BajaNomad - Cordornices road

Cordornices road

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 02:31 PM

Cordornices road
From Villa Jesus where we spent the night we drove to Santa Rosalillita, knocked on the door of a house by the basketball court and ask for breakfast. This lady used to operate a cafe there and she accommodated us. From there we headed northwest. Stopped at Punta el Diablo (A nice place to spend the night when camping). It is a major surfing place, also called El Cardon. Drove on the sand dunes. From there we took the Cordornices road. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the abandoned rancho - "San Antonio (Cordornices) (Ab)". Then back to Hwy 1. The trip leaders, Rich T., past trips required payment to pass thru the green fence gates of “Rancho Cordornices”. This time nobody was around. Stopped at the next rancho to renew leader’s friendships. Gave them some snack food. Anyway, the road is shown on the Almanac. We found some severe washouts, but had no issue driving around and thru them. Good trip with very little bushes to drive thru. Two short very steep sections requiring 4Lo near the top of the mountains. Best Cardon, Boojum, and barrel cactus forest we have ever seen. This road is a good one for a repeat.
Details: Exit going west toward Santa Rosillitia from Hwy1 at K38 find the place where we had breakfast at 28 40.1, -114 14.165
Begin the Cordornices road at 28 57.394, -114 32.06
find Rancho Cordornices 29 06.42, -114 30.763
Rancho San Antonio (ab) at 29 11.75606, -114 19.02191
Return to Hwy1 at k252
See the road on the Almanac
I might add this trip can be done in a long day from San Felipe with an optional overnight in LAB or camp at El Diablo.
This trail is relatively popular. Here is an example with pictures dated 2012
https://mexico.pueblosamerica.com/foto/rancho-codornices
The Inreach 10 minute track is shown below between leaving and returning to Highway 1

Attached is the GPS .USR file to allow the reader to make their own .GPX or Google Earth .KML file for viewing
Pictures will have to follow later.

Attachment: Cordornices Rd.usr (87kB)
This file has been downloaded 380 times

[Edited on 2-10-2018 by PaulW]

[Edited on 2-10-2018 by PaulW]

TMW - 2-10-2018 at 02:45 PM

Good to know, thanks Paul.

TMW - 2-10-2018 at 03:05 PM

Paul, I have R. San Antonio AB (Codornices) at 29-11.75x114-19.02.

There are a couple of adobe building ruins and several palm trees and a well. The last time I was there the palm trees had been burnt, but still standing.

Ateo - 2-10-2018 at 03:12 PM

I wish I still owned a 4X4 truck.........

TMW - 2-10-2018 at 03:20 PM

Only real men drive 4x4s, so disapointing.

Ateo - 2-10-2018 at 03:28 PM

The divorce ate my 4X4. =(

David K - 2-10-2018 at 03:29 PM

This is the road I traveled last year and rescued the couple at Rancho Miseria whose Ranger truck was broken down at the bottom of the long 4WD grade. They were out of food and meds. Photos of the beautiful cactus Paul mentions, as well. It was my Trip #4 report.

woody with a view - 2-10-2018 at 03:29 PM

Word!

MulegeAL - 2-10-2018 at 03:36 PM

Paul,
Thanks for that! Did that climb years ago on a bike, was tough climb to the top mesa.

And that cactus forest section is one of the best anywhere, even though it poked holes in my armor! I remember the old adobe at San Antonio too, date palms, doves and some water.

Was really glad to get out to the highway without damage or a flat.

Hope to do it again but maybe north to south this time

TMW - 2-10-2018 at 03:44 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Ateo

The divorce ate my 4X4. =(

Sorry about that. Hang in there and you'll get one again.

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 04:00 PM

We were told the summit route was rebuilt due to flooding and supposedly is easier not, but steep.
Yes, real nice drive.
====

Quote: Originally posted by MulegeAL

Paul,
Thanks for that! Did that climb years ago on a bike, was tough climb to the top mesa.

