RANCHO LA BELLOTA ENSENADA BAJA RANCHO

Sierra de Juarez Expedition June 2009

DAY 1: RANCHO LA BELLOTA TO REAL DEL CASTILLO VIEJO

Everyone was up bright and early this morning at 4am. I had breakfast ready by five and we were on our horses by 6:30. The sun had just come up and it was nice and cool. Today was a very long riding day. Our destination was Real Del Castillo Viejo which was about 10 hours away. It took us 3 hours to get to Las Palmitas, “the hot springs”, where we stopped for a short break and snacked on our burrito packs which I had made for everyone before we left.

Chorizo with beans and cheese is an excellent way to start off any day! We watered the horses and quickly pushed on. We soon came to Valle Seco, “the dry valley”. We were very fortunate it was not hot yet although it was almost 10 o’clock in the morning. If only the cool weather would hold out for the entire trip!

By 12 o’clock we were on the old road to Real Del Castillo which was used back in the mid-1800’s to transport gold by wagon train. Real Del Castillo was a prosperous mining town back then

and even to this day some say there is still gold in the mountains there.

We had made excellent time when we finally entered the territory of Real Del Castillo. As we neared the abandoned mining town we came across a rickety, old trailer on the outskirts of town and an amazing cactus garden filled with various objects of antiquity from the old mining days.

Jose Lencioni and his son Eric appeared from within the trailer and greeted us warmly. Once again Mexican hospitality showed it’s face as they waved us over and invited us to sit on their porch and rest for a while.

Raul promptly shook hands with both men and introduced himself. Jose was nice looking man in his early 50’s. He had a lean, dark complexion while his son Eric was the exact opposite of his father. Light skinned, almost as pale as mine, bright colored eyes and a bushy head of reddish brown hair. Their Italian ancestry was quite evident.

Jose said they had heard of the expedition and had been waiting for us to pass by. We dismounted and brushed off the dust while 29 year old Eric generously offered everyone a cold glass of lemonade which we gladly accepted!

The Lencioni family has been in Real Del Castillo since the early 1800’s. Jose’s grandfather

owned a large sum of land which included rights to nine gold mines. The property has been

passed down through the generations and now Jose and his son are living on the land and

are also working to preserve the vibrant history of Real Del Castillo that was not only a prosperpous mining town but also the first capital of Baja California.

I plopped down into a soft, comfy chair near the front door of the trailer. The cold lemonade quickly brought down my body temperature and I felt myself relax as my eyes curiously scanned our surroundings. I was amazed at the collection of old artifacts that decorated the small trailer. Everything from old buttons which had fallen from soldiers uniforms, to bullets, an old sewing machine, a trunk that Jose said his father had found with a nine star American flag inside. Eric also had quite a collection of rocks, mostly quartz which he had found near the mines. Once everyone realized Eric spoke good English we bombarded him with questions about their property, the mines and all they had found over the years. It was fascinating and such a history lesson! Eric also showed us two rifles that belonged to his great grandfather, from the mid-1800’s.

Raul convinced Eric into showing us some of the mines and of course the group was very interested to see them too. Ricky quickly saddled one of the pack horses and we set off with Eric in the lead. We traveled along the Barbon River which runs through his property in Real Del Castillo. He took us to one of the mines and we actually walked inside for about 8 ft until we could walk no further. Eric said the mine went very deep into the hillside and there were big ditches. In the dark it could be dangerous. Even he wasn’t quite sure how deep they went.

We toured more of his land. It was a wonderful extra trip we hadn’t counted on and even more so because it was also historical. After we returned from our tour we thanked both the Lencionis and continued on our way to Rancho Munoz which was our destination for the day. We passed through the center of the old town where various buildings were still standing. There was an old church, which was used as a school house, court house and jail, and the old adobe house that Jose’s grandfather had built .

By 4pm we arrived at Rancho Munoz where a wonderful dinner was waiting for us. We set up our tents and dinned on lamb, beans, fresh cheese and flower tortillas. It was wonderful! The perfect ending to a perfect day!

