Arroyos near San Felipe update

Baja Arroyo and Reference for explorers, Near San Felipe –
-Original 7/2013, Revised 7/2015, \1/2019, 4/6/2021, 5/21/2021

- Arroyo/Wash report for San Felipe area. East of the mountains.
- I started exploring over 14 years ago and have slowly compiled GPS tracks for these arroyos.
- This write up describes highlights what I know about each one.
- What you read below is current as of when I drove the tracks
- My starting place for my exploration was discussions with Bruce Barber, Lou Wells. For details on many of the placed I describe please refer to Bruce Barbers’ book “--- of Sea and Sand.”
- Many of the trips listed were located and identified using Google earth and subsequently driven.

Starting from the North with Notes/Comments Significant roads are noted
Arroyo La Ventana, And the place. Name means window. Largest window location is N31-42.912, W115-08.5014 about 5 miles west of Hwy5 Access is Hwy5 K106.4. N31-43.854’, W115-03.862’. Graded road leads W to several mine wells. The well place is properly named by INEGI as Tres Pozos. These wells are sometimes called Arroyo Grande wells and the count is now 4. The main well place is at N31-42.126’, W115-15.316’. Turns out there are many more Ventana’s (Windows). Seems like it’s easy for find hole in the volcanic rocks. Originally it was found by Howard Gulick during his research for his guidebook in the 50's. His location for La Ventana is at N31 43.109’, W115 2.288’
Another one Bruce Barber found one southwest of the first one described by Gulick and surely is bogus? These windows have still not been located by myself or anyone else I know. Area has a huge number of cuervitas (small caves) and many of them could be called windows. And there is at least one other window on a SW skyline, but it is so far from La Ventana I have discounted it.

Arroyo Grande Leads S from the mountains N of Hwy3 to Lugna Salida from La Ventana road at the mine wells at N31-42.126, W115-15.316 and heads S toward Mx3. I found one report that someone was able to pass thru the heavy vegetation past my dead end at N31-27.086’, W115-26.554’ which is after the remains of the dam. Access at Hwy3 K152.7 is a locked gate at N31-18.087’, W115-25.680’. To get to Hwy 3 several substantial locked gates will be found.
Huge vertical walls, great drive to the heavy vegetation.

Pinta Pass. Chinero Pass is a more formal name used by the cartographers, but not the favored name. Referred to as “SCORE Track West” It is a north south arroyo exiting Arroyo Grande track at N31-37.472’, W115-15.538’ and leads E to another wash route south to Borrego. This one is usually referred to as the SCORE route. Also called Borrego Pass by some. “Pinta Pass west” is another good descriptive name.

“Pinta Pass East” An unnamed canyon drainage that Leads S from La Ventena/well road at N31-42.178’, W115-10.810’ east of the wells and heads S to Borrego. Referred to as "CODE track”. Parallels Arroyo Grande & Pinta Pass west and combines with Pinta Pass west. Both tracks join north of then pass thru 4 corners at N31-25.644’, W115-11.029’ below the military camp (ab).

Arroyo Jaquegel Currently shown on the modern maps. (5 names) Known as "The Pole Line Road", “Arroyo El Tule”, Telephone Line (road), and Buck Canon. Traveling west the Jaquegel trail begins in Arroyo Grande at N31-37.54922’, W115-15.71430’. The arroyo leads to the W and heads over the N summit (N summit is better known as the race summit) to Hwy 3 between Indepencia and Valle Trinidad. The race summit is now closed with a substantial locked gate. Meanwhile a new route that avoids the locked gate at Arroyo Siaz and the huge cable fence has been found. It uses a road going N from White Tank and leads to Mano junction via Arroyo Enmedio.
The 1905/1919 Nelson map is the only source found for the Tule name. However several published writings use the Tule name. The Arroyo road and “Telephone Line” were created in 1942 to service the US radar facilities located in San Felipe and Punta Estrella. As of spring of 2019 the route is passable via a difficult trail. Some of the cobble stones and poles from the original road still remain. The west end of this trail passes over the main summit above and NE of Jamau (and is no longer passable by any kind of vehicle). That abandoned summit is called “Jamau” and is the south summit. (N31-36.05, W115-36.4). The north summit (race summit or North summit) is at N31-37.631, W115-36.624’ And is shown on the older maps as “Portezuelo de Jamau”. There is still another summit we have been calling the middle summit, but its proper name should be “Siaz” after the major drainage leading north from the summit. Its location is N31-36.05, W115-36.40. The road over Siaz summit is presently unknown. The route has a locked gate on the south side of the summit. All three of the summits are found from the Pole Line Road or trail. The Indian trail from Chinero over Pinta pass and over the mountains is called “Buck Canon Trail” on the 1930 map by Knight. All 3 summits are no longer passable. South too hard, heavily eroded. Middle and race summits have locked gates.

