Santiago
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Dirt Road from La Mision to Valle Guadalupe via San Jose de la Zorra
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SWMBO and I have wanted to take this road for a few years now and this last weekend we did it. After spending two days exploring the valley and
wineries, we got up 'early' on Sunday and drove from Ensenada to la Mision; from there it was a very leisurely drive into the valley for our third and
last day of wine tasting.
Take this road from the main bridge in La Mision and stay to the north of the wide wash bed where all the crops are being grown. This road can be
done with any two wheel drive vehicle with medium clearance; but it's really a pickup road.
As you get to the east end of the populated area, the homes thin out into larger houses of maybe 2000 sq. ft. on and acre or two over looking the
crops below. Very nice places.
This view is about 2 or 3 miles form Hiway 1, looking back west towards the ocean:
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This view is looking back west, but after climbing out of the valley. The buildings at the very east end of the valley are from a fairly large
farming operation.
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We thought we were on our own, but surprisingly, nearly the entire road is fenced on both sides with many horses and cattle throughout the trip -
also, many fields of grain with ranch houses dotted the whole trip.
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[img]http:// [/img]
This shot is near the ridge, looking west; the road you see below is a few miles out of the east end of the valley.
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Kilometer 9 is near the top of the ridge; at this point you have left the farming areas and are into horses and cattle.
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Some interesting plants:
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At this point it is about 20 minutes down winding canyon, the plant live is very different, thick and brushy, into Rancho de la Zorra where about 50
to 100 people must live. They have electricity from Valle Guadalupe; we passed many pickups full of families coming up the road from the valley to
the rancho for Sunday gatherings.
Here is the shot looking south just coming out of the mouth of the canyon, seeing our first vineyard of the valley - since it was only 11:00am, we
would have to wait a whole hour before anyone would be open.
[img]http:// [/img]
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El Vergel
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Location: San Felipe - Puertecitos Rd., Km. 35 and Santa Mon
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Great Road! Thanks for the report!
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woody with a view
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takes me back to around 1980 (i was in high school) when we would stay at a friends house at la mision for the weekend and surf all over the area. one
day we took this road back into the hills a bout 4-5 miles (i think) and met an old Mexican bee farmer. my friends had known him from previous trips
and traded him jars of honey for cans of soups and tuna etc... the honey had a piece of the comb in each jar and some dead bees occasionaly. thanks
for the memory!
[Edited on 5-16-2012 by woody with a view]
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Santiago
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WWV: We may have come across this place as there were bee hives up in the hills after leaving La Mision. It looked like they were being tended and
not abandoned. Lots and lots of grain farming until the area became too steep.
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TMW
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Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Really nice, thanks.
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David K
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Nice work Jim...
just fyi: When you use the IMG link from Photobucket, you can just paste them on Nomad between your text.... no need to use the Nomad photo link
button too... that is why you see the [img]http//:, [/img] tags as well as the pictures, above.
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Mexitron
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Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Looks like a cool area to explore, and close to the border. Another similar road goes east from Ejido Urupan (south of Maneadero) out to the El Alamo
mining areas near Valle de Trinidad. It was in passable shape with 4 wheel drive when we were on it in 1999 but the maps show it in better shape now.
Some historic casas, mines out there as I recall...in fact I think that route is the old route to get up into the San Pedro Martir.
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