BajaNomad - Mystery rock lines

Mystery rock lines

nandopedal - 10-30-2018 at 12:35 PM

Ok, last spring when traveling from San Juanico to San Ignacio Lagoon on the "High road" we spotted a series of parallel lines on a slope made out of rocks, we did not stop and I almost forgot about it but today I started searching on Goggle earth and bingo! Does anybody knows about them? This are the GE coordinates: (26.5702547,-112.7391995)

StuckSucks - 10-30-2018 at 12:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by nandopedal

Ok, last spring when traveling from San Juanico to San Ignacio Lagoon on the "High road" we spotted a series of parallel lines on a slope made out of rocks, we did not stop and I almost forgot about it but today I started searching on Goggle earth and bingo! Does anybody knows about them? This are the GE coordinates: (26.5702547,-112.7391995)

Are those lines of rocks on a hillside? They almost look like contour lines on a topo map.

https://goo.gl/maps/QYj2zaZQDwP2

vandy - 10-30-2018 at 12:59 PM

I was told by a rancher near Santiago, after encountering some remote parallel rock walls on a hike, that the Feds paid the locals to make them as mitigation to erosion.

4x4abc - 10-30-2018 at 01:13 PM

the lines were not there in 2010 (GoogleEarth)

nandopedal - 10-30-2018 at 01:30 PM

Quote: Originally posted by vandy

I was told by a rancher near Santiago, after encountering some remote parallel rock walls on a hike, that the Feds paid the locals to make them as mitigation to erosion.

I am not a geologist but the slopes that those are on don't look like they need erosion control but maybe?

nandopedal - 10-30-2018 at 01:32 PM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Quote: Originally posted by nandopedal

Are those lines of rocks on a hillside? They almost look like contour lines on a topo map.

https://goo.gl/maps/QYj2zaZQDwP2

Yep, it is a slope.

nandopedal - 10-30-2018 at 01:56 PM

Or maybe whomever used to roam the desert in Arizona decided to move to the peninsula, check it, (34.7078793,-114.2664121)

Geo_Skip - 10-30-2018 at 04:14 PM

Do you know how hard it is to draw those lines on the hillsides and get them just right?

StuckSucks - 10-30-2018 at 04:22 PM

Lines in BCS

StuckSucks - 10-30-2018 at 04:23 PM

Santa Rita lines

David K - 10-30-2018 at 05:07 PM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Lines in BCS

A failed Jojoba farm, according to 'rob' at La Aguja (Playas Pacificas). The Santa Rita lines look like the same.

StuckSucks - 10-31-2018 at 10:51 AM

Good grief, more lines

nandopedal - 10-31-2018 at 11:58 AM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Good grief, more lines

Mega pot farm that was busted a couple of years ago?

tobias - 10-31-2018 at 03:18 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Lines in BCS

A failed Jojoba farm, according to 'rob' at La Aguja (Playas Pacificas). The Santa Rita lines look like the same.

Jojoba makes sense ... Jojoba grown by ALIENS maybe

Trunkrack - 10-7-2021 at 01:27 PM

Hey Everyone,
I've been reading this forum for a few years now but finally getting around to joining and posting for the first time. I'm really curious about these rock walls or rock lines, whatever you call them. My wife and I stopped and took a photo of them a few years back when taking the high road to San Juanico. I see that a previous post mentioned erosion control, but was wondering if that was really why they were made? I'm trying to include the photo (or link to photo), below, but not sure if this will work or not. Hopefully this helps show what they look like from ground level. The photo quality is not superb, but if you zoom in you can see the lines extend way up the hill. Seems like it would take a tremendous amount of work to build these.

[img]http://

[/img]

[Edited on 10-7-2021 by Trunkrack]

David K - 10-7-2021 at 01:48 PM

Great mystery... Baja has many!
Welcome to Baja Nomad, Trunkrack!!

Reminds me of the mystery walls at Bahía las Animas that stumped Desert Magazine's Choral Pepper and Perry Mason creator, Erle Stanley Gardner! https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/lost_jes...

Trunkrack - 10-7-2021 at 02:26 PM

Thanks David. Yeah, they are similar except for the fact that the image in your article shows the line/wall going straight down the slope, while these are across the slope, like contour lines as pointed out above. Sure would be cool to know why all this work was done.

David K - 10-7-2021 at 03:21 PM

Walls that have no purpose seem like a government 'make work' project! Las Animas walls are not high enough to direct any animals, they are perfect for sitting! The lines in your photos are very interesting.
They do look like contour lines.

4x4abc - 10-7-2021 at 05:27 PM

I know of about 20 different locations in Baja with either dozer created or hand stacked elevation lines
30° 3'3.59"N, 115° 0'55.55"W

Screen Shot 2021-10-07 at 6.20.07 PM copy.jpg - 299kB

Skipjack Joe - 10-7-2021 at 06:06 PM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Quote: Originally posted by nandopedal

Are those lines of rocks on a hillside? They almost look like contour lines on a topo map.

https://goo.gl/maps/QYj2zaZQDwP2

Man made almost certainly. It's just short of San Juan Garcia which at one time was a sizeable agricultural area with a sizable population. Spring water flows year round.

If you look closely you will notice that where the lines are the earth is bare but where they stop it is all rocky. Therefore the rocks were removed. The land was cleared and the rocks were piled up into walls, which are the 'lines'.

[Edited on 10-8-2021 by Skipjack Joe]

4x4abc - 10-7-2021 at 06:35 PM

I especially like the new Geoglyphs

Screen Shot 2021-10-07 at 6.29.40 PM copy.jpg - 134kB

4x4abc - 10-7-2021 at 09:16 PM

the mining area around El Triunfo is full of terracing walls
haven't found out yet what they were for
usually 10 to 15 ft apart
in addition to hundreds of miles of property walls (you gotta protect your mining claim)
thanks to the time slider in Google Earth you can select images of dry years with no foliage
and thanks to the building boom in BCS, the new sat images are high resolution
took me a few years to find the walls

Screen Shot 2021-10-07 at 10.08.10 PM copy.jpg - 325kB

4x4abc - 10-7-2021 at 10:02 PM

here is a very prominent example of a mining claim wall
right next to the highway to El Triunfo
1.10 m wide - 50"
23°47'35.79"N, 110° 8'33.96"W

Screen Shot 2021-10-07 at 10.29.31 PM copy.jpg - 300kB

Trunkrack - 10-8-2021 at 04:23 AM

Thanks for sharing those Harald, seems these walls are a lot more common down there than I realized!

pauldavidmena - 10-8-2021 at 05:09 AM

Then there are these rectangles scratched into the ground just north of Todos Santos, BCS.

4x4abc - 10-8-2021 at 05:57 AM

Quote: Originally posted by pauldavidmena

Then there are these rectangles scratched into the ground just north of Todos Santos, BCS.

they are called greed lines
officially Agua Blanca

phmilo - 10-8-2021 at 07:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

they are called greed lines
officially Agua Blanca

shouldn't there be more of them?

[Edited on 10-8-2021 by phmilo]

motoged - 10-9-2021 at 02:03 PM

This thread is currently the most interesting in the forum in my opinion.... some good theories/explanations offered so far....

BUT, there's got to be some verifiable info as to range of reasons for old/newer line constructs.

:?:

pauldavidmena - 10-9-2021 at 02:24 PM

Quote: Originally posted by phmilo

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

they are called greed lines
officially Agua Blanca

shouldn't there be more of them?

[Edited on 10-8-2021 by phmilo]