DAY 2: REAL DEL CASTILLO VIEJO TO EL CAMPITO

Since the owners of Rancho Munoz in Real Del Castillo were making breakfast for us today, I didn’t see the need to be up at o’dark thirty this morning. After a long, hard day yesterday, it was nice to wake up calmly and enjoy a few lesiurely cups of coffee before breakfast!

Today was going to be a relatively short ride, three hours max. Our destination was a ranch called El Campito owned by Miguel Velez who is in charge of Health and Sanitation for the Cattleman’s Union in the Ensenada area. Miguel arrived early this morning and joined us for breakfast. He was to be our guide for the day.

We were saddled and ready to go by 9am. Everyone was fed, cafeined up and eager to ride. I thought to myself how lucky we were. The weather was still cool and although this was supposed to be a dusty ride, the cool air would certainly helped endure the dust.

We set out. Our dogs, Gypsy and Agave fell in line right behind us. The whole procession, now 10 riders filed out the gates of Rancho Munoz. We waved good bye and kindly thanked them for all their hospitality. Today was an easy ride as we made our way through the agricultural area in the valley of Ojos Negros. We were headed east towards Rancho El Campito and to what is the mountain base of the Sierra de Juarez. By 1pm we arrived at El Campito. It was warm and I knew it was lunch time. I quickly dismounted and began going over in my mind what I was going to make for lunch that day. But, while I was thinking of this, I heard Raul on my right speaking with Miguel Velez and although they were speaking in spanish, my radar, selctive hearing picked up the words, Carne Asada! That was when Raul told me Miguel had a surprise Carne Asada planned for us. Hurray! I didn’t have to cook that day! I hope I didn’t over do it as I grabbed Miguel by the hand and thanked him profusely for the carne asada surpise. Both he and Raul laughed. I think they knew I was also thrilled about putting off cooking for one more day.

Miguel invited us to sit for a while on his porch while he and his workers prepared the meal. He brought out a huge cake of fresh cheese they had made at his ranch that very morning. Miguel has dairy cows and he produces cheese on a regular basis. Many of his cheeses are sold in markets and restaurants in Ensenada. After our wonderful meal of grilled steak “carne asada”fresh homemade tortillas, cheese, salsas and refried beans, he took us on a tour of his ranch and showed us the whole process for making cheese. In the afternoon is when the milking is done and we all watched as they brought in the cows one by one, tied them up in the milking station and hooked them up to the milking machines. Miguel said that the cows seem to like this because they are eating while being milked but that the act of milking relieves stress and thus enables them to keep producing milk at a fluent rate.

For most of the afternoon we rested, ate, talked laughed, played cards and prepared for the next day which was going to be another long one!

DAY 3: EL CAMPITO TO CASA VERDE

Thanks to my trusty alarm clock, I was up at 4:30 this morning. Raul already had the coffee. I figured he could handle things until 5 so I took that extra half hour to get our things together and take down the tent.

Todays breakfast was Machaca with eggs and beans on the side. All turned out very well. After breakfast I started on the burrito packs for lunch that day. We wanted to get an early start because today was going to be an 8 hour ride. Good thing we got to rest yesterday!

We were mounted and ready to go by 7am. Miguel Velez was going to be our guide again to the half way point between El Campito and Casa Verde. From there Daniel Quinones would take over and lead us the rest of the way. After yesterdays ride, which was mostly flat and dusty, I was thrilled to see different kinds of vegetation and hills as we began to climb higher into the mountains. Our horses took to the trail as well as ever and climbed every hill and mountain we pointed them to. As we rode higher and higher, I often looked back at the valley of Ojos Negros and it seemed so small, so far away. Raul would often keep our sense of direction in tact as he pointed out Sierra Blanca, a huge mountain which was roughly adjacent to the hills of La Bellota. It looked so small and I could not get over how far we had come in just a few days.

Although this was a long ride, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of intricate canyons and rocky hillsides. After conquering one particularly rough hillside, a few of us noticed a mass of white rocks in the distance that seemed rather out of place because of its striking color. One of us asked Raul about it and he said, “ Oh, that’s just a rock full of eagle shit.” We decided to go over and investigate and it turned out to be a beautiful, mass of white quartz. How did it get there when there was no other quartz in sight and only granite? I thought to take a small piece of it back with me so I could show Raul what beautiful eagle shit it was. As we rode along we noticed there were places where it looked as if someone had thrown a handful of quartz around because it was in clusters, here and there. In some places there was clear quartz as well. We soon began to plow through such heavy brush that Raul and Daniel had to go ahead and break a trail for us before we came through. Even then, myself and some of the others got our arms scraped up. Hurray for chaps and gloves!

