seth - 2-11-2005 at 09:24 AM
Here are some photos from this winter. Some wall, most of a loop trip we did from San Ignacio through SJ d l Pilas to the gulf. really beautiful part
of baja...
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4270729&a=31572...
Neal Johns - 2-11-2005 at 02:45 PM
Thanks, Seth, nice pics,
It is a real back country trip to take. It is one of several routes in the book "Backroad Baja" by Higginbothan. There are several ranches waaay back
of the beyond and the people are unbelievable friendly. Not a real surprise, because I have always found the ranch people friendly. I suspect the road
is washed out right now where it goes through Canyon San Pedro but it will soon be repaired by the locals.
Here is the basic route:
Start at San Ignacio and take the road south for about 30 miles. It is the absolute worst washboard road I have ever been on. One vehicle lost the
spare tire and another lost the front bumper - and they were both aired down! Then you cut east and drop down into Canyon San Pedro which pictures
cannot portray well, it is magnificent.
The little ranches are out of contact with towns for months at a time so a few presents are really appreciated.
After passing Sierra de Las Pilas (just a ranch, no town), the road climbs out of the canyon to continue east over the mountains (part of this road
is not in the Baja Almanac) If you take a left hand fork, you can visit abandoned Ex-Mision Guadalupe. It is occupied part time by a rancher.
If you go right, a highlight of your trip can be a visit to Rancho Mezquital. The patriarch of the Villavicencio family lives here and he is the most
enthusiastic person I have ever met. A guided tour of the ranch is a sure thing if you show any interest. Great people. His extended family populates
the whole valley.
KurtG - 2-11-2005 at 04:13 PM
It has been about 5 years since the last of my two trips through that area and your pics have made me resolve to do it again in the next few months.
Rough road but worth it, great scenery and as Neal said the hospitality of the ranch families is wonderful.
spanish
seth - 2-11-2005 at 06:41 PM
This trip really reinforced the fact that my 3 years of high school spanish 13 years ago isn't going to cut it anymore. The people back there were so
nice, and my spanish is so bad... it was embarassing. We had a great time but it would have been more fun if we could have communicated a bit better.
we used the higgenbotham book, though the baja topo book + a gps + common sense were most useful.
KurtG - 2-12-2005 at 11:46 AM
My first trip through there was before Tom and Patty's book and it turned out we both found the route in the same manner. It wasn't shown on any maps
at that time but I had seen the sign pointing west for San Juan de la Pila near Rancho Aguajito several times and then on a ride out to Laguna San
Ignacio saw the sign for the same place pointing east, figured out there was a good chance that they connected and so on my next trip went through
east to west. Turned out Tom and Patty had figured it out the same way about the same time and did it in the opposite direction. I drove it in my
4wd and at some of the really steep places my passenger got out "to take pictures" but I noticed he took his backpack with him each time. When I
pointed this out he sensibly replied that "there is no point in both of us dying out here."
elgatoloco - 2-12-2005 at 12:08 PM
Nice photos. Thanks for sharing!
seth - 2-12-2005 at 01:41 PM
We were pretty happy that we went west to east. the drop into canon San Pedro from the mesa would have been a bit more interesting going the other
way, and the drop off of the top of the sierra Giganta down to the Magdalena loop road seems really steep to climb. there was alot of concrete bag
"paving" of the road surface. there were a few toyotas in the canyon ranches, but the only people we saw on the road were on mules. bad roads, good
people....
KurtG - 2-12-2005 at 02:41 PM
Seth, you are right on both counts, that drop into Arroyo San Pedro being a steep downhill off camber curve meant I had to accelerate downhill to keep
from sliding into the "abyss" and the climb going up to the high point from the east was about as steep as my little s-10 Blazer would climb.
TMW - 2-13-2005 at 12:53 PM
[that drop into Arroyo San Pedro being a steep downhill off camber curve meant I had to accelerate downhill to keep from sliding into the "abyss" and
the climb going up to the high point from the east was about as steep as my little s-10 Blazer would climb.]
Is this trip OK for a full size 4x4 truck? I've thought of doing it on my June trip with my brothers but it would be in a 04 Z71 extended cab.
KurtG - 2-13-2005 at 01:50 PM
TW,
There are a couple of places like that San Pedro descent I described where at the top you have to stop and back up a bit to make the turn, at least
last time I went through. I suspect that with the recent rains that road is blocked for now since there are several places prone to slides but by
June should be fine. The locals work at keeping it passable. Its worth the effort even if you have to turn back at some point. I will probably try
to ride through there in April and will post about conditions then.
seth - 2-14-2005 at 09:20 AM
Definitely drive it west to east and you should be ok. You'll be in 4 low for 2 days. We got 2 flat tires, but weren't using BFGs. have a GPS.