Fatboy
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2024 ECR - El Camino Real Hike Part 1
In January of 2024 I once again hiked a section of the historic El Camino Real in central Baja. This is the third time in three years I hiked in this
area of Baja. You can read about the 2022 trip HERE and read about the 2023 trip HERE.
The drive down from Northern California was uneventful until I hit the dirt road a few miles south of Villa Jesus Maria.
First of all is what seems like an odd spot for a stop sign.
Then a large family in a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction waved me over and, I believe, asked me if I was lost. I speak VERY LITTLE
Spanish and on this trip VERY LITTLE English was spoken other than by me.
All I could say is Rancho Nuevo and Rancho los Corralles several times before he replied with 'Si, es camino!” and with a wave of his hand I
continued onwards. Shortly thereafter in a narrow twisty section of the road another pickup comes speeding around the corner towards me driven by a
teenager.
With nowhere to go but off the road into the cactus I prepare for the impact but we miss each other by mere inches. After awhile I calm down and make
to to Rancho Nuevo where I continue past my 2023 parking spot.
Finding a good spot to park and prepare for the hike, I sort my gear and load up the pack. I decide to take a quick shower since it will be several
days before I will be back here. After giving the solar shower time to warm up I setup a spot to take a shower.
I always feel a little nervous about taking a shower out in the open in the back country but I am over 40 miles down a dead end dirt road and the
chances of someone coming along during the 15 minutes or so it takes to shower are extremely low.
With everything set up I get ready to start undressing when I here the first vehicle approaching from Los Corralles! He sees me and stops, after
introductions and greetings I learn that he is Juan from Rancho Los Corralles and of course he speaks no English and try to explain that I am going
hiking but it is not going well when a Razor pulls up from the other direction.
They don't speak any English either and they continue on towards Los Corralles and I continue to try to explain my plans to Juan when we are
interrupted by another car and again no English and they too continue on towards los Corralles.
I get the impression that the Juan says I cannot park here but we are interrupted by a third vehicle and again no English is spoken and as they pull
away and head toward Los Corralles TWO MORE vehicles pull up and to my dismay there is again no one that speaks any English and after greetings all
around they too head off towards Los Corrales.
Alone again with Juan I get the impression that I am to park at his rancho and I try to say “OK, in about an hour” and he thinks that I believe we
are an hour from his rancho. He says No, it is only a minute or two away!
OK I say, knowing that I can not explain that I will be there in about an hour after I shower and pack up and so I just nod and say OK,. With that
settled Juan gets back in his truck and goes back to his rancho. I finish packing and take my shower before heading to his ranch.
When I arrive I muddle through the language barrier asking where to park, I decline their invitation to some food, tell them I am not worried about
Panthers or Coyotes, that I have 2 GPS devices, that I do NOT have a pistol and I will be gone 4 or 5 days. At least that is what I believe they were
asking me about!
I shoulder my pack and Juan is kind enough to up a side gate that leads out onto the general path of the ECR and wishes me luck. Of course his ranch
dog believes we are all going somewhere and heads off down the trail and no matter how much Juan calls him he will not come back.
With that I, and a Mexican ranch dog, are off. The dog stays about a hundred feet in front of me running back and forth across the trail and every now
and then waiting up for me.
Lucky for me after about a mile he heads back towards the ranch while I continue on. Having covered this ground in 2023 I am able to make good
progress and miles up the wash I set up camp that afternoon in a sandy spot not far from a pool of water.
The next morning I make the mistake of trying to use the water from the wash to make my coffee but it is so heavily mineralized that the creamer foams
up and the coffee is undrinkable, it is barely OK for the oatmeal.
Shortly after breaking camp I am faced with my first major decision, go up La Rabia or continue up the main wash to San Sebastian. La Rabia is much
shorter but all I can remember is how difficult it was last year. While San Sebastian did have some large boulder choked sections it didn't seem to be
too bad last year. I opt for the longer route up San Sebastian.
All day long I follow the wash upwards hitting the occasional trail along the banks when I can find them. There are dozens of Mountain Lion tracks, in
the wash and on the side trails but I will not see one on this trip.
By mid-day I am in one large boulder field after another and it starts to wear on me. Climbing over, around and under room size boulders is hard
enough but with a pack on and doing it for miles just wears me out.
Again I am rationing water, because it is hard to drink the mineralized water from the creek and if I drink too much it causes me to have horrible
headaches.