We decided to stop for lunch under a grove of shady oak trees. Our guide Daniel showed us where there was once a small community of people that lived nearby sometime during the late 1800’s. He also took us by an old cemetery that had only seven grave markers. They were a series of white granite rocks laid out on the ground in the form of seven large crosses. This cemetery was about five minutes or so from where this small community of people had once lived. I wondered to myself who were the people that were buried there and what had happened to them. After a tasty lunch of burritos, dried fruit and beef jerky we pushed on.

By 3pm we were nearing Casa Verde. Most of the day had been trails with thick chaparrals, rocks and lots of hill climbing. This was a very special trail because no one had ridden it in over thirty years! Finally as we came over the last hillside, we looked down and there was Casa Verde, and yes, it did have a green house there. We carefully made our way down them hill which took quite a bit of doing since the trail had become quite overgrown in the past thirty years or so. Once again, our horses, tired as they were, never balked about anything we asked them to do. Thanks to Raul, Daniel and Ricky who thoroughly scouted the trail before any of us made a move, as they looked for the safest route of decent down the hillside. Once we were down on level ground and inside the patio of Casa Verde, we were greeted warmly by ranch owner, Jose Rivera and his family.

While Raul introduced the group my eyes quickly scanned the adobe cabin that we were to sleep in that night. After taking a peek inside and I saw that it had a bathroom with a real toilet, beds and all the comforts of home. I realized how easy it is to take those things for granted and how much I appreciated them at that very moment! I didn’t waste anytime in letting everyone know the couch was mine. Boy did I sleep good that night!

DAY 4: Casa Verde to Rancho Wagner

For some reason we all woke up later than usual. At least I did. Probably because the couch was so comfortable! Today was going to be a six hour ride to Rancho Wagner in the Sierra de Juarez. Raul and I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast while everyone pitched in and packed up our camp sight.

Victor and Rigo, two Kumiai men were to be our guides for the day. It turned out that Victor really liked the biscuits I made in the Dutch oven. In fact he asked for the recipe because it reminded him of when he was a boy growing up in Real Del Castillo. He said an old woman there was in charge of feeding the cowboys at the ranch and she always made biscuits. He said it really brought back memories for him.

Both Rigo and Victor rode sturdy, steadfast mules. Every now and then, Rigo’s keen eyes would come across an arrowhead or what’s known as a “mano”, a grinding stone used by the Indians in the Sierra de Juarez for grinding acorns and seeds. Multitudes of rocks littered the ground. I was astounded as to how he was able to find these precious treasures from the past.

Towards the end of the day, almost nearing dusk as we settled into camp, (I still wonder if Rigo’s eyes were really the eyes of a hawk) Rigo found a perfectly preserved sharpening stone used by the Indians for sharpening arrowheads and other tools. The stone was oval and so smooth to the touch except for a two inch indention, about ¾ of an inch deep that was etched through the middle. Ellen, one of our participants was thrilled to be the recipient of such a beautiful artifact that Rigo carefully placed in her hands.

We rode through territory virtually unseen for years by the human eye. We crossed over rocky mountains, rested at quiet streams and brooks. We saw a great horned owl as we entered an oak grove. The noise from our chatter and laughter might have driven him from his hiding spot within the trees. Red tailed hawks flew high overhead, on the hunt in search of a poor unsuspecting mouse. We rode on, up and down the hillsides until finally we could see the beginning of the pine forest. We skirted around the edge and marveled at the beautiful meadow before us, filled with sage brush and tall pine trees. We then began our descent into another valley and just as we reached the bottom I looked across the stream and there on the embankment was a skunk. He saw us and promptly trotted away, tail high in the air! Agave followed him for a while but soon gave up, probable after she got a whiff of his dangerous defense mechanism!

