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bajalou
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Agua Caliente Canon - Sierra San Pedro Matir
A friend of mine recently made a trip to Matomi and Agua Caliente Canyon in the Sierra San Pedro Matir mountains.
Follows is his report on Agua Caliente Canyon--
One or two abandoned ranches scrolled past as the ground leavened with the mountain approach. The road began to wear larger rocks as we neared the
canyon entrance. The Cruiser and Suzuki were put into low-4 and began a steep ascent that crested then dropped through a dry wash then rose again.
Canyon walls climbed on either side and the foliage seemed more exotic and green at the canyon bottom. Near the top of a climb a small stream of water
darkened the dusty ground. Off to the left we saw an enormous, circular brick-red water reservoir. Water trickled from its cement foundation and
spilled onto the road where bees converged on the unexpected puddles like zealots around a religious wonder.
We parked the Toyota near the reservoir and continued in the Suzuki. There was an artery of one inch black pipe paralleling the road. It was broken in
several places, obviously unused for some time. As we pushed deeper into the canyon, we encountered the first of three places that offered the Suzuki
medicinal mudpacks for its tires.
A copse of trees marked the end of the road (such as it was) with a rope barricade and a sign in Spanish that announced an Eco-Reserve. It also said
no motor vehicles were permitted beyond that point. I parked the Suzuki under a mesquite tree, removed the rotor from the distributor and hid it in
the branches.
As we hiked through the tree shade, we saw lengths of twisted and torn irrigation tubing thrown about. The obvious assumption was that the area had
been given over to crops of contraband and the federales had discovered the hidden tillage and unceremoniously dismantled the infrastructure. Perhaps
that was why we received poor directions from the locals. It also explained the runway-sized road at the ranch?s turnoff.
A short descent to the canyon bed put us within earshot of running water but the wild tangle of overgrowth, young mesquite among it, obscured the
source. For nearly a half hour we foraged through the brush as mesquite limbs snatched at our shirts and pants. Then we scuttled across boulders along
the banks, searching for a hot pool. All we found were lukewarm eddies and trickles. Finally we backtracked and discovered a path on the opposite
bank, a little further east of where we arrived. Picking our way through low trees, we came to a rocky stretch marked at intervals by stone cairns.
That led us to a copse of trees and the source of Aqua Caliente. Steamy water billowed from a small cavity in the ground at the base of an embankment.
The stream was very hot. But there were no pools or basins large enough to accommodate a sitting person. If you ever stubbed your toe, however, Agua
Caliente would be the place to soak it.
The entire article can be read at http://www.blueroadrunner.com/matomi.htm
as well as other atricles regarding San Felipe and the surrounding area.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
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And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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David K
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Well, that says some changes have occured from what I have seen there in 2001 and 2004...
Here is the pot farm area (maybe just cilantro was grown) with new drip irrigation row watering tape and lot's of fertilizer bags were brought in by
mule or burro)... in '04 it had been all hacked up (by federales?):
Here is the hot stream with steam billowing up around me, just below the source hot springs, on a bench above the arroyo...
Here is the main source spring (tiny bubbles come up too), at a reported 140?F+
Here is the view downstream. The source spring is to the left and flows down the little bank, then down the arroyo. A manmade bathing tub is that
round pool you see, but the source water is way too hot at this point. Down the arroyo the hot stream meets the cool mountain stream and near there
the water is closer to 100? for comfortable bathing. Bring a shovel!
BajaLou provided this aerial photo (looking east, down the canyon) and I made some notes... 'Farm' is where the drip irrigation tape was layed into
rows under the trees... The hike from the end of road to the springs is one mile (30 min.)... stay to the north side of the canyon the entire walk.
[Edited on 12-25-2005 by David K]
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bajalou
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I've also heard they are putting palapas etc in - in other words "developing it" - time changes everything.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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David K
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Well, it would be nice to have an alternative to Guadalupe, but I fear that anything developed in Agua Caliente canyon won't last as the hot spring is
just above the flood zone. Whereas Guadalupe's hot spring is way high, flowing from the side of the cliff far above the arroyo...
