I was recently made aware that to access the hikes I have shown on my blog and described in the “Hiking Loreto” guide book, requires permission from the ranch owners of the land.
You can contact the president of Loreto Guide Association, Rodolfo Palacios Castro, for a guide to take you on these hikes because they have permission from the owners and are aware of the need to protect these fragile places. His Facebook site is:
Currently, the owner of the Las Parras Ranch along the road to San Javier Church sells passes to their property at the Pescador Grocery Store or Hacienda Suites. As time goes by, there may be more owners who do this.
After buying our home in Loreto Bay in February 2006, and having it completed in March 2010, thanks to the cooperative efforts of many Loreto Bay Owners, we have just sold our home to a French couple who are excited to discover this beautiful place as we have experienced.
Fortunately, they will not experience the growing pains that we went through when the Trust for Sustainable Development/Citicorp abandoned us in June 2009. We then banded together to finish our homes, and install the missing utility infrastructure and landscaping to make this the wonderful community it is today.
This was my last season of leading hikes along with John Filby and Jon Byer to explore the beautiful arroyos running down from the Sierra de la Giganta, range to the Sea of Cortez. I arrived on Saturday, October 22nd, and announced that our first hike would be the following Thursday, October 26th to one of my favorite hikes: Pinturas arroyo, about 8 miles up the San Javier Road to where the water crosses the road.
Pinturas Arroyo-October 26, 2017
Ten Loreto Bay hikers showed up to explore Pinturas arroyo with me. It was a rough go for the three of us who got banged up a bit after stepping on some unstable rocks. Allan Peterson takes the record for the worst injury--a huge hematoma on his forearm.
His disintegrating hiking shoes probably aided in his fall into the rocks. We have found that if people leave their shoes in Loreto over the extreme heat of the summer, many of the shoes get delaminated as Allan's shoes have done.
Tony, our oldest hiker at 84 years old got a gash on his forearm after stepping on an unstable rock, and John Filby stepped on a rock that flipped and injured his calf which resulted in a sore back as well.
The group made it up to the 3rd pool before tiring from the extra plant growth and heat. We enjoyed viewing the rugged canyon walls, trees, cactus, and the refreshing pools and rapids as we rock hopped our way.
Since it would be my last hike, I continued up to the fourth and favorite pool for a quick dip before rejoining the group.
Since Del Borrachos was still closed, we enjoyed reliving the hike and nursing our wounds at Augies nursed by some great IPA beer, and for Allan an ice pack provided by Edilia, Augie's manager.
Emerald City Arroyo-November 2, 2017
Seven Loreto Bay Hikers explored Emerald City arroyo.
We passed by two goat farms and then the small river lined with bright green river moss emerged. After about a mile of following this small river, we came to a narrow cascading canyon we had to wade through since the water was higher than last Spring.
Shortly after that, we came to this large waterfall where most of the hikers stayed to explore the area and swim. Here are pictures of the waterfall this Fall compared to last Spring.
This Fall
Last Spring
Bill Doyle and I climbed up the sketchy wall just to the left of the waterfall and continued on for another mile where we came to another series of pools and small waterfalls.
Bill jumped into a couple of the pools for a refreshing swim which we found about a mile above the big waterfall.
We came across this string of beautiful horses enjoying the vegetation along the river.
We then returned to the group for some last pictures of this beautiful area before returning to our cars for lunch.
We stopped at the newly opened Del Borrachos for some great food and refreshments.
Juncalito Sur Arroyo—November 9, 2017
The word on the Loreto Bay Hikers activity must have gotten out since we had 24 hikers join us for the Juncalito Sur arroyo hike.
We encountered the ranchero owner at the entrance gate. I was worried that he would tell us we could not cross his land. After I greeted him and told him what we wanted to do in my broken Spanish, he graciously took our group picture. He also admonished us not to use soap in the pools we were to explore for him and his goats depended on this fresh, pure water source.
This time, we easily found the trail that ran up to the abandoned house before descending to the arroyo. The group got safely down the steep trail to the arroyo.
However, once in the arroyo, Nancy slide down a steep rock and got drenched in the first pool we came to. Unfortunately, she injured her wrist, but one of our hikers was an operating room nurse and wrapped up her arm. A few others joined Nancy for her trip to the hospital where she was quickly and efficiently treated. She later learned that she had broken it. This is a year marked with injuries compared to all previous years.
Nancy is in middle with the blue shirt
Most of us continued up the canyon passing several pools until we came to one of the last ones where most of us went for a refreshing swim---no soap.
I am at the upper pool and joined the others for a dip in the lower pool.
Our well-marked cairns worked well for all but two of our hiker guys who ended up bushwhacking about a half-mile through some underbrush to rejoin us at the car park area. At least we did not lose any hikers like we did last Spring.
We then enjoyed a great lunch at the Clam Shack before returning to Loreto Bay.
Tabor Canyon—November 16, 2017
This was my last Loreto hike and on Thursday, the 16th, twelve Loreto Bay hikers toured the ever-changing Tabor Canyon with me.
This year there was a rough roadway that went up from the diversion dam about 300 yards to the large boulder area.
We found water in the first hard rock area where the water gently cascaded through the passage.
We continued up the hard rock where we passed several small clear pools until we came to the last pool. A few of us scaled the sketchy rock wall on the right side and through the hole in the rock.
We then came to the deep blue pool where a couple of hikers took a refreshing dip.
Everyone safely---this time--returned to have lunch at the Clam Shack. Great way to end my Loreto hiking adventures with the Loreto Bay Hikers.
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there. That link is
https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.
If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.
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