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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Thanks 4x4abc ... your honesty is refreshing
[Edited on 5-6-2015 by wessongroup]
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Emerson
Junior Nomad
Posts: 42
Registered: 6-24-2013
Member Is Offline
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Yesterday I tried a different approach on a upcoming trip, I investigated the ranch owners, called them up front and asked permission to go thru their
roads.
Talking with the ranch owners helped, I clearly stated our group intensions and auto-charged myself with the responsibility of the group behaviour and
actions; after I ID’d myself and the members of the group, they agreed, at least by phone; will see next Friday if the green light is effective all
the way.
And yes, they are not happy with us, but we are not the biggest of their worries, theres another key thing that pushed more locked fences; Pot
growers; big time activity.
A couple of years back, the scenario of a rancher arriving in his property and finding he was locked out, with pot already planted in the ranch,
overtaken without notice, was not uncommon. Ugly scenarios like these, together with vandalism and our overall 4wheeling finesse, made the ranchers
take these measures, honestly, I don't blame them.
Now that the pot activity has been reduced, and most of the ranchos have watchmen 24/7, we just need to behave differently, gaining their trust for
the sake of this hobby; things like reducing speed on the roads, identifying yourself upon finding someone in the ranch, closing the gates behind you,
no trash policy and threading lightly may just maybe help prevent further locked gates.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Quote: Originally posted by Emerson  | Yesterday I tried a different approach on a upcoming trip, I investigated the ranch owners, called them up front and asked permission to go thru their
roads.
Talking with the ranch owners helped, I clearly stated our group intensions and auto-charged myself with the responsibility of the group behaviour and
actions; after I ID’d myself and the members of the group, they agreed, at least by phone; will see next Friday if the green light is effective all
the way.
And yes, they are not happy with us, but we are not the biggest of their worries, theres another key thing that pushed more locked fences; Pot
growers; big time activity.
A couple of years back, the scenario of a rancher arriving in his property and finding he was locked out, with pot already planted in the ranch,
overtaken without notice, was not uncommon. Ugly scenarios like these, together with vandalism and our overall 4wheeling finesse, made the ranchers
take these measures, honestly, I don't blame them.
Now that the pot activity has been reduced, and most of the ranchos have watchmen 24/7, we just need to behave differently, gaining their trust for
the sake of this hobby; things like reducing speed on the roads, identifying yourself upon finding someone in the ranch, closing the gates behind you,
no trash policy and threading lightly may just maybe help prevent further locked gates.
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Thank you Emerson, you are a very good Nomad to help keep this peninsula open that was once known as... The Land of Hardly Any Fences!
It is like Close Encounters of the Third Kind... we are driven to go there, explore, connect with the land. Baja calls to me constantly! My mashed
potatoes turn into Baja maps!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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In November, 1952... Arroyo Grande & Pole Line Road
From the April, 1953 Desert Magazine, page 10:
...
Before sun-up on November 22 we
crossed through the international gate
at Mexicali. With more than 60,000
Mexicans now residing in the Mexican
municipality this has become one of
the most important gateways between
the United States and Mexico.
We rolled along the newly paved
highway that connects Mexicali with
the fishing village of San Felipe, 140
miles away on the Gulf of California.
At 28 miles from Mexicali we stopped
at La Puerta to fill our gas tanks.
Since hundreds of Americans now
motor along this road every week, U.S.
dollars are no less negotiable than
Mexican pesos—and the cost of gasoline
is about the same as on the California
side of the border.
Fifteen miles beyond La Puerta is
El Mayor where many American
sportsmen go in their trailers and
spend their vacation days fishing in
the Hardy River, which really is an
estuary of the gulf. The Cocopah
range of mountains parallels the road
on the west.
Below El Mayor the road is constructed
for several miles along the top of a
causeway which extends across the flood
basin where water once backed in from
the delta and lled the inland sea known as
Laguna Salada. Here we left the paved road
and followed an unimproved trail across
the new dry floor of the Laguna.
Our destination was now visible.
Arroyo Grande is many miles wide
at its entrance—a broad valley tributary
to the Laguna Salada basin, it
extends in a southerly direction between
the Sierra Pinta on the east and
the Sierra Tinaja on the west.
We continued along an unimproved
and winding desert trail through ironwood,
palo verde and smoke trees for
24 miles, bearing always to the south
and coming finally to a telephone pole
line which crosses the arroyo at right
angles. This telephone, now abandoned,
was built by the U. S. armed
forces during World War II, to connect
San Felipe with Ensenada on the
Pacific coast. It was feared that Japanese
submarines might establish contact
with secret agents by way of the
Gulf of California, and this communication
line was deemed necessary for
the national security.
Where this military phone line
crosses the Arroyo Grande another
great dry watercourse comes in from
the west as a tributary. This is the
Arroyo Jaque'el.
Continuing upstream along the Arroyo
Grande dry channel the mountains
soon began to close in and our
broad arroyo became a high-walled
gorge. This is the beginning of Arroyo
Grande proper. Beyond this point we
continued for another 22.7 miles before
the gorge became too narrow...
* The article mentions crossing the Pole Line road, so the map was made thinking it was a straight run accross the desert... it actually follows
Arroyo Jaque'el (Jaquegel).
Read the full story, see the photos: http://mydesertmagazine.com/files/195304-DesertMagazine-1953...
[Edited on 5-7-2015 by David K]
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Mike Kay
Newbie
Posts: 13
Registered: 10-11-2015
Member Is Offline
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Thanks for posting that article. Sometime about 1987 or so i found a copy of that issue of Desert Magazine at a garage sale in Palm Springs. Within
weeks of reading about it, we decided to go drive it. Using the pics of the entrance to Arroyo Grande that went with that article to navigate we found
the entrance, turned off Pole Line Road cross country a bit and made our way. It was a breeze to drive up the narrow canyon. We stopped for lunch,
continued on with only 2-3 little rock step ups. There was no evidence that anyone had driven it. Eventually we found the well abandoned rancho Arroyo
Grande, took the sharp left turn up and out of the canyon and made our way towards Hwy 3. Even in the late '80's that ranch near the highway was odd.
They had a working dairy, with lots of delivered alfalfa and a nice house, in the middle of nowhere. It was kinda sketchy. This was right when drugs
started swamping baja, i didnt stop, kept driving right past the house (i speak spanish, have lived in baja, and almost always stop and say hello). We
got to the gate and it was, even then. locked. One of the first locked gates i had ever found in remote baja. We found a way around maybe 1/2 mile to
the east (it is now very heavily fenced-ive checked many times over the years). Anyway i just wanted to say thanks for posting that article, it brings
back memories from my baja exploring youth. If anyone knows how to get in touch with the owners of the ranch, please PM me. Thinking of doing a run up
Arroyo Grande on our next big baja trip.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Welcome to Nomad Mike Kay! Thank you for sharing your history of the area.
If you have any other off road adventures to tell us about, we are in need of some true Baja adventure that has no connection with paved roads or
tequila drinking in a resort! LOL
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