Arroyo El Arrajal Leads west from hwy5 K133.8 at N31-29.624, W115-04.249and allows connection of Mex5 to Mex3.
Route passes thru the 4 corners at N31-25.644, W115-11.029 just north of the old military camp (ab). Leave the arroyo and head S near N31-24.738, W115-21.417. At the summit is an abandoned air strip actually in the silt bed? From Hwy 3 at K159.8 N31-17.286, W115-21.259 drive N thru the gated fence.

"Slate mine rd" Leads N from Hwy 3 K160. Turn NE off the El Arrajal road at N31-19.600, W115-21.344. Road ends at mine. Recommended easy drive.

“Unnamed Wash” Starts at Hwy3 K160 and heads S to the north end of L Diablo. Wash continues N across the fence to the Slate mine area.
“Tres Pozos” Name means 3 wells. INEGI and Almanac are wrong. Tres Pozos is actually north at the mine wells. Access to this arroyo is via the race road Hwy3 K179.3 N31-21.991, W115-11.282.
Wash leads NW at Borrego at Hwy3 K181.1 N31-22.728, W115-10.512. Wash crosses the race track N31-23.080, W115-11.198 & ends in the arroyo to the west.
This arroyo is full of impassable large boulders at the point where the canyon narrows.

“3 Poles wash" Official INEGI name is Borrego, means Lamb. Generally parallels Hwy 3. Heavily traveled by racers. Deep sand and multiple paths. Very wide. Access at 3 Poles is Hwy5 K142 N31-25.497, W115-02.750. But most common access is K149.4 N31-21.747, W115-01.002 then head N following one of the race tracks.

Arroyo Las Cuevitas means little caves. Some locals call it "Calamity". Access is Hwy5 K149.4 N31-21.747, W115-01.002 and leads west via gravel pit. A common duplication of names.
Leads west to Villa del Sol road (the graded road that leads to L. Diablo).

"rock crawl exit" Also known as "Smugglers route". High clearance required.
Leads NW from Cuevitas at N31-17.423, W115-10.244 to hwy3 at K174.8 at N31-18.900, W115-13.210

"Gypsum mine" Also called "Mica Mine". No mica, but lots of selenite gypsum crystals. Leads NW from Cuevitas at N31-20.798, W115-05.028 to the mine. Interesting drive.

"unnamed" Arroyo leading NW from Cuevitas approx N31-21.067, W115-04.688. Several failures to reach Hwy3. Unverified needs exploration.

"Lunch" Unnamed wash leads E from Cuevitas N31.28032, W115.16275 The popular Sea of Cortez overlook lunch place. N31-16.826, W115-09.822. All arroyos from this main wash are short and dead ends.

"Mini Summit" Alternate names are "Telegraph Pass" & "Power line pass".
Summit is N31-10.682, W115-08.547. Major 15’ drop-off is at N31-10.541, W115-08.075
From 2 poles, Hwy5 K166/7 N31-13.362, W114-56.924, follow race track SW or W to power line NW - summit - to Villa del Sol Rd.
Since hurricane Nora - Impassable for normal rigs. In 2011 3 Jeeps made the crossing with extensive use of winches (E to W). Several hardy moto guys have made the crossing in the last few years (W to E). Summit is reachable from the west by following the metal power line from Villa del Sol road. Good drive.
Update - 5 of my buddies all in Jeeps traveled east successfully. Winches were required to get over and around the huge boulders. All had damage. Took all day.
Update - Roomer 4/2021 is the thing has been graded for possible use for a future race road? No reports yet

Arroyo Las Almejas (Also arroyo Arena means sand) Name means clams. Wholly within El Dorado ranch, Leads W from the N/S power line Approx. at N31-07.807, W114-54.662. Not proper to drive, but we have walked it many times. It's very wide, North of subdivisions RDS/PVN/LMN/LVN.
The east end is used by the buggy rental concession. 21 Sf 250 used this arroyo.

