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Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011
- Thread starter miltonotto
- Start date
Cañon Colorado
Vigilantes
The truck doesn't want to pass us. No, they want us.
It's a behemoth beat-up pickup with crew-cab primer grey with a huge rack on the front. Three guys inside, dressed down, one in the back seat. Ranchers. (??) Heck, That must've been a wild ride chasin' us down.
They start asking questions. Who are we and where did we think we were going?
Well, who are you, I asked?
"Vigilantes. We work for the state police."
Riiiight..., but the old guy riding shotgun is cradling an old bolt action rifle. (Now what is he gonna do if they catch any bad guys?)
(Where did they come from?)
How did you know we were here, I asked?
The driver points to a radio.
I see what looks like a fairly sophisticated shortwave radio jutting out of a hole in the beat-up dash.
Ok. Vigilantes, huh.
They wanted to know all about us. Could John speak Spanish?
And.., they wanted us to know there were bad guys up ahead. "Mala gente en rumbo a Chihuahua," they kept saying.
Chihuahua? Are we going to Chihuahua?
I'm embarrassed I don't know my geography well enough to know where the state of Chihuahua begins.
Well, what about Morelos? I start naming off the towns we planned to pass thru.
"Morelos is ok," the driver smiled making the ok sign with his finger and thumb. "Morelos is ok."
And Jaboncillos? How about Jaboncillos?
"Jaboncillos -- malo. Mala gente en Jaboncillos." (Bad people in Jaboncillos.)
Hummmm. I'm wondering when was the last time they were actually in Jaboncillos.
Benavides?
"Benavides, Malo! Peligroso! (Dangerous.) The Mexican army is in Melon. But they are"...... and he does the little flat palm down hand waver meaning mas o menos, (more or less). Meaning? You can't always count on the solders?
(Well Ok. First things first. We are still a long ways off from Morelos.)
Well, we'll go on to Morelos first.
"Ok," they concede. "Do you have maps," their last question?
Well of course we have maps, I laughed. Ohh.... We got maps.
"Well, be careful," the driver says, pointing to his eyes with two fingers. "Be careful."
And that was it. They disappeared back to wherever they came from. I related the strange exchange to John.
Soon he's concerned that the bad guys could be up on top of the mesas, waching us at this moment.
"I don't want to camp out in the open desert," he concludes.
Fine. We'll find someplace here in the canyon. I have no problem with that. It's nicer in the canyon.
Vigilantes
The truck doesn't want to pass us. No, they want us.
It's a behemoth beat-up pickup with crew-cab primer grey with a huge rack on the front. Three guys inside, dressed down, one in the back seat. Ranchers. (??) Heck, That must've been a wild ride chasin' us down.
They start asking questions. Who are we and where did we think we were going?
Well, who are you, I asked?
"Vigilantes. We work for the state police."
Riiiight..., but the old guy riding shotgun is cradling an old bolt action rifle. (Now what is he gonna do if they catch any bad guys?)
(Where did they come from?)
How did you know we were here, I asked?
The driver points to a radio.
I see what looks like a fairly sophisticated shortwave radio jutting out of a hole in the beat-up dash.
Ok. Vigilantes, huh.
They wanted to know all about us. Could John speak Spanish?
And.., they wanted us to know there were bad guys up ahead. "Mala gente en rumbo a Chihuahua," they kept saying.
Chihuahua? Are we going to Chihuahua?
I'm embarrassed I don't know my geography well enough to know where the state of Chihuahua begins.
Well, what about Morelos? I start naming off the towns we planned to pass thru.
"Morelos is ok," the driver smiled making the ok sign with his finger and thumb. "Morelos is ok."
And Jaboncillos? How about Jaboncillos?
"Jaboncillos -- malo. Mala gente en Jaboncillos." (Bad people in Jaboncillos.)
Hummmm. I'm wondering when was the last time they were actually in Jaboncillos.
Benavides?
"Benavides, Malo! Peligroso! (Dangerous.) The Mexican army is in Melon. But they are"...... and he does the little flat palm down hand waver meaning mas o menos, (more or less). Meaning? You can't always count on the solders?
