ARROYO SANTA
ISABEL in the
SIERRA
JUAREZ of BAJA CALIFORNIA
A Mid-Winter Jeep and Hiking Trip -
1955 by Louise Werner |
What the Arroyo Santa Isabel Has
To Offer. Two warm springs. Temperature in mid-winter is slightly warmer than
Palm Springs, CA. More than a thousand palms in eight miles of hiking up an
easy grade. Most of them are Washingtonia filiferas, the common fan palm on our
city streets. In the upper reaches of the arroyo, however, are a few
specimens of the blue palm, Erythea armata, not found on our side of the
border. It is easily distinguishable by its shorter stature, the blue color of
its fans, overlaid with a whitish cast, as if powdered, and by the marble-sized
fruit which hangs from it in heavy duster. Erythea armata was identified as a
separate species by Dr. L.H. Bailey, palm expert of Cornell University.
Other plants found in the Arroyo Santa Isabel, but rare on our side of the
border, are the Senita cactus (Cereus schotth), similar to Organ Pipe cactus
but with the addition of a hairy covering, and the dropsical-Iooking elephant
tree, whose tiny dainty-looking leaves contrast strangely with their swollen
trunks. We saw: flocks of birds, snakes, the mummified body of a lynx and
cougar tracks on the sand beside the warm springs, and the skeleton of a
bighorn sheep pinned under a boulder. High up, toward the end of the arroyo we
surprised three living bighorns drinking from a warm pool. The coarse
weathered granite, much split into slabs and sheets, shows interesting geologic
variations in the form of dykes of other minerals running through it,
principally quartz and mica; the twistings and writhings of these veins give
the walls a tortured look in places; in others, sand, wind and water has
polished the design down to a smooth, marbled effect. A highly mineralized red
wall contrasts with white granite boulders thrust from it to form a sort of
natural gate across a narrow part of the arroyo. Ancient Indians have left
messages here and there on flat slabs of granite. They are dim with age, these
petroglyphs, and you have to look sharply to find them, even though some are on
conspicuously out-standing boulders. The most conspicuous symbol is the one the
Indians used for the cradle-board. A surprise awaits the person who hikes
the eight miles to the end of the arroyo. The upper part of |
the arroyo twists
and turns 'like an angle worm with the cramps', as one of our party expressed
it Around the last bend you come suddenly upon a grotto that stops further
progress. More than a hundred feet high and wide, and some twenty feet deep. On
a sort of dais to right of center, a single tall palm rises like a madonna out
of a group of smaller palms. The ceiling to the left is dotted with baby palms.
Water seeps through the back wall into a pool at the foot of the palm, Where
bighorn sheep come to drink, and desert willow and paloverde have sprung up. A
few stalactites hang from the ceiling. Dark streaks above the grotto indicate
that at times of heavy rainfall a curtain of water may have thrown a veil over
the Palm Tree. Checking on the saint for whom the arroyo was named, Isabel, we
find that she was a person who was willing to suffer much for the purification
of her soul. DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS: Drive through Mexicali, to the north end
of the Laguna Salada, a dry lake stretching southward. Just as if you were
going to Guadalupe Cyn & Pico Risco. Turn south on dirt road. On your
right the length of the Sierra Juarez may be seen extending southward for some
fifty miles, its eastern facade cut by numerous canyons, all of which look dry
and uninteresting to the casual observer. Closer scrutiny reveals green areas
at the mouths of the larger ones, some ten airline miles from the road, over
sand dunes, sage, salt bush and cactus. These canyons have water, some of them
both hot and cold. After driving about 35 miles on it (avoiding turnoffs to
the right), look for the remains of a shack and a pump just to the left of the
road. This is Pozo Cenizo, the only water available on this road. The water is
mineralized but drinkable. Early adventurers and trappers nearly perished from
thirst on the Laguna Salada. Like in Death Valley in the early days, there was
water, if they knew where to look for it. From Pozo Cenizo you can pick out
the mouth of Arroyo Santa Isabel. To the southwest, look for a rounded dome
with a ridge of small spires to the right of it; the mouth of the arroyo is to
the left of the rounded dome. About 17 miles beyond Pozo Cenizo turn right
on a wood-cutters' track that leads to the mouth of the arroyo. After we lost a
couple of hours trying to locate the track that led where we wanted to go, we
marked the place by putting a note in a tin can and wedging the can between the
canes of an ocotillo growing in the angle of the intersection. After four miles
the wood-cutters' track forks; the |