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Graham
Senior Nomad
Posts: 558
Registered: 6-16-2006
Location: San Diego and DeTour, MI
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Christian's battle with El Diablo
I'm sure some of you might recall the story of Desert Rat's (Ronnie Christian's) adventures in Canyon Diablo and the San Pedro Martir last year...
It was an extraordinary coincidence. The kind that seems to happen rather a lot in Baja.
May 2014… I was heading into the San Pedro Martir National Park leading a group of tourists on a Baja Custom Tours trip. We were based at the Meling
Ranch and looking forward to a quick tour of the observatory.
It was a crisp, blue-sky morning. Our white van had just crested a hill and with tall pines flashing by we were dropping down to the Vallecitos
meadow area when we spotted a figure in the road ahead. He was urgently waving his arms and a hiking pole, motioning for us to stop.
He wasn’t young. His appearance spoke volumes. Unshaven, gaunt, haggard, outdoor gear abused and threadbare, he’d clearly been through a tough time.
He addressed us in Spanish. We assumed he was Mexican. “Agua, agua,” he repeated in a weak but desperate voice.
We passed him a bottle of water and I quickly exited the van to better determine what we could do for him.
Suddenly, his eyes bulged from his surprised face. “Graham Mackintosh!” He said.
It was my turn to be surprised. Was he a park ranger, someone from the observatory, a backpacker that had recognized me from one of my books?
Then he said in English, “Graham, it’s me, Ronnie Christian.”
I was incredulous. Exactly a year before, May 2013, I’d been hiking and camping with him during an unsuccessful attempt to ascend Picacho Diablo from
the Sierra San Pedro Martir.
Unbeknownst to me, Ron, at age 71, had been making another attempt to climb that magnificent mountain. For ten days he had been battling his way up
Diablo Canyon, alone, from the desert 9,000 feet below.
And there he was, weak, thirsty, exhausted, looking like he was on the verge of collapse and lucky to be alive.
When Ron sent me the account of his trip gone awry and how we chanced to meet there on the park road, I thought it deserved a wider audience. I put
in on my website.
Click below for the rest of Ronnie Christian’s remarkable struggle with El Diablo.
http://www.grahammackintosh.com/Pages/RonChristian.aspx
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 2-9-2004
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Fabulous story. Well written. Thank you for sharing.
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Von
Senior Nomad
Posts: 961
Registered: 10-1-2006
Location: Poway-Rosarito
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Mood: getting ready!
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WOW! what an Adventure! He should have gone with a friend instead of alone. Its like diving never alone. Im all over the mtns too and I understand
being alone is awesome. But El Diablo almost won on this Trip.
READY SET.....................
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Graham-- thanks for the link.
Ron--- what an amazing story (ordeal). I remember the speculation on Nomads when you were in limbo after Graham saw you on the mountain. You are one
strong desert rat for sure!!
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BajaGeoff
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 1-11-2006
Location: San Diego and Campo Lopez
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Mood: Heading To Baja!!!
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What an amazing adventure...thanks for sharing Graham!
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18125
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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Quote: Originally posted by Graham  | I'm sure some of you might recall the story of Desert Rat's (Ronnie Christian's) adventures in Canyon Diablo and the San Pedro Martir last year...
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quite a tale!
also a good reminder that solo climbing/hiking in rugged/remote terrain entails substantial risks and is best approached with skill and conditioning.
several of his falls could have stranded him there permanently, he was lucky! and bushwhacking in thick vegetation is hard work, eh?
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6004
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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I did not think I would read the whole trip log, but once I started, I just had to finish it! I would count myself blessed if I was able to make it
back to the start point after day three.
I can visualize myself getting religious on that last ridge, almost out of water. Please Lord, if you just get me through this, I will follow your
path the rest of my life. Whoa!!!.....Never mind Lord, I found some!
I am truly impressed with Ron Christian's ability to survive, truly life on the edge!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64749
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo | I did not think I would read the whole trip log, but once I started, I just had to finish it! I would count myself blessed if I was able to make it
back to the start point after day three.
I can visualize myself getting religious on that last ridge, almost out of water. Please Lord, if you just get me through this, I will follow your
path the rest of my life. Whoa!!!.....Never mind Lord, I found some!