(Well Ok. First things first. We are still a long ways off from Morelos.)
Well, we'll go on to Morelos first.
"Ok," they concede. "Do you have maps," their last question?
Well of course we have maps, I laughed. Ohh.... We got maps.
"Well, be careful," the driver says, pointing to his eyes with two fingers. "Be careful."
And that was it. They disappeared back to wherever they came from. I related the strange exchange to John.
Soon he's concerned that the bad guys could be up on top of the mesas, waching us at this moment.
"I don't want to camp out in the open desert," he concludes.
Fine. We'll find someplace here in the canyon. I have no problem with that. It's nicer in the canyon.
A very important intersection, 18 miles into the canyon. Take the road to the right.
The Cañon Colorado is 24 miles long. We make camp at its far end. A night under kazillion stars. 106 miles from Acuña.
During the night John pops his air mattress on a sticker, permanently deflating it. He brought a propane stove but ran out of fuel before finishing the 1st meal. He lost his only warm shirt on today's ride and oops forgot to bring toilet paper.
I'm beginning to wonder about by partner.
The Cañon Colorado is 24 miles long. We make camp at its far end. A night under kazillion stars. 106 miles from Acuña.
During the night John pops his air mattress on a sticker, permanently deflating it. He brought a propane stove but ran out of fuel before finishing the 1st meal. He lost his only warm shirt on today's ride and oops forgot to bring toilet paper.
I'm beginning to wonder about by partner.
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The encounter with the Vigilantes had to be a serious matter...
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C'mon Milton, you are holding out on us.
JT: Dang!
Milton: What?
JT: Fergot Toilet paper.
Milton: I only have enough for me.
Exactly. Something like, "Sorry, Dude."
Behave. Be patient. The good stuff is coming.
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Trying.
Day2: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011
Day 2. Sunrise looking westward to the Sierra del Carmen.
Sierra del Carmen in the morning. The smallish looking hill to the right in the desert plain is a major landmark in the area: the hill with a black water tank perched on top.
Here comes the sun.
Our camp.
John working the GPS over a cup of joe in the morning. We had to resort to burning wood for cooking. What a concept.
That's me, talkin' to the cows.
Day 2. Sunrise looking westward to the Sierra del Carmen.
Sierra del Carmen in the morning. The smallish looking hill to the right in the desert plain is a major landmark in the area: the hill with a black water tank perched on top.
Here comes the sun.
Our camp.
John working the GPS over a cup of joe in the morning. We had to resort to burning wood for cooking. What a concept.
That's me, talkin' to the cows.
Day 2: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011
Breaking camp, loading up.
While working up routes for this trip back home, John had a difficult time knowing which places were important and which were not. He marked all the places that one of his maps showed had a health clinic, thinking if a health clinic was present, the place must be somewhat important.
There's one of your health clinics, John. The semi-deserted ghost town of Carranzo.
Some sort of communications center. Locked up good and tight. Carranzo.
Rancho Las Norias 18 Km. Perhaps the only road sign we saw out there.
Intersection with the La Linda - Morales - Melon road.
Sierra del Carmens in the background.
The community of Morelos.
90 miles from Santa Eulalia.
If you go to Morelos, this is where you stop. The store in Morelos, 20 miles from our campsite.
The store in Morelos. After a meal of beans and eggs. We were famished.
Breaking camp, loading up.
While working up routes for this trip back home, John had a difficult time knowing which places were important and which were not. He marked all the places that one of his maps showed had a health clinic, thinking if a health clinic was present, the place must be somewhat important.
There's one of your health clinics, John. The semi-deserted ghost town of Carranzo.
Some sort of communications center. Locked up good and tight. Carranzo.
Rancho Las Norias 18 Km. Perhaps the only road sign we saw out there.
Intersection with the La Linda - Morales - Melon road.
Sierra del Carmens in the background.
The community of Morelos.
90 miles from Santa Eulalia.
If you go to Morelos, this is where you stop. The store in Morelos, 20 miles from our campsite.
The store in Morelos. After a meal of beans and eggs. We were famished.