In the meantime, bring a shovel!
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bajalou
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The storms are something to consider all right - the road continued to the hot springs and on beyond until the hurricane of '97 took out much of the
road. That doesn't happen often but we never know when---
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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David K
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In John Robinson's 1967 guidebook (Camping and Climbing in Baja) he mentions the need to hike to the hot springs, and on Dec. 31, 2000 that's what we
did (and again in 2004)... so I didn't think a road ever went any further. But, Barry A and others had posted that it was possible at one time to
drive right to the springs...
So far this decade the trees, brush and boulders prevent any vehicles from going further than 1 mile from the springs.
[Edited on 12-27-2005 by David K]
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bajalou
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Beyond the hot springs, around the bend to the right there is remains of the road. Several longtime San Felipe residents and friends of mine, used to
drive to the pools several times a year - until Nora--
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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Dave
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Whereas Guadalupe's hot spring is way high, flowing from the side of the cliff far above the arroyo...
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Hot spring? Flowing from a cliff?
Where is that, exactly?
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David K
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Dave
| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Whereas Guadalupe's hot spring is way high, flowing from the side of the cliff far above the arroyo...
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Hot spring? Flowing from a cliff?
Where is that, exactly? |
Here is a close up of the source ...
=======================================================
Looking up the canyon from La Paloma (the lowest campsite), note the metal shack, and the green area to the left of it with the mountainside rising
above.. the source spring is at the top of the green area... The arroyo with the cold mountain stream, is over to the left and obviously lower in the
canyon bottom.
=======================================================
On this map, the hot spring is to the right of 'Campo III' printed just above Arturo's office...
You should go Dave... great place to set up a deli... Arturo only serves rice and beans!
[Edited on 12-26-2005 by David K]
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Dave
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
You should go Dave... great place to set up a deli... Arturo only serves rice and beans!
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I used to go often, but the campground prices are now muy caro!
However, the constant flow hot spring toilets are great!!!
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Barry A.
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Agua Caliente Canyon-------
In Oct. of l996, my son and I in an '89 Isuzu Trooper 4 banger, and a 1976 Toyota FJ-40, drove to the hot springs and camped for several days on a
bench on the north side of the canyon, about 100 yards upstream from the hot springs and beside a corral. The road was pretty hairy, but certainly
passable for short wheelbase 4x4's, but it had not been used for some time when we were there----no recent tracks. Most of the road was up out of the
flood plain, but it did cross back and forth across the stream several times, and in some places actually did go up the stream bed.
With shovels my son and I were able to construct some fine warm water pools to sit and soak in, maybe 18 inches deep. We built the pools in the cool
water stream bed, right below where the really HOT water entered the cool stream. It was really neat.
From talking with David K later, we thought that perhaps the pot-patches were actually there at the time, just downstream from where we camped, but we
were unaware of it at the time. While camping out the second night, we were visited late one night, after we had turned in, by a very loud 4x4 pickup
with two very drunk spanish speaking guys, who got out of their truck and approached our camp until our German Shepard went ballistic and they beat a
hasty retreat back to their truck, cussed a lot, and drove back down the canyon. These guys were undoubtably checking us out, and were probably
connected with the Pot garden-----dumb us never realized what was going on, but we did think it odd that these guys came out looking for us in the
middle of the night.
German Shepards are very handy in Mexico.
I am guessing that the road was substantially washed out in subsequent floods, according to what I hear on this board.
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bajalou
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You're right Barry, the road was washed out in Sept 97 when Hurricane Nora came thru.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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Barry A.
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Thanks Lou-----
glad we made our trip when we did. As I look at David K's photo, I am thinking that there is a lot less vegetation in the canyon than when we were
there (consequense of the flood, no doubt).
You know, looking at David K's aerial photo, and his notations, I am thinking that the hot spring is located about 1-1/4 inch down canyon from where
he shows it------right about where the canyon starts to take an abrubt turn to the south (or "away from you" in the photo).
