north end of Summit 2 there is evidence from my last trip that the bulldozer had made a new path where we made the turn to bypass the lock gate. Two of us walked up that steep slope and sure enough there was a road heading south. I am not sure any of us could climb that steep path up the bank. Maybe front & rear lockers would work? Then there is another road from they that crossed the gully just south of that place. Look on GE and see it. If the guys found summit 1 road difficult then they were not on the new road. I published the old and new road tracks previously. You all need to get a proper GPS that can share tracks. For a current Garmin that would be an Oregon or Montana. Many older versions of hiker GPS will also work. Nuvi's do not have track sharing capability.

Not only did I publish this image, but I gave out a GPS track for all the tracks shown.
This image is a screen shot of my GPS after I drove the roads.
The road called New Race has never been raced on and is made properly so as to have very little erosion damage. It goes up a different ridge that the old one. Pay attention to the location of fence gate, lock gate, stuck, berm, etc.
I might add that there are many more old roads on the grade up to Summit 1 and some are really hard. This is the reason I only gave out the easy tracks.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Not only did I publish this image, but I gave out a GPS track for all the tracks shown. This image is a screen shot of my GPS after I drove the roads. The road called New Race has never been raced on and is made properly so as to have very little erosion damage. It goes up a different ridge that the old one. Pay attention to the location of fence gate, lock gate, stuck, berm, etc. I might add that there are many more old roads on the grade up to Summit 1 and some are really hard. This is the reason I only gave out the easy tracks.

This is where the locked gate is in reference to the summit 2 and 3 roads

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Summit 1 was rougher than I had seen it before but the only hangup was the one place with the big rock that I couldn't get over. I think I was getting one wheel up in the front and losing traction. We joked that if I had Atrac I could have made it and I probably would have. But the trail Roy took was much easier. Emerson has lockers front and rear.

Future Options to get to summit 3
Using data from Tom and finding roads on GE I can see where the LG near San Simon is and I can see that if one drives over smt 2 that LG will be bypassed. And if one avoids Jamau and can get thru all the gates in the valley the travel will arrive at T15Rt, then on to Smt 3.
For sure there is so much biker activity near/at Jamau its no wonder the road is locked up. I bet the rancher can be convinced to allow an exploration group to pass?




And look closely on GE (below) and see parallel road that bypass the LG that Tom found (31.532296, -115.684555). Given enough time a bypass should be easy to find.

Next time!

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Paul from the locked gate you can see a road along the other side of the arroyo next to the mtn and it comes out to the LG. The steel pipe fence appears to go all the way to mtn side. We did not follow it to see but it went as far as you could see in that direction. = = = OK going around the gate is NG = = = As far as the race summit once you are on it (the new section) from the arroyo you can see another fence gate up near the new summit road and where they bull dozed rock etc to close that route. The old fence gate was down and we did not hike down to close it. There are a couple of places on the race summit east side that are either/or and they have been there for many years. = = = 10-4 That was the fence gate we has to unwire on one end because it had a padlock & chain on the other end. My first PLR trip with SF locals. = = = Once we went over the summit we took the first steel gate to our left instead of the various routes used in previous Baja races. We ended at a fence and turned around and went north then west then south going thru 3 or 4 steel gates, none were locked, before getting on the road that joined the race course to the Goat Hill. RECORD Racing had a race on while we went thru. There were pits in the area. = = = Be darned, that was the route we took in the dark because I missed the turn to take the race road. I thot for sure that rancher would have padlocks by now? What is important about the fact you found the gates unlocked is near the bottom of the canyon are the roads that lead east and provide access to Smt 2 and 3 by bypassing the LG you found and had to turn around. = = = The rock I could not get over was maybe 4 feet in diameter in the middle of the road and maybe a foot high. I could not go around but had to get either my left or right front tire on it. When I did I think the other side went up which caused me to lose traction in the front and the rear wheels would spin in the loose rock. After several tries and not wanting to tear up the tread I backed down and took the other path. = = = Still have no idea of the rock location = = = [Edited on 7-1-2015 by TMW]

Here are the pictures from our trip. I have more of the La Rumorosa Grade for another time.