"Morelia" Official INEGI name is Canon las Cuevitas. (name duplication) Also called "Zoo Rd", "Morelia Rd", and Saltito Rd. Starts at the ARCO/OXXO and passes thru the Eldorado security entrance. Graded road used for west valley access. Starts at the west El Dorado formal entrance & PMEX & the El Dorado resident entrance at K178.5 N31-07.033, W114-54.003.
Public access is a new paved road called Morelia Rd starts at K181.2 N31-05.902, W114-53.577 at the storage place near K182. Roads join near the power line at N31-04.534, W114-57.808. This part of the road is now paved from Highway 5 for 10km. The west part for Canon las Curevitas drainage is westerly. The east end drainage is eastward and becomes Acuna then and Los Almejas

"Power line" Access from Saltito leads N & S from Saltito Rd. Used for the race track. Crossing is at N31-04.515, W114-57.866
Arroyo Acuna# means cradles. This is the road to Rams Head. Begins at ~N30 57.7, W115 3.5 and at ~N30 59.3, W115 0.5. Leads NE, crosses Saltito/Morelia Road then crosses the Power line and becomes Las Almeias (Arena) or is next to it as one big wash.

“Crossover to Amarillas” New road between Morelia road and Arroyo Amarillas has been created with bulldozer for race use and has become passable for normal 4x4 travel. Starts at Morelia and follows Arroyo Acuna to Rams Head narrows then to an unnamed canyon leading south up a steep area where significant grading took place. Then the new road joins the Arroyo Amarillas near the Amarillas junction and the crossover to Chanate.
At Morelia N31 04.118, W114 59.758.
At Amarillas and Jct with Chanate Crossover N30 54.271, W114 57.878.

"Dump Road" Access from Saltito leads south east at N31-04.307, W114-58.514 from hippy camp past the dump then to the arches. This used to be the main road from south of Hwy 3 using the connector diagonal to San Felipe.

Arroyo Davalos# No description

Arroyo Hellin# No description

"Rams Head" Uses Arroyo Acuna. Access from Saltito leads S at N31-03.631, W115-01.331 to "Rams Head" then west to Morelia road or SW to Chanate. Choke point is N31-01.190, W115-01.160. High clearance rig is good. (See ATV track below). Intersects Chanate at N30-54.004, W115-03.052

"Highlands" Just a landmark of an abandoned community. Leaves Saltito leading N at N31-02.996, W115-03.018. Access beyond to interesting places like Diatoms, chalk mine then on to 4 corners at the power line via the Connector Diagonal.

"Connector Diagonal” Leads N from Morelia Rd at N31-03.072, W115-02.844. This is the old main road thru 4 corners at the power line then to Hwy 5.

Arroyo Amarillas means yellow. Some locals call it the arroyo leading to “Hidden Valley" or "Lost Valley". Begin at OPR N30-55.81, W114-50.142.

"Cross Over" Access leads south from Amarillas to Chanate. Also called the "Connector". High clearance required. Leave Amarillas near N30-52.402, W115-00.230. And reach Chanate at N30-51.187, W114-59.256

Arroyo Chanate (Chanote) means blackbird. Leads to west valley past Quartz Mtn at N30-53.510, W115-04.220.
Find access at OPR N30-53.379, W114-549.793. Locals have used the name Emerald canyon and has a landmark called Quarts or Crystal Mountain near the west end.
"ATV Track" Access leads N from Chanate at N30 54.005, W115-03.051 and heads to Morelia road near N30-56.389, W115-07.206. Intersects Rams Head at a Rams head turn to the NE at N30-56.521, W115-06.237. ATV track continues straight instead of the turn to Ram Head.
“WOW” No official name. Wash is loop from Chanate to Chanate. A path from SE of the junction of Rams Head & Chanate and enters the wash. Good drive. Heading easterly the entrance in Chanate is near N30-52.95, W115-02.01. Several difficult tracks at that point to sort out. From the SW side of Chanate drive SW then SE to find the track. The end of WOW is near N30-51.384, W115-00.136. Find a 5+ foot spill over. In the past the spillover has been full of rocks and was passable by ATV via narrow crack. A rock crawl Jeep can drive around the spill over. Crossing the spillover or going around it leads back to Chanate past/thru the Cordon forest.
Enter the loop from the east at N30-51.194, W114-59.284 and drive SE. The track then curves back to a western heading then follow the arroyo to the spillover. A Cardon forest is at the big curve.

Arroyo Huatamote name of a plant. Proper arroyo has been impassable to the west valley for many years. Access to the west valley is now accomplished using a branch of Parral. Some locals incorrectly call it "Percebu" because it was wrongly shown on older maps. Named for a Baja bush. "Seep Willow [huatamote] (Baccharis glutinosa)". See baccharis glutinosa seep willow Guatamote (Huatamote)? The plant is used as a traditional medicine.
There is another Arroyo with the same name in Baja Sur and many places in Baja use the name Huatamote.
Start Hwy5 K20.7 N30-49.180, W114-44.552 Or start at Old Puertecitos Rd at N30-49.388, W114-48.794 and drive west.