Late in the afternoon I get through the last of the large boulder sections and there laying in the creek is a dead cow. Dumping out all the water I
had collected downstream I continue on to San Sebastian arriving there in the evening. Here I have a little trouble finding the trail up out of the
wash and I also note that the cow signs I had been seeing all day are gone and they have been replaced by horse sign.
At dusk I set up camp at San Sebastian and enjoy the quail and doves calling in the soft light of twilight before falling off to sleep.
END OF PART 1
[Edited on 4-19-2024 by Fatboy]
[Edited on 4-23-2024 by Fatboy]
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pauldavidmena
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That Mexican ranch dog was a Blue Heeler! And yes, the other photos are also great. 
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David K
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Thank you Fatboy... I appreciate your trip report very much! Part 2 should be a blast... finding the correct route of ECR, this time!
The places you named, on maps:
1974 Harry Crosby ECR maps (stitched together):
2009 Baja Almanac (labels both La Rabia and San Sebastian, north of San Nicolas. Los Corrales is just east of 'San Luis' on this map ):
2021 Baja Atlas (with ECR shown, north from San Nicolas in the La Rabia canyon.):
Note Los Corrales shown on the Benchmark Baja Atlas, above.
[Edited on 4-19-2024 by David K]
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AKgringo
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Dead cow water
I came across some bicyclers on a section of the Baja Divide route a couple of years ago who were filtering stream water for their canteens. From my
viewpoint dropping into the arroyo, I could see a dead cow in the water upstream from them that was out of their view.
I did the right thing and let them know, and was able to top off their containers from a jug of bottled water that I had with me. They wound up
staying at the same camp I was in about a week later, and let me know they appreciated the favor.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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Ron_Perry
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Does not a good water filter provide good drinking water? Have to have coffee in the morning! Great report, Ron
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Fatboy
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Not the ones most hikers use. They filter out relativity large particles like sediments, cysts and bacteria.
Most filters, which are much larger and more complex, that remove even smaller things like viruses still do not remove iron, and other chemicals from
the water.
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bajaric
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It surprising to see so much surface water in that area, considering how dry it is in the surrounding desert. Perhaps the slightly higher elevation
captures more rain or bedrock near the surface prevents the water from sinking down into the earth.
It occurred to me what with all the dead cows and minerals in the water a little distillation unit would be a good idea. With a teapot and some
copper tubing you could have all the bacteria and mineral-free water you wanted just by building a little fire.
What happened next?
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surabi
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Why would you want mineral-free water? Unless the water has arsenic or lead in it, water with natural minerals in it is good for you. Nothing wrong
with drinking water with iron or calcium, etc.
I have a Berkey water filter which filters out 99.9% of bacteria and viruses but leaves in the good minerals. Reverse osmosis water, while safe, is
dead water.
Many years ago, when my daughter was 19 and went to Nepal, I got her a small water filter. It was a really good one that said it filtered out bacteria
and viruses. When she got back, she said, "That was the best gift- I drank dead dog water I put through that filter and never got sick". 
[Edited on 4-23-2024 by surabi]
[Edited on 4-23-2024 by surabi]
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Fatboy
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Quote: Originally posted by bajaric  | It surprising to see so much surface water in that area, considering how dry it is in the surrounding desert. Perhaps the slightly higher elevation
captures more rain or bedrock near the surface prevents the water from sinking down into the .......
What happened next? |
There is a lot of water in the area, La Rabia has some nice deep pools that is less mineralized and the water above San Sebastian is pretty good.
All that lower stuff is horrible, distillation would take to much effort from this old man.
Hope to post the rest in a couple of days....
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Fatboy
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| Quote: Originally posted by surabi | Why would you want mineral-free water? Unless the water has arsenic or lead in it, water with natural minerals in it is good for you. Nothing wrong
with drinking water with iron or calcium, etc......
[Edited on 4-23-2024 by surabi] |
True, but a little misleading.
Yes, you want trace minerals in your water but when it is so heavily mineralized that it is almost undrinkable and causes headaches it is way too
mineralized.
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David K
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Oh boy!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the 1977 edition of Harry Crosby's El Camino Real map (not included earlier). The single line is approximately located and the double lime is
definitely located with signs of original trail building. The dashed lines are the alternate trail, also called the 'Golfo Camino Real':
[Edited on 4-24-2024 by David K]
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