Morelos is 90 miles from our last gas in Santa Eulalia. One of the great unknowns of this trip was availability of gas and today we found gas in Morelos.
With full bellies, full fuel tanks, and Day 2 still young, we were feeling pretty good. I refilled all my water bottles at the store.
What happened next is subject to debate. John later said, "I thought you wanted to go thru Sierra del Carmen." My response was, Yeah, I wanted to alright, I just didn't think it was possible.
Back in 1994 I'd entered El Jardin up in the Sierra del Carmens from the Boquillas (western) side of the range, in a 4x4. It was a tight squeeze between boulders in a narrow canyon. It was great up in the mountains, nothing there, we slept out but a locked gate blocked passage to the other side, the eastern La Mula side, and so we'd been forced to return the way we came in. Just a few cowboys and goat herders lived up there. Yes, the only way around the Sierra del Carmen was a southern loop from Morelos, to Melon, then Cuesta and Milagro.
Ever since my 1994 trip, La Mula had become a kind of mysterious place in my mind. La Mula, the eastern entrance to Sierra del Carmen's El Jardin.
More recently I'd read on some 4x4 blogs that recent floods had re-arranged boulders in the canyon and now El Jardin was impassable.
Then there was this picture on the internet. Here's the Link.
So....., here we are in Morelos, close to La Mula.
Let's just go see what it's like at La Mula. Yeah, we got time to poke around, and if we can go over the Sierra, we will.
Yeah, sounds good. We could explore.
Hey, John. Did you see that Google Earth picture on the internet?
Nahhh. I use Google maps.
Well...., it looked pretty rough.
(WhatEVER)
Locals gave rather vague and conflicting directions to La Mula. John tries to make sense of reality vs. the GPS.
Ore truck from the Aguachile mine.
La Linda - Morelos - Melon road.
Ore trucks moved south, water trucks moved north.
With full bellies, full fuel tanks, and Day 2 still young, we were feeling pretty good. I refilled all my water bottles at the store.
What happened next is subject to debate. John later said, "I thought you wanted to go thru Sierra del Carmen." My response was, Yeah, I wanted to alright, I just didn't think it was possible.
Back in 1994 I'd entered El Jardin up in the Sierra del Carmens from the Boquillas (western) side of the range, in a 4x4. It was a tight squeeze between boulders in a narrow canyon. It was great up in the mountains, nothing there, we slept out but a locked gate blocked passage to the other side, the eastern La Mula side, and so we'd been forced to return the way we came in. Just a few cowboys and goat herders lived up there. Yes, the only way around the Sierra del Carmen was a southern loop from Morelos, to Melon, then Cuesta and Milagro.
Ever since my 1994 trip, La Mula had become a kind of mysterious place in my mind. La Mula, the eastern entrance to Sierra del Carmen's El Jardin.
More recently I'd read on some 4x4 blogs that recent floods had re-arranged boulders in the canyon and now El Jardin was impassable.
Then there was this picture on the internet. Here's the Link.
So....., here we are in Morelos, close to La Mula.
Let's just go see what it's like at La Mula. Yeah, we got time to poke around, and if we can go over the Sierra, we will.
Yeah, sounds good. We could explore.
Hey, John. Did you see that Google Earth picture on the internet?
Nahhh. I use Google maps.
Well...., it looked pretty rough.
(WhatEVER)
Locals gave rather vague and conflicting directions to La Mula. John tries to make sense of reality vs. the GPS.
Ore truck from the Aguachile mine.
La Linda - Morelos - Melon road.
Ore trucks moved south, water trucks moved north.
way-man
0
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I would say that I want be be Milton when I grow up, but I am not sure he has grown up yet...what an adventure!!!
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AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time I drive on Hwy 90 between Del Rio and Marathon I gaze at the mountains to the south wondering whats going on over there. And you guys were among them finding out whats going on...You guys rock!
I can't wait for more!
Every time I drive on Hwy 90 between Del Rio and Marathon I gaze at the mountains to the south wondering whats going on over there. And you guys were among them finding out whats going on...You guys rock!
I can't wait for more!
I'll consider that a compliment.... I think.
Hi Wayland.
Coming up, Sander.