Arroyo Parral means vineyard or grapevine. A branch leads east to Huatamote at N30-45.564, W115-00.807. One of many INEGI official Parral paths. This arroyo is passable to the west valley when using Huatamote or Azufre. Parral is shown on the official INEGI maps as leading east to the arroyo now called Azufre.
Many water paths are called Parral & cross each other. They primarily drain overflow storm water from the west valley.
West of OPR Parral Branches out as the drainage flows east. A small branch north of the various Parral branches is called Arroyo Agua de Chale. Nowadays the roads do not use the Parral wash at OPR but choose an easier path, south, to the canyon. See image 9.

Arroyo Don Pancho Crosses Hwy near K16

Arroyo Percebu means barnacle. Starts near the coast and ends in the desert west of hwy5. Crosses the Hwy at ~K22 & K22.2

Arroyo Auga de Chale Crosses Hwy near K31. See Parral above

Arroyo Aleuri# From campo Perlita crosses the hwy at ~K36.7 and ends east of the hwy. Look north of hwy at N30 40.814, W114 42.3
Arroyo Jimenez# From Campo Cadena crosses the hwy at ~K42and ends west of the hwy. Look on the hwy at N30 38.105, W114 42.34

Arroyo "Azufre" means Sulfur. Official INEGI name is Parral. Locally known as "Crazy Horse". Access from Hwy 5 K34.3 at N30-42.1, W114 42.768, Access from Old Puretictos Rd at N30-41.732, W114-46.509. Find Apache Tears nearby at 30 38.22, -114 49.65.

Arroyo "Terry" Starts at Hwy5 K54.2 N30-32.061, W114-41.688 & ends up in Matomi at N30-30.015, W114-48.548 or cross country to the Matomi N exit. Named after the birthday guy. No INEGI name. High clearance required.

Arroyo Matomi Entrance is Hwy5 K60 at N30-29.354, W114-40.008. Follow any of many tracks. Connects to west valley road south of valley Chico. Named after Rancho Matomi/Ejido Matomi. Arroyo eventually leads west to Rancho Matomi.
At the narrows passage is difficult. No travel between summer of 2012 and Jan 2015. Jeeps or high clearance vehicles with 4wd shouldn't have a problem. Access to Rancho Matomi and the arroyo is good from Valley Chico & the west valley road, however access to Rancho now blocked with a locked gate as of 2021.

Arroyo Los Blancas (Barraca) means white. Leads SW from Matomi at N30-29.670, W114-50.099 into Canelo valley. Name means Cinnamon. Drive into the "Canelo Preserve" & to natural arch at N30-27.629, W114-55.548.

"North Exit race road” Leads north from Matomi. Leave Matomi at N30-29.786, W114-50.169. Connects north to Azufre, old Pureticitos road (OPR), and Apache Tears. Is located on the area named Llanos San Fermin

Arroyo El Canelo (Padilla) means Cinnamon. Many paths from Hwy5. Exploration needed. Look near K63/64 N30-27.443, W114-39.397
Access unknown. Expect deep soft sand.

Arroyo "Unnamed" Many washes further south. New HWY blocks access to many.

Notes:
*All coordinates are in the format of degrees and minutes and fractions of minutes. Datum is WGS 84.
* The Villa del Sol graded Rd leads S from Mx3 K163 N31 16.812, W115 19.070 and heads toward "Juan's" store, Chinalilito, & Santa Clara on the east side of L Diablo. Eventually connects with Saltito Rd at Morelia Jct. Juan is gone and the place is abandoned.
* Every year Huatamote and Matomi change drastically due to major flooding from summer storms. Often impassable.
* The use of GPS with background maps is the best way to locate the roads to the arroyos
* GPS Maps are sold by Murdocknav.com for Lowrance & Garmin. Other suppliers can be found specifically for Garmin GPS. None are as complete as Murdock.
* Topo maps are no longer available at the INEGI office in Mexicali. Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Gergrafia. PDF versions can be downloaded free from the INEGI web site.
* Please do not try to drive these arroyo places unless you have low range 4WD and high clearance and the usual recovery equipment.
* A GPS is required to find the pertinent places in my write-up. All Coordinates shown are WGS84 Datum. Converted from previous editions of this document. And are now the same as Google Earth.
If you wish to plot the points on the Almanac or the old INEGI maps you must convert to the Datum to “North American 1927-Mexico”. INEGI maps are compatible with WGS84. In my experience using the wrong datum on your GPS will result in about a 200 - 400 foot error. Not good if you are looking for a hard to find place. The new Atlas by Benchmark does not reveal their datum.
* Kilometers noted were created by driving Oct-Dec 2014 and published by Murdock Aug 2014.
* 95%+ of these arroyo back roads are pictured on the Murdock GPS maps which are updated before every SCORE race.
# Arroyos found on a 1975 map and are not found on later maps
If anyone has comments on this report contact Paul Wilson. PaulW on Baja Nomads forum.
Some GPS Screen shots for areas discussed above follow.


