BAJA LOST MISSION EXPEDITION 2011 (PART 2)

David K · May 12, 2011

Where I left off in Part 1 ( http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/of...ja-lost-mission-expedition-2011-part-1-a.html )...

... was near the end of the 4 mile hike down Arroyo El Volcan... As we looked high up the cliffs to the location of the corral in elbeau's satellite images we could not see directly the level or semi-level area. It was out-of-sight, and some of us wished to find a way up there for a closer look... Now, if we only had a helicopter, like Erle Stanley Gardner did 40 some years ago!

bajalou had all the sites GPSed on his hand-held and I had the primary Santa Isabel site on mine... That was my goal: to get right to the spot that elbeau saw 'man-made' structures like arches, stairways, fountains, etc. If that was there, then we would look for the others places later.
On the Google Earth image, the site is just off the main arroyo, along a side gully...

Both images are looking southwest, up the side gully...
GPS of the site marked by the white ballon: GPS is 30º01.42', -114º46.29' (WGS84). Elevation is 1,701'

Here are the views as we near the final big S bend in the arroyo, see the corral area, and see the entrance to the LOST MISSION side gully (maybe call it Arroyo Santa Isabel?):

Interesting trench erosion up and over the ridge... Santa Isabel is on the other side!

That is the 'corral' area up above the cliff.

Ahead, on the left... are the formations marking the entrance to Santa Isabel arroyo!

Close up view of the rock face on the north side of the Santa Isabel arroyo, where it meets Arroyo El Volcan.

Okay, the next set of my photos I will share will be of the Santa Isabel site, and all around... :light:

David K · May 12, 2011

We turn towards Santa Isabel and begin the final few feet of the 4 mile hike!

(Vern Pic)

A dry waterfall is the only way into Arroyo Santa Isabel (Vern Pic)
Vern, José, DT, Phil and I make the climb.. and soon we see the site!

Vern photos me closing in on the site.

My GPS on 'ground zero' at the site!

To Be Continued... Photos of the site... lots! Plus much, much more of the surrounding country, La Olvidada and El Volcan Cold Water Geyser (including video)!

David K · May 12, 2011

OKAY, OKAY...
I will show you the LOST MISSION OF SANTA ISABEL (according to elbeau)!

Close up from Google Earth, north at top:

Rotate and angle for 3-D effect, looking southeast:

This is what elbeau sees in the Google Earth image:

HERE is what we saw:

Close up

Now, from across the small arroyo and up the other slope:

Arroyo El Volcan is in the background

Zoom in:

THAT'S IT! (well, that's all we have agreed to show you... you should have joined us!)

Seriously, there is MUCH MUCH more to this trip...
El Vergel and BAJACAT continued up Arroyo Santa Isabel some distance, as did dtbushpilot and XRPhlang (while I was climbing the north slope for the above photos)... BAJACAT gave something to the mountain (I will let him share that with you). We all got bloodied on the brush or rocks.
BAJACAT and El Vergel continued further down Arroyo El Volcan and found bigger pools of water (photos coming).

The hike back to our camp seemed much longer, as the temperatures were higher and water was running out...

That afternoon, after a good rest, we drove up to La Olvidada mine and also the small onyx mine at El Volcan.

The next day (Sunday) we explored the El Volcan geyser and surroundings... so STAY TUNED, plenty more high adventure and photos coming!!!

David K · May 12, 2011

Here is my reply to elbeau's original post on Baja Nomad seeking people to go to what he saw on Google Earth.

I have included two Santa Isabel stories from the past, of interest:

Having been to one lost mission site already ( http://vivabaja.com/109 ), I am game for another... elbeau (elbow=codo)

Sadly, there was no documentation ever of a mission named Santa Isabel. It was a story handed down, believed to be a Dominican site rather than a Jesuit one. However, it was the Jesuits who were removed by force from the New World in 1767-8... and so they were usually the ones connected to lost mission stories. Santa Clara and Santa Isabel being the most well known. See also http://vivabaja.com/1757

Choral Pepper was one of many writers who searched for Santa Isabel near Puertecitos... Others believed it to be closer to Matomi, San Juan de Dios, or in the lower San Pedro Martir. Erle Stanley Gardner thought he spotted it closer to Laguna Chapala... All good fun desert exploration!

Here is a story from 1941:

One of several Baja and Mexican stories in the 1941 book 'Golden Mirages' by Philip A. Bailey that deals mostly with Southern California and Arizona treasure stories...

The 4 page story starts and ends mid page...

Here is a map with the place names mentioned in this story circled in blue... at the approx. distance from San Fernando and Santa Maria, and at the approx. heading from San Agustin IS the Sierra Santa Isabel, near Puertecitos.

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Here is a story from 1967:

This is another gem from my collection of Choral Pepper's saved Baja magazine articles!

This article called 'Una casa grandote, una cruz arriba (Some further words on the controversy over "The Lost Mission" Santa Isabel)' by Harold O. Weight was published in the September, 1967 issue of Westways Magazine.

It is the best Santa Isabel, found story I think I have read so far!

Here is the area with the water hole plotted and a 12 mile radius out drawn in...

Let the hunt begin! :light:

Of interest, here is the spring from the story: Agua del Mezquitito (2.4 miles south of Okie Landing/ 15 miles north of Gonzaga Bay)...

This is me (age 16) in 1974 on my first Baja trip without parents. I returned here in 2002 and a corral of tires was made around the water hole.

Here is Rancho Parral... a few miles north of Matomi:

RANCHO EL PARRAL 30°29.42', 115°06.97'
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Here is the upper Matomi canyon with its blue palms... Photo from Mexitron, 2004:

Santa Isabel could be just around the bend?