And that cactus forest section is one of the best anywhere, even though it poked holes in my armor! I remember the old adobe at San Antonio too, date palms, doves and some water.

Was really glad to get out to the highway without damage or a flat.

Hope to do it again but maybe north to south this time

JZ - 2-10-2018 at 04:20 PM

Rode down that way with my 13yo and 15yo last year. We went down near Cativina and along the coast to Santa Rosalillita. Blew right by the turn back up to Hwy 1 (Cordornices).

I want to go back and ride it now.

[Edited on 2-11-2018 by BajaNomad]

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 04:23 PM

Thanks Tom,
My second edit fixed my error.

=========

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Paul, I have R. San Antonio AB (Codornices) at 29-11.75x114-19.02.

There are a couple of adobe building ruins and several palm trees and a well. The last time I was there the palm trees had been burnt, but still standing.

David K - 2-10-2018 at 04:38 PM

Because of the new interest in this road... here is what I have to share:

I accessed it from Km. 270+ and there were almost immediately some very attractive boojum trees.

From April 2017:

Of the several roads across Baja from Highway 1 down the center to the Pacific coast, the Rancho San Antonio road may be the scariest to do solo!
I was glad I had an inReach communicator so I could contact my friends who offered to come help or coordinate help if needed. I can send or receive short text or email messages which help the day go by. My evening chats with Baja Angel (my wife Elizabeth) are comforting and make my being away so far not so bad.

The difference between the inReach and the Spot device is the 2-way communicating. Right now, I am getting Spot locations for TW, I can't ask him what he is up to or where he wants to go. I only see where he is and an I'm OK message.

I leave the highway at Km. 270.5, I drop the air pressure in my tires to 24 psi. It is 3:15pm. I will just go to where I find a camp spot or do a night drive in order to give my new LED lamps a workout!

A welcoming boojum tree!

Fresh green coat on this tall one.

It is 9.3 slow miles on this short cut road to the one that is on most maps, 11 miles south of Chapala to San Antonio and Bahía Blanco.

From a high point, looking back at the road I was just on.

It's like Dr. Seuss must have visited Baja this far south?

Some neat cardón trees in here, too!

Semi-abandoned ranch down on the left, 1.2 miles west of the junction with the two choices to Hwy. 1. The one I used from Km. 270.5 or the mapped one from Km. 252.

I am seeing fewer tire tracks and more animal tracks.

An oasis is a mile past the ranch. Soon a dam and reservoir are in the gully below. Another oasis is in the distance, but the road I am on turns away from it before I am motivated to drive to it on a very unused track I saw. That would be the true Rancho San Antonio (Formerly 'Los Codornices'). It was 4:18 pm.

Some have called it a mission because of the old adobe building and graves. Alas, this site was both far removed from the mission road system (El Camino Real) and void of any farmland to grow enough food upon. It was strictly a cattle ranch.

The big grade!

A dozer was obviously employed to improve the old ranch road, but the road has eroded away any fill dirt leaving gullies and landslides. I didn't stop to photo the worst.

Going down, down, down. My big concern was what if I came to an impassable gully or boulder?

There was one boulder in the road, but I could get around it. Near the bottom was this huge one. Just one more grade ahead and it had the most interesting blockage... a Ford Ranger. I just got by it by an inch between the mirrors. It was 5:18 pm and I was 9 miles from San Antonio and just 3/4 mile from the bottom of this big bad set of grades.

Nice drive through a cardónal before reaching the roadblock and help sign!

Details in the next installment... This Sunday will be a long night!

[Edited on 2-10-2018 by David K]

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 04:43 PM

Good pics

David K - 2-10-2018 at 04:50 PM

Thanks Paul... So, did you bypass La Miseria (see my map of the parallel roads there) or see it up close? It has a pool and hot tub... very unusual for the area!
I would be curious of what happened to the caretaker couple I evacuated from there!