I could be nuts, but that is my impression.
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David K
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In this photo, I hiked up the side of the canyon near the bend between the springs and the pot farm area... The barrel cactus was over 6 feet tall, by
the way!
This is looking upstream, past the hot springs (which are in the green area, on the right)... This should be about the same green area as I circled on
the aerial photo.
Both times there, I didn't go beyond the hot springs, to see the lone palm or corral, etc. NEXT TIME!!
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Barry A.
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David------
You are absolutely correct (I am thinking) about your placement of the hotsprings in this most recent photo------and I am thinking that the corral
location is actually within this photo, too, in the vegatation beyond the Hot springs in the far background. I do not have any problem with your
placement of the springs in this particular photo.
I do not want to belabor the point, it is just a feeling that the hot springs is just closer to the radical bend in the canyon than your notation on
the aerial photo has indicated. This latest photo is up-canyon-----do you have another photo from the same place, but down canyon?
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Barry A.
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David------In looking at your aerial photo again, I am thinking that the "corral" is located about where you indicate the "hot spring"
is-------------does this make any sense?
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David K
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Sorry Barry, but no... There is no corral within sight from the center of the arroyo, in front of the hot springs... I followed a piece of drip
irrigation tube out into the stream, hoping to siphon some cool water from the stream into the tub at the foot of the hot waterfall, just below the
spring... No sign of anything man made like a corral up the arroyo... I did not see the palm tree either... I believe both must be around the next
bend in the canyon or hidden in some way.
The distance between the two bends in the canyon (the one with the palm and the one close to the pot farm site) is only 1/4 to 1/3 mile and the hot
springs are about midway between the two bends, as I show on the aerial photo... give or take a hundred yards...
Let's go back!!!
I will go past the springs and GPS the next bend, palm tree and corral!
Where I climbed up by the tall barrel cactus is just about at the bend... no photo looking down the canyon, sorry... just a disposable camera, not
digital like now with over 100 photos per chip.
[Edited on 12-27-2005 by David K]
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Barry A.
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Agua Caliente corral--------
David------I am probably wrong (most improbable, tho (-: )
The corral is (was?) on a bench on the same side of the canyon as the hot spring, under some very mature mesquite trees, and about 100 hundred yards
(at least) up-stream from the Hot Springs. There is no bend in the canyon between the Corral and the Hot Springs, but the vegatation was so think in
Oct of '96 that you could not see the corral from the hot springs (or vice-versa), or from the stream bed. You would have had to climb up onto the
bench, which, as I remember, was about 10 to 20 feet higher than the canyon floor. The vegetation was so think on the bench that you could not walk
from the hot springs to the corral on top of the bench----you had to drop down into the stream channel and then climb back up onto the bench.
I do not recall seeing the lone palm, but we really did not go up canyon far above the corrals, so it was probably out of site at the time.
(boy, am I beating a dead cat to death on this post)
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David K
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No problem Barry, I enjoy all this detail and so do the other hard core Nomads!
You describe the bench perfectly... I did not see the corral because it was hidden by the brush... Thanks for clarifying that it is before the bend
and on the same bench as the springs!
I sent you an email with some additional data to show the spring in relation to both bends...
Now, what are some other dead horses we can beat to death!??  
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bajalou
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Beyond the hot springs the canyon "Y"s with a lone palm near the center of the "Y". The right hand branch (larger of the two) has a corral on the
bench on the right hand side of the canyon in heavy mesquite and a barb-wire fence acorss the canyon. Corral pretty delapidated and fence down in
some spots. I didn't see a corral near the springs but there could have been. The corral I saw is near the word "Palm" on the arieal photo. I
believe David's markings for farm, springs etc. are pretty much on target from my trip up there.
Just out from the hot springs is the cold stream. There were reeds growing so thick I walked acorss on the bent reeds and didn't get my feet wet.
In talking to my Mex. friend today, he said they are putting cabanas on the bench above the springs.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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