BajaNomad - manila palms oasis

manila palms oasis

marv sherrill - 12-18-2015 at 06:46 PM

hi all - had 2 unsuccessful attempts at finding the oasis - have you been there? We reached a fork about an hour and a half in - but we followed the left fork for hours and no palms - - the right fork seemed really steep ,narrow

and difficult climbing, but we assumed that was the right way - just looking for conformation before trying again - thanks !!!! Lots of wind in BOLA now, but people are still seeing whale sharks in the Rincon!

4x4abc - 12-18-2015 at 09:34 PM

I know Baja well - never heard about Manila Palms Oasis
in what area are you searching?

David K - 12-18-2015 at 11:34 PM

Hi Marv,
I have not been back in there, but it was on my bucket list a few years ago.
I talked to Tomás, the German fellow (Mia's husband) about them back around 2003, who has been there often. So, it is there. Have you used Google Earth to get waypoints and see the route?

Hi Harald,
Open up your copy of Walt Peterson's 'The Baja Adventure Book', FIRST EDITION (1987), page 135. Km 51/52, south about 3 miles then a 2 hour hike up a twisting wash.

I might guess this was a water source for the Indians between the bay and San Borja?

larryC - 12-19-2015 at 09:34 AM

Marv
I was in there years ago and did the same as you, the left fork just seemed to go on forever. The right fork wound up into the hills and eventually I came upon a few palms with some water coming out of the ground. Not my idea of an oasis, but I guess if you were really thirsty it would suffice. I didn't go much farther past the first palms so I don't know if it gets any better.
Larry

wilderone - 12-19-2015 at 09:44 AM

Maybe it's dry now - 5 yr. drought and all.

4x4abc - 12-19-2015 at 10:24 AM

Tomas Marhold was actually Werner Marhold - but nobody in Baja was able to pronounce "Werner". So he switched it to Tomas. Dear friend of mine. Amazing life story. Even better how he got Mia. The 2 day funeral was a blast! Everybody was there.

Was it already 10 years ago?

https://carlosnpainter.smugmug.com/Friends/Tomas-funeral-May...

[Edited on 12-19-2015 by 4x4abc]

David K - 12-19-2015 at 10:29 AM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

Tomas Marhold was actually Werner Marhold - but nobody was able to pronounce "Werner". So he switched it to Tomas. Dear friend of mine. Amazing life story. Even better how he got Mia. The 2 day funeral was a blast! Everybody was there.

Was it already 10 years ago?

https://carlosnpainter.smugmug.com/Friends/Tomas-funeral-May...

I went to their place, and they were not home... left him a Viva Baja sticker and a note. I had exchanged many emails with Werner/Tomas about our web sites. The next trip down I met Mia, at the 2005 New Years party at Casa Diaz, Werner had passed on... I missed meeting him. Mia has more-or-less maintained the web pages he started, and has updated them a couple times.

David K - 12-19-2015 at 10:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by wilderone

Maybe it's dry now - 5 yr. drought and all.

Hard to tell on Google Earth, but clearer on Bing satellite images... The road goes 5 miles south now, right to the palms*. Can't see any surface water, so the water table must be shallow there. Baja is amazing!

*I can only presume the dark circles are palms and not boulders, the satellite image is not the clearest as in other parts of Baja.

bkbend - 12-20-2015 at 12:33 PM

Marv - as Larry said, it's in the right fork. I've heard there are some palms up the left fork and on Google Earth is looks like there may be some a couple hundred yard up a side canyon but I haven't been up that branch yet.

Larry - did you stop at the palm grove in a small box canyon on the left side of that right fork? Both times I've been up there I haven't found water at those palms. The palms up a little further have a couple hundred feet of running water. The lower end is pretty bushy, the upper end has more palms. There was evidence of recent (0-30 yrs) camping and I found some small terraces and plastic tubing in the area, like someone may have attempted some gardening. There was also some crude rock work and a trail cut into the hillside heading east. I didn't follow it very far and not sure where it goes. These appear to my untrained eye as being older and I thought they may have been associated prospecting in the area. I can make out a little of the trail on GE as it leaves the palm area but it soon dissolves into the desert.

I also agree it's not really an oasis, more of a spring with a few palm trees. My son was with me on one trip, he's a geologist by schooling and said the hike up there worth an entire semester of geology class.

manila_spring_a.JPG - 200kB

[Edited on 12-20-2015 by bkbend]

David K - 12-20-2015 at 02:22 PM

Great, thanks for the pics!