LukeJobbins
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Pack in pack out La Grulla valle San Pedro de martir
Saturday Sofia and I guided two scientists to La Grulla valle. I had never been but Sofia has been dozens of times over the years and she promised me
boulders to explore for future climbing, but I had to help her do some trash cleanup. I’m always game for that and am a firm believer in pack in
pack out. Leave the place better than you find it is what I was always taught. Well I didn’t have time to look at the boulders because we spent
hours picking up trash all over. The valle is now clean and we hope it will stay clean. I just wanted to throw out a reminder to pack out your trash
and spread the word to all the tourists down there to not trash someone else’s country. I estimate we hauled out over 200 pounds of trash. We filled
our backpacks and then took 3 more full bags out. So five bags total. I will blame most the ranchers but there was a bit of trash that I am positive
came from Americans over the years. If you see a pile of trash don’t take it as an opportunity to ditch your trash, see it as an opportunity to take
that trash to the proper place and leave the place cleaner than you found it.
Sofia’s bags I estimated around 100 lbs.
This was the trash bin, now clean.
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Maderita
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Good on you and Sofia! That is a lot of trash. Humping loads is great training for the hike out of Canyon Diablo! ja ja
Did you also visit La Encantada meadow?
Guessing from the number of bottles and cans that horse/mule packers are responsible for most or all of it. In my opinion (apparently not one shared
by packers) is that they are responsible for their clients. It seems that there is one primary ranch that caters to clients riding into La Grulla
& La Encantada. The ranch/commercial business should have the responsibility of packing the trash out, whether it is generated by them or not, and
to keep the area pristine.
Perhaps showing these fotos to park officials and suggesting that they engage in discussions with the ranch(es) in question will get results and
environmental protection for the future.
If discussions fail, there is the threat of pubic exposure. I did that over trash left by a commercial guide service, apparently successfully, in the
Sierra de Juarez last year.
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John Harper
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Awesome job, Luke and Sofia!!!! I'm bringing some trash bags out to Mike's in a couple weeks and clean the creekbed as well. Looks like an
incredible trip and can't wait to book Sofia for next April!
Looks like the SPM got more rain than snow with those recent storms.
John
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mtgoat666
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Quote: Originally posted by Maderita  | Good on you and Sofia! That is a lot of trash. Humping loads is great training for the hike out of Canyon Diablo! ja ja
Did you also visit La Encantada meadow?
Guessing from the number of bottles and cans that horse/mule packers are responsible for most or all of it. In my opinion (apparently not one shared
by packers) is that they are responsible for their clients. It seems that there is one primary ranch that caters to clients riding into La Grulla
& La Encantada. The ranch/commercial business should have the responsibility of packing the trash out, whether it is generated by them or not, and
to keep the area pristine.
Perhaps showing these fotos to park officials and suggesting that they engage in discussions with the ranch(es) in question will get results and
environmental protection for the future.
If discussions fail, there is the threat of pubic exposure. I did that over trash left by a commercial guide service, apparently successfully, in the
Sierra de Juarez last year.
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Glad to see some trash pick-up!
I think meling ranch quit offering pack trips several years ago, I inquired a couple years back and was told they don’t offer that anymore.
I have noted that the meadows are popular hiking destinations for Mexican hikers, backpack trips, etc. yes, some of them carry in canned food. But
most of the heavy trash probably comes from ranchers.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
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Good Job Luke!!!
Did you visit the first mission site in La Grulla? There, only the many square stones that the log cabins which was what the mission would have been
made from remain from April 27, 1794, to August of 1794. It was so cold, even for summer, crops froze and the mission was moved nearly 2,000 feet
lower (and 7 miles south).
More on the first San Pedro Mártir mission site, Casilepe (La Grulla): http://www.pcas.org/Vol33n3/333fostr.pdf
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LukeJobbins
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No all we did was hike in to the camp, eat lunch and started collecting trash. It was 2.5 hours hiking in and that was slow, then 6 hours getting out.
