EXPLORING AND CLIMBING IN BAJA TWENTY YEARS AGO

In April of 1973, Steve Rogero and I made a trip down the length of the Baja peninsula in my old Willys Jeep station wagon. We had several objectives for this trip. First of course was to see more of Baja. I had never been south of El Rosano, but Steve had made a fast one-way trip to the tip in a dune buggy, returning by ferry and up the coast of mainland Mexico. Secondly, we wanted to sample "the road" before it was completely paved, as at that time the Mexican government was laying down asphalt at a frantic rate. Finally, we hoped to do some exploratory climbing of some of the high points in the southern half of the peninsula. Today, topo maps of Baja are available, although their accuracy is not perfect. In 1973, the best maps of Baja were those in the Gerhard and Gulick Lower California Guidebook, and the poster-sized map sold by Mike McMahan at McMahan Bros. Desk Company (now defunct) in Los Angeles. These maps were not topographic but gave elevations and some names of many peaks down the peninsula. Two caught our interest, La Aguja and La Laguna. They were east of Todos Santos, near the tip of Baja, and were apparently the highest peaks on the peninsula until Big Picacho, more than 600 miles north. They would be our main climbing objective. We left Los Angeles on a Friday the 13th and drove as far as the observatory road near San Telmo the first day. The next morning, we reached what was then the end of the pavement. 12 miles south of El Rosario. By the end of the day, 150 miles farther south near Punta Prieta, we had once again reached new asphalt, now coming from the south. In the meantime, we had plowed through the famous foot-deep dust of the Laguna Chapala. I can still remember our amazement at the dust, churned up by the rear wheels, raining down past the front windows and covering the Jeep as far forward as the front hood as we raced across that dry lake. Mexico Highway I was now paved all the way south to La Paz, which we reached early in the morning of the fourth day. From La Paz, we drove west across the peninsula to what appeared to be the trailhead for both La Aguja and La Laguna, at "La Burrera" ranch. We did reach the summit of both peaks, but it took us nearly 16 hours due to the 5000-plus feet of gain and lots of cross-country route finding. My altimeter read 6750' on La Laguna., and 6450' on La Aguja, where we left nested register cans and a notebook with our entry in two languages. We didn't find the Jeep until two hours after dark. The next morning we drove to the ranch where we bought a big breakfast cooked over a wood fire on an elaborate "range" of flat stones. We even ate the delicious but forbidden goat cheese with no ill effects. We then drove south, around the tip, and up the east coast to a likely-sounding roadhead named Boca de la Sierra, "entrance to the mountain". Our maps indicated there was a 5900' peak just west of the Boca. The next day we spent a fruitless 12 hours struggling through a trailless jungle, in 90-degree heat, to a point 1000' below the far-off summit. Our navigation skills were so hopeless that, for the final hour, we let a fast-moving cow lead us back through the lower washes to the Jeep. We drove north and, facing our obvious inadequacies, studied, but did not attempt to climb, the peaks of the Sierra Giganta west of Loreto. Finally recovering our courage, we spent an enjoyable day climbing the summits of the Tres Virgenes from the highway west of Santa Rosalia. Except for the first couple of days, and for a day or two out of La Paz, we were always out of ice. At night, we would set out our supply of beer on the fender of the Jeep. In the morning we would agree that the beer was as cold as it was going to get all day, so it made sense to have some with breakfast. Thus was born the Baja Breakfast, still a tradition in my family on special occasions. Our return trip to the border took us up the east side of the peninsula on dirt roads through El Arco to Bahia de San Francisquito, on a really primitive track to Bahia de los Angeles, then to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga, Puertecitos, and pavement once more at San Felipe. We were back home on April 26th, making it a 14-day trip. Steve and I were young enough then to be able to combine the sometimes awful back roads, often tough climbing, and always warm beer of Baja into happy, fun times. I miss him. Steve died of cancer at 53 in 1986.

Jon Inskeep

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