Here's how the Sierra del Carmen's look from Big Bend NP. The photo is taken near the junction of the River Road and the paved road to Rio Grande Village, at sunset, looking south into Mexico.
Here's the Link.
Here's the Link.
Day2: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011
La Mula
"What does the sign say?"
John had found the feeble dirt track off the main road, that his GPS indicated was the road to La Mula and the Sierra beyond. Rounding a sweeping curve I found him parked in front of a handmade sign.
Cerrado El Paso
Hummmmmmm. Sez the road's closed, John.
We looked at each other a moment.
Probably doesn't mean us, we quickly agreed.
We came upon this guy loading shale plates into his truck by hand. He wasn't much for conversation but he acknowledged we had arrived at the mysterious La Mula, and if we wanted to go into the mountains, we should ask up at the next house.
Which was here, some 4 Mexican miles off the main road. This guy called his place La Mula too. So, not much in La Mula, and it covers a general area.
We want to go up into the Sierra del Carmen, and out the otherside to Jaboncillos, I explained.
We'd interrupted this kid fooling around with a water truck. Water trucks are very handy in these parts.
Can we do it? Is it possible?
The kid looks at us, looks at our bikes, and then back to us.
"You want to cross the Sierra del Carmen? Yeah..., maybe you could do it. The water is down so that's good. There are lots of rocks and lots of sand," he warned. "But yeah, maybe you could do it."
Oh, boy. We're gettin' excited.
Are there any locked gates?
"Yeah, up the road there's a locked gate, but you can go around it."
Ok......, so are there more locked gates beyond that one?
"Oh, Quien sabe," he shrugged. (Who knows?)
Have you been up there. Do you know the area?
"Yeah. I was just up there. Hace un rato." (A short time ago.)
Oh horseback of course. The only vehicle around was the water truck.
Sure enough, a couple of miles over the hill is the locked gate.
And the sign.
..........We went around.
La Mula
"What does the sign say?"
John had found the feeble dirt track off the main road, that his GPS indicated was the road to La Mula and the Sierra beyond. Rounding a sweeping curve I found him parked in front of a handmade sign.
Cerrado El Paso
Hummmmmmm. Sez the road's closed, John.
We looked at each other a moment.
Probably doesn't mean us, we quickly agreed.
We came upon this guy loading shale plates into his truck by hand. He wasn't much for conversation but he acknowledged we had arrived at the mysterious La Mula, and if we wanted to go into the mountains, we should ask up at the next house.
Which was here, some 4 Mexican miles off the main road. This guy called his place La Mula too. So, not much in La Mula, and it covers a general area.
We want to go up into the Sierra del Carmen, and out the otherside to Jaboncillos, I explained.
We'd interrupted this kid fooling around with a water truck. Water trucks are very handy in these parts.
Can we do it? Is it possible?
The kid looks at us, looks at our bikes, and then back to us.
"You want to cross the Sierra del Carmen? Yeah..., maybe you could do it. The water is down so that's good. There are lots of rocks and lots of sand," he warned. "But yeah, maybe you could do it."
Oh, boy. We're gettin' excited.
Are there any locked gates?
"Yeah, up the road there's a locked gate, but you can go around it."
Ok......, so are there more locked gates beyond that one?
"Oh, Quien sabe," he shrugged. (Who knows?)
Have you been up there. Do you know the area?
"Yeah. I was just up there. Hace un rato." (A short time ago.)
Oh horseback of course. The only vehicle around was the water truck.
Sure enough, a couple of miles over the hill is the locked gate.
And the sign.
..........We went around.
Great report, but I have to ask...
Is that a black "water tank" or a "black water" tank? Makes a big difference.
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The suspense is killin me....
Sometimes it seems to take longer to do the Ride Report that just doing the ride.
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- On a bike, down by the river!
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Sometimes it seems to take longer to do the Ride Report that just doing the ride.
Just fire all your patients then you can become a professional ride report writer...........................and get rich and famous.
I was thinking the same thing as I looked across the river from 170.
nevlec
0
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Muy bueno!
Got a fire lit under my behind to get the bike back on the dirt soon!