good spanish said he wanted to know if we had any weapons, knifes or guns. He seemed disappointed in our answer and I'm sure we would have been arrested if we had any. The warden further reiterated how hikers disturb sheep and said soon the canon would be closed off. He was furnishing transportation for the 2 hunting parties. Although we were 17 miles from our Jeep, he made no offer of a ride to Aqua Caliente to help us. Betsy Horgan and Crie Vance volunteered to hike on down, 6 miles to Rancho Algondes. There people were most obliging and soon Jim and I heard the Jeep once again. This ends a fine wilderness backpack about 50 miles round trip. In conclusion, for those who haven't yet had the pleasure of climbing Picacho del Diablo, especially from the beautiful but rough Canon del Diablo route, time may be running out. (sooner than you think for making a legal climb) If what the warden says comes true, we may find by late fall or next spring, the east side canyon's closed as far south as Pico Matoni. No doubt that problems caused by a few careless hikers in canon del Diablo have helped the Mexican government in making this decision, so we can't blame it all on the sheep hunters. Climb! Climb! But fast. No more Helicopters. BAJA DURING THANKSGIVING TRIP I am interested in finding a carload or two of people who would be interested in driving down the Baja California road during Thanksgiving week of this year (23 November through 30 November). This would give us 9 full days to make the round trip to La Paz, and even part of a 10th, if we left on the evening of Friday 21 Nov and got to Ensenada that same evening. This averages out to about 250 miles per day, which should still give us time for a reasonable number of photo stops, sight-seeing and side trips. I would hope to make it a sort of "camping trip" either sleeping out or in very simple local places. This would keep costs down, but more important it would make it a trip to "real" Mexico, and an opportunity to meet some real Mexicans. Expensive hotels and waiters who speek perfect english can be found without leaving Los Angeles

Dick Jali 718 S. Eucalyptus Ave., #2E Inglewood, CA 90301 677-6331 (home)

Page Index	Prev	Page 5	Next	Issue Index