| Our group of six, Ron
Young, George Toby (who had just celebrated his 73rd birthday), Roy Magnuson,
Bobcat Thompson, Scot Jamison and I met early Friday morning at the home of Joe
& Betty McCosker near San Diego, where we consolidated everyone into two
vehicles. We briefly visited with Joe and Betty who gave us some of their fine
homemade bread. Around nine-thirty in the morning, we were on our way south to
the border. The ride through Baja along the coast was beautiful and pleasantly uneventful. For one who had not been on the coast side of Baja. I was impressed by the beautiful beaches-made me want to pick up a surfboard again. We stopped along the road to the eat the lunches we brought. then continued on to Parque Nacional San Pedro Martir. Turning left on the signed road to the Meling Ranch, we drove the lengthy dirt road, passing through small inland communities, to its end at the shack at Los Llanitos. According to various thermometers brought along, the first night's temperature was in the low forties. The sun set at about 6:30. When night came on, the sky filled with zillions of stars - the heart of the milky way. The wind picked up and throughout the night, tossed and rustled the Pondersoa pines. Saturday morning, with loaded packs we started up the drainage below the shack, following it across the plateau. We had lunch at the base of Blue Bottle, which was climbed by those who had not previously had the honors of doing so. |
Side-hilling along the
base of the Cerro Botella Azul, we arrived at Blue Bottle saddle and began the
steep descent into the canyon over rugged. boulder-strewn terrain. When we
reached the canyon bottom, we could hear the running water of the waterfall at
the mouth of Gorrin's Gulley. The drainage was an obstacle course of rocks and
boulders, manzanita, oaks and stinging nettles. Though the stinging nettles
were well past their spring bloom, they still packed a sting. Before sunset, we
arrived at Campo Noche. When darkness fell, the wind picked up again. No moon, so the canyon was pitch black. After dinner, we basked in the glow of our headlamps until we heard what sounded like a person rummaging through someone's belongings. Realizing that all six of us were together, we concluded that we had a visitor. The mysterious visitor, a ring-tailed cat, swiped cousin Bobcat's entire package of muffins and most of his chocolate, as well as my package of trail mix. Before retiring, we either hung our food from tree branches or brought it in the tents. Several times during the night, Bobcat was awakened by that ring-tailed cat trying to swipe his bag of food. Finally, around midnight. Bob hauled his food into the tent. Next morning, off at about eight to get the Big Kahuna. Most were carrying three quarts of water. We fought our way through the manzanita and more rugged. boulder-choked gullies. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm - the wind had died down. yet there was an occasional breeze. |