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 05:22 PM

The road skirts all the buildings When going north we were on the right side of the valley. Then we did a U turn around the washout and continued northerly. We could see the ranch buildings on the other side of the valley. Green fence gate at each end of the ranch property.

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 05:27 PM

The map we use in San Felipe – Hand drawn from many sources
Many new names to digest

woody with a view - 2-10-2018 at 05:37 PM

No straight lines in nature! Water trough and if you see these you are on the right trail.

advrider - 2-10-2018 at 07:42 PM

Will be ridding that on motos next month from El Rosario to the mission to Bola, never ridden that are before and I'm really looking forward to it! Dose anyone know if there is gas once we hit the highway of is it all the way back to the BOLA turn off for barrel gas? We might be close just not sure?

[Edited on 2-11-2018 by advrider]

JZ - 2-10-2018 at 08:04 PM

Quote: Originally posted by advrider

Will be ridding that on motos next month from El Rosario to the mission to Bola, never ridden that are before and I'm really looking forward to it! Dose anyone know if there is gas once we hit the highway of is it all the way back to the BOLA turn off for barrel gas? We might be close just not sure?

[Edited on 2-11-2018 by advrider]

None that I'm aware of. You will see a fishing camp and could buy some in a pinch, even more so at SR.

advrider - 2-10-2018 at 08:39 PM

That's what I was wondering if we might find something in SR, we should be right at 280 miles on our big tanks or close to it?

PaulW - 2-10-2018 at 08:56 PM

Ask at the various places at the LAB turn. Somebody has to have fuel?

TMW - 2-10-2018 at 09:28 PM

The road from Hwy 1 at KM 270 that David shows is what SCORE has used a couple of times recently. I don't think NORRA has ever used it.

David K - 2-10-2018 at 09:37 PM

Gas is sold at Punta Prieta, north of the dip Km. 12.
Also at Santa Rosalillita from the market/motel if it is an emergency.
As stated, at the L. A. BAY junction too.

bajaric - 2-11-2018 at 06:44 AM

Last year on a southbound trip I turned off Hwy 1 and drove a few miles west along that road (from the junction at km252+-). We saw a guy pulling a horse trailer on to the highway. High center 2 track road but doable in 2WD pickup at least for a few miles. Very pretty country but watch out for the cholla cactus they are lurking everywhere! I took a walk and felt a pain in my foot and looked down and they were stuck all over my shoes. A couple of months later I felt a stabbing pain in my foot and pulled out that last of the spines. Amazing vegetation like being in a botanical garden but tended by nature alone.

MulegeAL - 2-11-2018 at 08:18 AM

Adv, if you have 280 range then you can bypass panga gas at SR. Fill up at Villa Jesus Maria if heading north. You'll have range for some of the local points and putting around before you head inland.

advrider - 2-11-2018 at 08:39 AM

Quote: Originally posted by MulegeAL

Adv, if you have 280 range then you can bypass panga gas at SR. Fill up at Villa Jesus Maria if heading north. You'll have range for some of the local points and putting around before you head inland.

Thanks, range for a couple in our group might be closer to 180 so it's good to have an idea where we can find a little gas, we are trying to stay off of the highway as much as we can so we could be stretching mileage a little in a few places. We are hoping to go out to and then past the mission on the way to BOLA for the night, hoping to avoid the highway just to get gas?

[Edited on 2-11-2018 by advrider]

bajatrailrider - 2-11-2018 at 09:09 AM

I have rode from El rosario south many times on the East side .Going out of El Rosario South HWY 1 pass bridge Lt turn then up Rattle snake road. We always carry extra gal fuel just in case. I'm hoping to do that run again this month or next.

advrider - 2-11-2018 at 09:23 AM

I think that is the way we are coming into town the previous night? We will top off in Catavina and then back track north a little to catch the dirt south again. A lot of what we are ridding is close to the track s that they use on the Baja divide bicycle route' Super excited to ride this stretch on the dirt, have only done it on the highway. We are headed down in March if you want to ride.