I had plans of rock climbing but it never happened because we were too busy. So next trip I’ll do some more exploring and hopefully some climbing.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by LukeJobbins | | No all we did was hike in to the camp, eat lunch and started collecting trash. It was 2.5 hours hiking in and that was slow, then 6 hours getting out.
I had plans of rock climbing but it never happened because we were too busy. So next trip I’ll do some more exploring and hopefully some climbing.
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I'm going down to hike the meadows in May, but haven't settled on route yet. Did you go to La Grula via La Tasajera meadow? How far could you drive
off main road towards La Grulla?
Last trip to SPM we mtn biked many of the old roads, great way to cover some miles and see a lot of the area...
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
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Good, then the trash was not near the mission site (Casilepé) where archeologist had worked. On Google Earth, you can see only a small square outline
with an opening on one side next to the waypoint provided by Froylan Tiscareño in his book (page 362)... a reading from the GPS of Bill Evarts made
on May 22, 2002: N 30° 53.758', W 115° 28.144'. Google Earth gives the elevation as 6,783'.
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HeyMulegeScott
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Americans leaving trash? Naw, I blame the Canadians Good on you guys for picking
it.
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LukeJobbins
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| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by LukeJobbins | | No all we did was hike in to the camp, eat lunch and started collecting trash. It was 2.5 hours hiking in and that was slow, then 6 hours getting out.
I had plans of rock climbing but it never happened because we were too busy. So next trip I’ll do some more exploring and hopefully some climbing.
|
I'm going down to hike the meadows in May, but haven't settled on route yet. Did you go to La Grula via La Tasajera meadow? How far could you drive
off main road towards La Grulla?
Last trip to SPM we mtn biked many of the old roads, great way to cover some miles and see a lot of the area... |
Sofia was able to get us the key for the gate to tasajero so we drove to the cliffs at the end of the good road past the gate. I used to be able to
drive to the end of the road but currently my axles are different gear ratios so I’m stuck in 2wd right now. Not sure of the mileage from where we
parked but like I said, it was just about 2.5 hours going fairly slow. The scientists were leaving solo so we stopped a lot to mark waypoints and set
up more ducks for them. The Jeep trail is trashed right now so I’m not sure a mountain bike would even be worth it. Probably be nice to bike to the
cliffs if you can’t drive past the gate then walk from the cliffs.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by LukeJobbins | | Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by LukeJobbins | | No all we did was hike in to the camp, eat lunch and started collecting trash. It was 2.5 hours hiking in and that was slow, then 6 hours getting out.
I had plans of rock climbing but it never happened because we were too busy. So next trip I’ll do some more exploring and hopefully some climbing.
|
I'm going down to hike the meadows in May, but haven't settled on route yet. Did you go to La Grula via La Tasajera meadow? How far could you drive
off main road towards La Grulla?
Last trip to SPM we mtn biked many of the old roads, great way to cover some miles and see a lot of the area... |
Sofia was able to get us the key for the gate to tasajero so we drove to the cliffs at the end of the good road past the gate. I used to be able to
drive to the end of the road but currently my axles are different gear ratios so I’m stuck in 2wd right now. Not sure of the mileage from where we
parked but like I said, it was just about 2.5 hours going fairly slow. The scientists were leaving solo so we stopped a lot to mark waypoints and set
up more ducks for them. The Jeep trail is trashed right now so I’m not sure a mountain bike would even be worth it. Probably be nice to bike to the
cliffs if you can’t drive past the gate then walk from the cliffs. |
are you referring to the gate that is a mile or 2 south of the main paved road? That's the only gate I remember...
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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LukeJobbins
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Yeah that’s the only one there.
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David K
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The gate is 1.9 miles from the observatory highway:
[Edited on 2-16-2022 by David K]
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mtgoat666
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thanks for the info
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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woody with a view
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Nice work Luke!
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John Harper
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Is that a Go Lite pack? I have the 50L Jam2. I love it. So nice for ultralight backpacking, as I'm in the old fart class now. With my pack, bag,
pad, and tent I'm at 6 pounds.
John
[Edited on 3-28-2018 by John Harper]
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