Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
|
|
Lake Chapala - Pta. Prieta - Jesus Maria
So little is written in trip reports about these places that I thought I'd best snap a few photos and show the folks in North Dakota that part of
Baja, too. After all, Baja is so much more than beaches and fishing. 
So here we go. Imagine you are driving south from Catavina....
Still lots and lots of the unique cardon and boonjums
There it is up ahead....Lake Chapala. Usually as dry as a missionary's beer stein, I've seen it flooded .. and covered with snow.
There ain't nothing like drive in the hills of Baja. Lifts the soul.
Living here, you learn the finer arts of balancing stuff atop your pickup.
Coming up on Punta Prieta now...and the turnoff to BOLA to the east...left to you southbounders.
 Need some gas?...Watch for sights like this. The out-of-the-way fuel just costs a leeetle more than the Pemex
stations..
Pta. Prieta has good parking/ camping for any size rig. Also offers good shade in case you pull in during the summer. This is an old Pemex
station.
We made good time on the straightaways and soon Jesus Maria comes into view.
Gas, diesel, and sundries available here. - p.s. just what the hell is a sundry,anyway?
Of course, no stop in Jesus Maria can be made without a visit to the famous Carmelita's Burritos.
.............My usual order = 3 for the road. Lasts about 3 miles..........
Sad to say, another Baja legend has passed.
As we drive on south I fondly recall a great gal... Rest in peace, Carmelita.
.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
|
|
|
wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
|
|
Thanks again for sharing... and the nice thoughts
|
|
|
LaTijereta
Super Nomad
Posts: 1192
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Loreto
Member Is Offline
|
|
Pomp..Great stuff..
You have any thoughts on the "great rock pile" south of Catavina
I have always slowed down to marvel how this ended up in this area..
Democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin (1759)
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64722
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Thanks Roger... great photos!
Your 'Punta Prieta' is at the L.A. Bay jcn. and was once indeed the 'Parador Punta Prieta'. A government built rest stop, cafaterria, gas station,
trailer park... but is 8 miles north of the actual town of 'Punta Prieta'.
The Pemex was handed over to the local ejido to operate, and they just couldn't run it correctly and pay their expenses... so, a great location for a
station but it has been closed for a long time now. The parador cafaterrias all failed a few yers after they were built, but they were beautiful with
sunken, air condtioned seating areas... I guess the food was terrible or locals that set up competition nearby took the business. Some of the parador
RV parks are still open, however.
When the Baja highway was finished, the paradors were built to see to the travelers needs in areas where there was no local population or there were
no facilities for travelers yet.
Paradors (most with hotels and RV parks) and new highway facilities were built at:
San Quintin (at the Cielito Lindo road where the highway was originally located. Hotel built on the beach, nearby).
San Agustin (only a gas station and RV park, no parador).
Cataviña
L.A. Bay highway junction 8 miles north of Punta Prieta (no hotel).
Parallelo 28º (Eagle Monument, Guerrero Negro).
San Ignacio Jcn. (Hotel built close to town, nearby).
======================================================
Kris, the pile of rocks 'El Pedregoso' is the peak of an ancient mountain that existed before the volcanic period that arose all around it. Originally
one piece of rock, the granite breaks down into boulders, rocks, pebbles, then sand the older it gets.
|
|
|
Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by LaTijereta
Pomp..Great stuff..
You have any thoughts on the "great rock pile" south of Catavina
I have always slowed down to marvel how this ended up in this area.. |
LaTijereta, you took your photo from a slightly different vantage than mine below. It's all about Mother Nature's volcanic mood and erosion of
granite, coupled with eons of time. Makes Baja a magical place, doesn't it?
Up North I had a golden opportunity to study 'eskers'...more strange rounded-rock formations when on college outings. Now there's an usual rock
formation, too..eskers...upside-down river beds. Those central Baja granite piles remind me of home every time I pass by.
I believe Igor has some nice photos of this formation also.
.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
|
|
|
TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
Some day I want to climb up that rock pile and get my picture taken Rocky Balboa style, arms raised.
|
|
|
Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by TW
Some day I want to climb up that rock pile and get my picture taken Rocky Balboa style, arms raised. |
TW..some years ago I had the same urge and succumbed to it.
Not that anybody I was with was surprised. 
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