We reached Rancho Wagner around 6pm and quickly set up camp and I got to work on dinner. That night we had tuna casserole and homemade corn tortillas. I decided I’d save the biscuits for tomorrows breakfast! Once again, it was a fabulous day.

DAY 5: RANCHO WAGNER TO EL PINAL

Today was going to be an 8 hour ride. I was prepared for it mainly because I heard that at El Pinal there would be showers AND they were going to cook for us!

After breakfast, Ellen decided to go for a walk and low and behold, she found pottery chards on top of a small slope not far from camp. We were amazed at the thought of the indigenous people who perhaps lived there at one time, who hunted and raised their families, and here we had found remnants of their past!

Today Victor would continue on as our guide. We said our goodbyes to Rigo who would be staying on at Rancho Wagner the next few days. The weather was perfect, a little overcast and fairly cool. All riders were in good spirits and it showed as the ladies once again broke out into song! This time we rode high on the mountain tops and all we could see for miles and miles in every direction were more mountains. Raul, our navigator pointed out Sierra Blanca to help keep us oriented. This was our landmark to watch as we made our way along the giant loop of the ride. Now, from where we were Sierra Blanca was looking bigger, meaning we were getting closer to our final destination and back into the territory of La Bellota. A few days before Sierra Blanca was just a tiny fragment of mountains that blended in with the rest of the landscape.

We reached El Pinal by 3pm. They had a corral for us to put the horses in and Ricky quickly began to unsaddle horses and get them fed and accommodated for the night. We began to fall into routine of setting up camp and getting dinner ready. Raul quickly informed me the owners and some of the workers from El Pinal would be joining us for dinner that night. I quickly did a head count and it came to about 20 people. Wow! No problem. Tonight was beef stew so I made to giant pots of stew in the Dutch Oven and cornbread on the side. As luck would have it everything turned out great. I was very glad the cowboys enjoyed the food.

DAY 6; EL PINAL TO LA BELLOTA

We woke up bright and early so we could get a head start on the day. We had about an 8 hour ride to La Bellota. I have to admit, although I had enjoyed all that we had seen and experienced over the last week, I was missing La Bellota and I was eager to plant my feet on familiar soil!

After a delicious breakfast we packed up our camp, saddled horses and headed out. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautfiul Rancho El Pinal was. The landscape was constantly changing, nothing was ever the same. The were so many varieties of vegetation!

We had been riding for about 4 hours until we came to a territory of land called Jamatay. Our indian guide Guti, commented to Ricky and Raul, I just happened to over hear, that the land was haunted. He went on to say there wasn’t a cowboy in the area who would leave his cattle there after dark and much less spend the night there. I didn’t know about this story until after we had passed through this land but I now that I think of it. I did notice how lonely the land seemed. I wasn’t the only person who noticed something strange there. Ricky and one of the the participants, Barb said they even felt as if she were being watched.

It was getting hotter now as the day wore on. By 1pm we entered the Ejido San Marcos land as we steadily came closer and closer to La Bellota. We could see Sierra Blanca in the distance, now the incredible mountain stood larger than life, just a few days ago it was all but a tiny dot in the distance.

We all gave a loud hurray when we reached the ranchos of Ejido San Marcos. It was now only an hour or so before we arrived at La Bellota. The horses picked up their pace. They too recognized where home was and were eager to get there. My thoughts turned to my stomach as it growled, letting me know it was lunch time. Two of the cowboys from Rancho El Pinal were going to be waiting for us at La Bellota with roasted lamb for lunch, rice beans and all the fixings. We could hardly wait.

By 3pm we walked through the gates of La Bellota. I could see our house, the corrals, home sweet home! I tied my horse Galleta in his usual spot under the oak trees and gave him an affectionate pat the neck. While everyone chatted and dismounted from their horses I stood back and took in the scene. We had just ridden another 100 miles on horseback. Our horses had once again transported us into the past and enabled us to touch a small part of Baja’s vibrant history along with its traditions and way of life. Raul and I feel very fortunate to be able to work at reviving these traditions and lead people into a time when life was much simpler.

I gave Galleta a good scratch on his sweaty forehead and headed towards the inviting doors of La Bellota. I gave thanks for all of us making it home safe and sound and although I was tired and dusty, I couldn’t help but wonder when our next long ride would be!