Bottom of the grade the rock house is falling apart, no one there.


Road down to the arroyo to start our hike.


Thru the trees.

Wiley did not make it.

More brush.

More rocks.


These next 4 pictures show the water falls going left to right. I was about half way up on the left or south side.





On top looking down at the falls.


Looking west from the top.


Cow trail back.


From the new race summit road looking at the PLR locked gate.


The old race course fence gate. They bull dozed rock to block the road to it from where we were.


Locked gate and pipe fence on road to summits 2 and 3.




We went to Trinidad for a late lunch then Roy and I went to the pine forest at Laguna Hanson.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

From the new race summit road looking at the PLR locked gate. [URL=http://s1112.photobucket.com/user/tmw5/media/Misc%203/SAM_0813.jpg.html]

With the angle of this photo, I almost see an 'L'-shaped go-around beneath the gate up to the dirt road. Hmmm. With my pick-ax and a shovel, this might save us work the next time.

Paul is this the rancher's house. On the PLR I took the picture on the new race summit road where it meets the old race road near the old fence gate in a picture above. If on the PLR up from the locked gate it would be looking east by southeast.



[Edited on 7-4-2015 by TMW]

TW, is that Rancho Huatamote?

Consider this
Wash access WP to N Siaz is 31 38.011, - 34.708

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Well, at least we know Cañon Jamau is not a through road as shown on the topo, thanks to Roy, Emerson and Tom!

The rock I could not get over going up the race summit is at or near
coordinates 31-37.920x115-36.230. On the picture below it is at the crosshair on the road on the right about the middle of the picture. The ranch house and coral is in a meadow before reaching the top of the summit and is shown in the lower left of the picture. We did not see or meet anyone at the house but a dog was barking all the while we were stopped there.

Here is a GE image further west showing the race summit peak in the crosshair. The ranch house is maybe 1/4 mile to the upper right.

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Now I want to go and try to climb the rock!

Quote: Originally posted by ChuckMRN

Quote: Originally posted by ehall   Now I want to go and try to climb the rock! Your rig would prob make it look easy Ed!

Questions for TW

Ken, the purpose of the guy's last trip there was to see if the Mexican topo map was true, and a road came down from Summit 3 to the Pole Line Road (at the Y/ Cañon Jamau Ranch), as it shows.

The finding is no... Lower end road ends near the canyon entrance, 0.8 mile from the Y. It is approx. 1 mile from there to the ranch/ shack site 'Jamau'. Photos they took look like no road ever existed in that mile.

From the ranch/ shack location (Gulick photos) up to the summit (#3) a road IS seen on Google Earth.

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

I'm planning another walk this Oct when it is cooler. From the end of the road coming from the PLR Y we got maybe half way to what looked to be a water falls as we had to climb almost straight up 20+ feet or more. We walked back following a cow trail that was pretty easy more or less. I plan to take the cow trail to the water falls then continue on to the shack if there is one and at least verify a road coming down from Summit #3. I'm hoping the walk from the water fall toward the shack is not as bad as it was the first time in the wash. Boulders, trees and bushes are not always fun.

Here are two images of the path. The first is a Google Earth image of where the road ends at both the north end and south end.

From GE


Bing image shows a more clear picture. WF is the site of the water falls. SE is the south end and you can see the road coming in from Summit #3.

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Is one of those trails El Mano Pass?

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

Is one of those trails El Mano Pass?

Nope...

The Mano Canyon road joined the one we were on last April, just south of Cohabuzo Jcn. (where we met up with Mick and the Bronco). Where the first fence gate we opened and went left in the wash (following John M's GPS), the Mano Canyon junction was on the right road.



Here is your Pole Line Trip track map with the two mountain routes pointed out:

Quote: Originally posted by David K

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This map makes clear sense of the route I took in Nov. 2013