Please note while GPS screen shots are useful for knowing where the roads are and how they all interact. You can use Google earth or Bing with the coordinates provided and see a better picture of the terrain and you can detect the roads and washes by looking at the screen shot at the same time as you look at the sky views. I highly encourage the use of GE & Bing for more knowledge. PW



Common notes:
R always designates a race road
OPR is old Puertecitos Road
Hand written X means do not drive road is blocked or not passable. These tracks represent my errors of trying to drive where I should not have been or could not pass due to cliffs.

N Area - 1
K77.2 is marginal at times due to water and bad mud
K86.8 is a graded road.
K89.2 leads to a smooth road.
Drive down the shoulder to the cut in the fence
K92 leads to a race road




N Area - 2
H is a track along the hills in the sand dunes
Cross hairs locate the Ventana (Window). N of the graded road
PLR Wash is the beginning of Arroyo Jaquegel
(PLR means Pole Line Road. 1942 Telephone line)
M is the west access road for the big mine on the east side of the Pintas
Pipe line has a very bad road.





N Area - 3
M Many small mines shown along the W mine road
AG is Arroyo Grande
P P is Pinta pass - the historical narrow canyon that passes between the San Felipe and the Pinta mountains. - now days used as a race road. Historic route from Chinero to Arroyo Grande. Chinero is the area near K133
P P/E is Pinta Pass east another N-S Race road
Cross hair is the south end of the crossover between the two passes. Track goes thru a saddle in the hills.
Green X are waypoints not an X to note “do not drive”.
WPL it the wood power line track





N Area - 4
K133.8 leads to the race roads and Arroyo Arrajal “A”
SM is the slate mine below C. Borrego
3P k142 is three poles
2P k163 is two poles
4C is four corners
K179 is the N Borrego race road beginning.
DS is Villa Del Sol Road leading to L Diablo
MS is the Mini Summit
PL is the metal power line
WPL is the wood power Line
RC is the rock Crawl access to Cuevitas
OX is the Memorial at N31-15.38, W115-19.58
P are various Pete’s poker run tracks






Central Area – 5
Wash is Las Almejas
RH is the north area of Rams Head
4C is another four corners.
HL is the abandoned Highlands community.
The east end of Zoo road is the PMEX at K179
D is the dump road
P is Pete’s camp poker run
HC is the Hippy camp







Central Area – 6
RH is the choke point in Rams Head
A is the junction of Rams Head & Chanate
H is the Hudus
The big Blue X are just waypoints. Not a blocked road.







Area 6A
The newly made road up a canyon/arroyo with no name leading south from Acuna.
New canyon
Will show when I post my updated San Felipe Arroyo report. For sure no official name.

“Crossover to Amarillas” Between Morelia road and Arroyo Amarillas has been created with bulldozer for race use and has become passable for normal 4x4 travel. Starts at Morelia road and follows Arroyo Acuna to Rams Head narrows then to a canyon leading south up a steep area where significant grading took place. Then the new road joins the Arroyo Amarillas at the Amarillas junction with the crossover to Chanate.
At Morelia N31 04.118, W114 59.758.
At Amarillas and Jct with Chanate crossover N30 54.271, W114 57.878.

On the picture – New trail is Purple, Blue is Arroyo Acuna, Green is Arroyo Cuevitas





See reply to continue

[Edited on 5-24-2021 by PaulW]

Central Area – 7
C is the easy access to Chanate (keep to the N track)
N30-53.4, W114-49.8
B is the junction of Chanate and WOW
The end of wow is at N30-51.384, W115-00.136
Find a 5 foot spill over (Red X)
The Cardon forest near N30-53.4, W114-49.8
A = N30-54.0, W115 -03.04
B = N30- 52.9.W115-02.01 (or close multiple tracks there)
OPR is Old Puerticitos Road
The big Blue X are just waypoints. Not a blocked road






South Areas – 8, 9, & 10
The big Blue X are waypoints at the end of the road

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Thanks took way to much time

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Matomi update Recently the military has raided what was going on up at the old landing strip and the locked fence gate is not longer locked.