I am truly impressed with Ron Christian's ability to survive, truly life on the edge! |
Ron is Baja Nomad member 'Desert Rat'...
Ron has been a follower of Graham Mackintosh for many years. See photos from 1994 as Ron walked from San Felipe to Gonzaga Bay after reading Graham's
first book: http://www.vivabaja.com/desert_rat/
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TMW
Select Nomad
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Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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It is a really good read with a lot of lessons to be learned. I'm glad he made it out OK. Lots to tell the grandkids.
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Graham
Senior Nomad
Posts: 558
Registered: 6-16-2006
Location: San Diego and DeTour, MI
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What really impressed me about Ronnie is the fact that at age 71 he had the courage to try this alone... and then when he got himself into a situation
that could have cost him his life he pulled out all the stops and battled ferociously to get himself out of it. He deserved the good luck that came
his way. As long as he could put one foot in front of another he never gave up.
There are certainly a lot of lessons in his story... but that to me was the greatest.
And as I found out on our attempt on Picacho the previous year, he's such a nice, humble guy.
Yet he's Army tough. Love this picture of him graduating from jumpschool in 1963
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Desert Rat
Junior Nomad
Posts: 69
Registered: 8-29-2003
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I thank each and everyone who has taken the time to read my journal of the Diablo canyon hike and I thank you for your comments. I wrote the journal
intending it to be a tribute to all the good Baja nomads who had shown so much concern for me during the time I was considered missing. After seeing
how long the journal was, I felt that it was too long to post on Bajanomad.com so Graham graciously suggested that he would put it on his site and
refer nomads to a link to his site in order to read it. I asked him if he would help me do some editing of the journal before posting it, and he did
an excellent job with it. Thank you, Graham.
I'm sure that we all can learn a few things from my experience by asking ourselves, "What were the mistakes Ron made, how could they have been
prevented, what was he thinking, and what would I have done if I were in his shoes?"
If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, there will be more hiking trips for me and believe me, I will be a little bit wiser.
[Edited on 5-17-2015 by Desert Rat]
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LancairDriver
Super Nomad
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading about the adventure. Amazing accomplishment. I bet the Army Spec 4 in the picture would have double timed it up that
mountain.
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Desert Rat
Junior Nomad
Posts: 69
Registered: 8-29-2003
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Thanks, LancairDriver. After having eaten a meal of good old c-ration lima-beans and ham, that young Spec 4 could have conquered anything.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: Originally posted by Desert Rat | | Thanks, LancairDriver. After having eaten a meal of good old c-ration lima-beans and ham, that young Spec 4 could have conquered anything. |
Whoda ever thought that "Weenies and Beans" could taste so good....especially after wiring a can to the exhaust manifold of a Jeep for twenty minutes.
Fine dining at it's best.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 7-18-2011
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Stayed up way past my bed time reading this last night. Thanks for posting this!
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JohnMcfrog
Nomad
Posts: 156
Registered: 8-1-2012
Location: San Diego, Punta Abreojos
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I've done Picacho Diablo, but that was twenty five years ago. Never experienced one tenth the adventure of this story on my climb. Now, I'm also 71
and my thanks for this motivational story of future possibilities.
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Kgryfon
Senior Nomad
Posts: 624
Registered: 1-27-2009
Location: East Bay, CA
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Thanks for the details about what happened last year! Glad that he made it out. Interesting story!
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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What a great read. A riveting story that you just can't stop reading. To many nomads it must have looked maddening from the start, yet I felt that I
completely understood the man. This was not about climbing Picacho Diablo. This was about setting unreachable goals and trying to reach them. About
testing one's self. The fact that a man at 71 still has such an appetite speaks volumes.
... and then he gets into his car and drives 1100 miles back to Texas. Unbelievable.
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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I came across this story on the Talk Baja facebook page and, like others, once I started reading Ron's adventure, I couldn't stop. A true survivor
story! Thanks for sharing this Ron!
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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4Cata
Nomad
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Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: Yosemite area
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Mood: Siempre alegre!
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That 1100 miles to Texas might have been the most dauntiing part, lol! Civilization is over-rated. Texans (and I graduated from Texas Tech) might
have considered his crossing an invasion. 
Agaveros, silk in a bottle, a beautiful bottle!
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