JZ - 2-11-2018 at 12:00 PM

Quote: Originally posted by advrider

I think that is the way we are coming into town the previous night? We will top off in Catavina and then back track north a little to catch the dirt south again. A lot of what we are ridding is close to the track s that they use on the Baja divide bicycle route' Super excited to ride this stretch on the dirt, have only done it on the highway. We are headed down in March if you want to ride.

That's the route we took. It's pretty easy.

Cordornices sounds a little more challenging with the grades.

The best part of the ride is when you get down to the dunes and good beaches around Punta Lobos.

[Edited on 2-11-2018 by JZ]

[Edited on 2-13-2018 by BajaNomad]

advrider - 2-11-2018 at 12:52 PM

Awesome, thats just how I hoped ridding in that area would look! Anyone ridden from El Rosario to BOLA on this route have a time estimate ? I was thinking between 10-12 hours from the Baja cactus with some hard ridding, It's a pretty fast group. Of course no way to factor in flat tires or mechanical problems, hoping not to get caught out after dark!

bajaandy - 2-12-2018 at 09:22 PM

Probably my favorite road to the coast. The grade was a little sketchy when I did it solo four years ago, but I don't remember ever needing to lock it in 4x4. Awesome part of Baja.

David K - 2-13-2018 at 09:15 AM

Hi Andy, the rains have badly eroded the downgrade west of the San Antonio oasis, so 4WD (low) helps keep the speed controlled and no sliding when climbing in and out of the washouts. I was amazed to find a bulldozed roadbed as it seems to be an abandoned route to or from the coast. Perhaps the possible "cilantro" farming near La Miseria I heard about may be why an alternate, secret escaper road was needed?
The couple I rescued said they hadn't seen another car by the ranch in 3 months.

StuckSucks - 2-13-2018 at 02:10 PM

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

The road from Hwy 1 at KM 270 that David shows is what SCORE has used a couple of times recently. I don't think NORRA has ever used it.

We were at the west end of the road, near the coast for a couple 1000s a few years ago. At that time, there were some silt beds capable of swallowing whole cars along with multiple deep deep rain ruts.

TMW - 2-13-2018 at 03:29 PM

Where the Cordornices Rd drops down toward the coast and along the coast up north to the road that heads back to Hwy 1 at KM233 is full of silt beds. The 2003 Baja 1000 used in the first Dust to Glory movie was originally routed inland from the coast on the road to KM233 but after making the turn there was so much silt during pre-running SCORE re-routed it to Catavina then down to Chapala.

Rancho Miseria

rich t - 2-15-2018 at 02:04 PM

David K, the ranch Paul W was talking about that we gave the couple food was Rancho Miseria, we stop in there every year and bring them something,
met them in 2009 on a month long Jeep trip we were doing. They have fallen on hard times in the last 4 years.

El Rosario/ Catavina/ L.A. Bay

rich t - 2-15-2018 at 02:14 PM

Jz and advrider, if you are riding from El Rosario to San Borja or L.A. bay the Bill Nichols 22 day trail is a good trail to do, gas up in Catavina, then Puenta
Prieta which will get you to L.A. Bay. You can by pass some of the mountain stuff and follow the coast to the turn off for Cordornices, we are doing a dirt
bike ride in March and will be doing part of the 22 day trail. It is a cool trail.

advrider - 2-15-2018 at 07:15 PM

Any tracks for the 22 day trail, I would love them? Thanks for the info and I have always wanted to try it.

22 Day Trail

rich t - 2-16-2018 at 10:24 AM

advrider, I will E-mail you the tracks.

Rich

TMW - 2-16-2018 at 10:33 AM

Rich when you say 22 day trail where does it start? I have the track from Chapala to LA Bay.

rich t - 2-16-2018 at 10:53 AM

The 22 Day trail runs from El Rosario/Catavina/Bola, 2 track and single track.