Photos of ex-Misión de Guadalupe (de Huasinapí)

Perhaps to be included in the next book on the Missions of Baja California?

Mission Guadalupe (the older Jesuit one between Mulegé and San Ignacio) is one of the sites I have not been to (yet), and while only some cut stone walls are typically shown in photos of the site, Max Kurillo has some that include an adobe end wall as well (it is in our Old Missions book).

I would like to see recent photos at Guadalupe and see if that adobe wall (from 1996 photo) is still there.

If I can use your photo, you will get an acknowledgment in the book and copy of the book when published.

Here are the photos I have of Guadalupe mission:


From 'Kevin in Oklahoma' (ca 1996)


From Ed Vernon (ca 2000)


From Howard Gulick, 1953


From Howard Gulick, 1950




Here is our 2012 book page, photo by Max Kurillo in 1996:



Any other photos of the 1720-1795 mission out there? Thank you!

[Edited on 8-28-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by Baja Bucko

David-I was there when riding La Mula Mil December of 2013 and took photos. I will have to go thru the photos as they are not organized and I took alot on that trip. It may be awhile as I am headed south in a week and busy. There has been stabilization of some old foundations/walls....by INAH in the past.

Guadalupe Mission in 1996

Two photos enhanced from Max...

Quote: Originally posted by norte

David Since this is for your book, don't you think you should go and do the research first hand? Maybe I am wrong, but I think that is what most authors do.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by norte   David Since this is for your book, don't you think you should go and do the research first hand? Maybe I am wrong, but I think that is what most authors do. Wish I could, and I wouldn't ask if I could, but enough friends here on Nomad reading this may help. I have many photos as I shared already from the past. I thought a newer picture would be nice. History books, especially those as specific as about Baja missions do not make much more money than what it costs to print, if I am that lucky. This is a labor of love.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Two photos enhanced from Max...

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by norte   David Since this is for your book, don't you think you should go and do the research first hand? Maybe I am wrong, but I think that is what most authors do. Wish I could, and I wouldn't ask if I could, but enough friends here on Nomad reading this may help. I have many photos as I shared already from the past. I thought a newer picture would be nice. History books, especially those as specific as about Baja missions do not make much more money than what it costs to print, if I am that lucky. This is a labor of love.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

You don't know me that well, do you? While I have been to most of the 27 Baja missions, I have not personally been to some of them to take a recent photo of the site. Their history is not at the ruins, but instead in the letters and records of the padres who served at them. Those records are not easily viewable by most folks who have an interest in learning what happened at the missions. This new book will provide a look at what was written about these missions 200-300 and more years ago. Have you seen books about astronomy with photos of the surface of Mars? The author of those books did not go to Mars. Does that mean he can't write about what we know about Mars?

Quote: Originally posted by norte

Quote: Originally posted by David K   You don't know me that well, do you? While I have been to most of the 27 Baja missions, I have not personally been to some of them to take a recent photo of the site. Their history is not at the ruins, but instead in the letters and records of the padres who served at them. Those records are not easily viewable by most folks who have an interest in learning what happened at the missions. This new book will provide a look at what was written about these missions 200-300 and more years ago. Have you seen books about astronomy with photos of the surface of Mars? The author of those books did not go to Mars. Does that mean he can't write about what we know about Mars? No you are right. I did not know you knew Spanish and could interpret those documents. Most authentic books about Mars are written by scientists, with access to the latest astronomical data. Not done across the internet. Hardly a good comparison. Whatever. Just trying to be helpful.

2017 Photos at Guadalupe de Huasinapí

This month, I finally got up to the mission site... Here are the photos with text from my trip report. The purpose of repeating the post here is to compare to the old photos, above.:

I parked my truck near the gate and walked down to the arroyo to follow it to the bottom of the mission complex. I returned to my truck on the road that the gate blocks, making a full circle.

The site is heavily grown over as well as being surrounded by barbed wire. So, this is not for the casual mission seeker but more of something for the seriously motivated ones. The road in should be a good filter to screen out the less serious. Nomad friends were last here in January 2016. I was able to include one of their photos in my book that went to print in February. Other photos I had of the mission were from the 1990s and 1950.

Walking up the arroyo from the road crossing, you discover how steep the slope is to your left (west) where the mission was established. Usually, missions are on flat areas. This was a terraced mission site.

Then, I came to see this...


A most impressive retaining wall or was it a pila (reservoir)?

I climbed up at the first chance my almost 60-year-old body could find near this wall. Barbed wire strings were at the top. Once through, I soon found this welcoming stepped walkway to this nearly 300-year-old California mission.











A 1744 report made by Padre Juan Antonio Balthasar said that Guadalupe had "the finest church in California."



In November of 1744, heavy rains caused the collapse of the church's adobe walls killing 100 Indian neophytes. A new stone and adobe mission church was built about 1750. These stone foundations are what we see today.


Looking south at the clearing and building that was possibly going to be a museum for the mission site. The road from the gate below ends here. I walk back to my truck from this clearing down that road. First, a little more looking around, a bit higher up the slope...




Bingo! This is the wall seen in Ed Vernon's Las Misiones Antiguas book, from a 1999 photo. Ed believed this was the west side of the church. If that is the case, I am standing inside the mission church here.







Leaving the site...


The road from the abandoned museum building to the gate was going to be lined with some concrete columns, the forms are along the way.


Crossing the arroyo on my way out. I take this photo looking north towards the mission area. The roof of that 'museum' building can be seen. The mission ruins are just north and northwest, uphill from it.


The sign is here to direct you to the site. There is barbed wire around it, but no other signs. Perhaps to keep cattle or goats out? Nobody lives at the site. It is a natural 'museum' to connect with California history. Photographs preserve the location and we can see very little has changed in over 50 years of photos. If you are up for a 40-mile rough drive from Mulegé, some climbing and crawling, to see California's past, then this is the place. The great majority will get their curiosity fulfilled with these photos, most likely.

ROAD LOG:
Total / Partial Miles
0.0 0.0 Hwy. 1 Mulegé, Km. 135.5 (Ice Road) Concrete street going west.
1.1 / 1.1 End pavement
2.4 / 1.3 Construction equipment yard
2.7 / 0.3 Fork. Ahead is the original road, but rocky. Left (south) is alternate, rejoins in 3.2 miles.
5.1 / 2.4 Cattle Guard
6.0 / 0.9 Alternate road junction
8.3 / 2.3 Rancho Trinidad junction, south (small sign).
11.1 / 2.8 Rancho Trinidad junction, south (big signs).
24.6 / 13.5 Rancho El Aguajito
25.0 / 0.4 La Ballena Fork. Turn north for Guadalupe. Big signs.
25.8 / 0.8 Gate (always reclose behind you)
34.1 / 8.3 Fork. Go right. Left to ranch.
34.7 / 0.6 Gate.
36.9 / 2.2 Gate.
40.0 / 3.1 Road west.
40.1 / 0.1 Gate.
40.5 / 0.4 EX-MISION de GUADALUPE sign, turn left, cross arroyo, park near gate.