I was looking forward to this one and it easily exceeded my expectations. While initially planning this Baja road trip I carefully scanned Google Earth for places of interest and came across this remarkable oasis. Further internet searching pulled up a few accounts, mostly of people visiting it as a day trip from the end of the Santa Maria mission road ("one of the roughest in Baja") and a couple doing it as an overnight trip down the canyon. The photos of the oasis looked stunning, the canyon below also very scenic- it looked to be a true Baja natural gem. Given our route, time constraints, and that I had no intention of rock crawling, I instead came up with the plan of an overnight out-and-back trip from the canyon mouth on the east. This would require a 4 mile drive off the pavement and then a 5 mile hike up a sandy wash that would gradually turn to bedrock scrambling. Accounts I could find were not very detailed and I did not know much else about the spot. Was it likely we would run into other groups? How easy would the road be? How slow would the rock scrambling section be?
Leaving Guadalupe Canyon we drove back north through the Laguna Salada, east around Mexicali, then south along the Gulf of California. San Felipe seemed like a laid back resort town. I was surprised by the number of developments (and dreams of developments) on the coastal dunes south of town. The further south we went the more commonly we saw large Baja saguaros. Leaving San Felipe environs the road rapidly deteriorated to surprising levels. A major storm at the start of the year had took out nearly all of the highway, forcing us to slowly jostle along a rough grade adjacent while road crews worked to rebuild countless bridges and culverts. We debated stopping at Puertocitos to check out the hot springs but we were a little behind on driving and I was perfectly happy to continue driving open road rather than interact with people. South of Puertocitos was one of the most incredulous stretches of road I have ever driven: a brand new modern highway with yesterday fresh pavement but extensive rockfall on the road and more than half of the bridges with big gaping holes in them requiring long elaborate detours. You'd be cruising along the highway at speed only to notice a few large rocks deliberately blocking a bridge. Dirt tire tracks would be the only indication of the detour, which would take you down, around and then back up onto the road at the other side of a collapsed bridge. This stretch of road took forever to go 60 miles but was certainly entertaining. The new hints of construction suggested no improvement over the engineering that failed in the previous rain event.
Eventually we made it to our nondescript turnoff and slowly clanked across sandy alluvium darting around mature ocotillos. The road got sandy towards the end but we were able to make it to my best case scenario parking spot. There were no other cars around and only moderate recent use of the road evident. Although we had done some pre-packing at Guadalupe the night before, I made final choices in the shade of the one tree around. I shouldered my pack and delighted at the light weight despite ample water and luxuries like a hammock. We locked the car and hiked up the resistant (sandy) wash.
I followed my nose along a faint trail probably jointed created by cattle and hikers which tended to traverse older alluvial surfaces rather than the modern wash. These surfaces had spectacular cacti forests- some of the most mature ocotillos I've seen, senita old man cacti, and cardon saguaros. The further up the canyon we went the more prevalent the patches of afternoon shade, which were much appreciated. After only two miles we began seeing palm trees and the first patch of following spring water filtering into the sandy wash. I had not expected to see water for another mile or two so this was a welcome sight. Though we were in a hurry to get to our destination before daylight ended, a quick touch to the water revealed wonderful temperatures should we stop anywhere along the way. The water was a beautiful green that formed a great contrast against the creamy granitic rocks.
The canyon narrowed, twisted and turned, and the walls increased in height. The mixture of sand and boulders allowed for pretty easy routefinding around the water to keep feet dry. The pools became deeper, the vegetation lusher. We made good progress. I thought the hike would just be a slog to get to a cool destination but was pleasantly surprised at the changing desert scenery.
The last 1000ft before our destination bedrock increased in the channel and the terrain slowed us down some. We scrambled across a fresh bouldery rockfall, bypassed a few deep pools, traversed a few nice bedrock benches, and contended with a couple upclimbs (including one pack pass). I knew we were close on the final stretch when we encountered great dipping slabs of jointed bedrock as I had seen in a few photos. Because of the dense vegetation, approaching the oasis pool came rather abruptly. It truly was a breath taking spot.
I dropped my pack and worked to make the most of the last light of the day. Scouting a spot for the tent, kitchen, and hammock. Snapping photos from a few vantages. Checking out the native succulents growing through cracks in the rock. Wading across the pool to climb up the oasis' waterfall to view it from above.
Tent pitched and dehydrated meal eaten I settled in for a relaxing evening of hammock, stars, and amphibian chorus. We even had a ringtail cat climbing along rocks overhead, watching us with curiosity. The frogs were evenly spaced a few feet along the entire shore of the pool, croaking away. We had a lazy morning as I wanted to ensure to see the oasis with direct light. I went for a brief swim and also went for a long barefoot traverse above the pool. This was my first upclose look at some of the decidely alien boojum trees, an upside down carrot of a tree related to an ocotillo. I wish I could have stayed longer (and in hindsight given we would be blown out of our kayaking plans probably should have) but wanted to get the hike done with maximum shade and minimum heat.
The hike back was straightforward now that we had the best route down. It took us a little under 2.5 hours get to back. Thankfully we found the car as we left it. We drove on south for more Baja driving adventures.
