EL CAMINO REAL in Baja, Part 9, Calamajue to Santa Maria
Baja Almanac page 18:
>From the terrace where the short lived mission at Calamajue stood, this final section of the Jesuit trail crossed the broad arroyo and climbed the steep north side, as does the auto road.
Crosby notes seeing signs of the trail just west of the road as they both head north to where passage over the ridge of SIERRA CALAMAJUE is possible.
Howard Gulick found the trail in 1952, also to the left (west) of the road and notes that the Camino Real passes the mouth of a canyon called El Culebrado (a snake like winding canyon) before crossing the road at LAS ARRASTRAS and comes to a water hole called San Francisquito, 0.6 mi. past Las Arrastras.
In 1769, Junipero Serra left Calamajue a little after noon and arrived at 'San Francisco' (San Francisquito) that day.
The name San Fancisquito had been applied to many sites in the region, including the larger part of what most call 'Gonzaga Bay': Ensenada de San Francisquito. The Mexican topos and Baja Almanac switched the names of the two halves of 'Gonzaga Bay', however.
>From the water hole (and later an abandoned mining camp) of San Francisquito, the old trail follows the arroyo of San Francisquito, but called ARROYO LAS ARRASTRAS in the Almanac.
Crosby notes seeing excellent signs of the Jesuit road higher and on the west side of the arroyo from the auto road.
Both Gulick and Crosby say the Camino Real follows the arroyo to its junction with ARROYO SANTA MARIA, however recent mule back Camino Real traveler, Baja Bucko, says the trail short cuts to the mouth of the Santa Maria canyon and passes the palm oasis of Las Palmitas at 29°40.35'/ 114°28.29° Some excellent photos of this oasis are at http://www.timsbaja.com/jan03trip/jan03trip3.html.
>From Las Palmitas (also spelled: Las Palmytas or Las Palmas) the trail heads for the mouth of Santa Maria canyon...
Junipero Serra and likely the Jesuits before, went right up the canyon, called 'El Cajon' and climbed up the steep north side to enter the valley containing the mission. This trail is now called the 'Indian Trail' as the El Camino Real was moved out of the canyon after Serra's trip to Alta California. The Indian trail is visible in this aerial photograph (bottom photo): http://davidksbaja.com/missionsm/page6.html.
This 'El Cajon' canyon route was so dangerous that a new route was established which stayed out of the canyon, to the north. This was the route traveled on mule by Crosby, Baja Bucko, and Don Jorge.
Photos of the Camino Real where it leaves Arroyo Santa Maria at 29°41.733'/ 114°28.175' and heads northwest are at: http://davidksbaja.com/1102/page6.html.
In November, 2003, I traveled further up the Camino Real from the previous year but did not have enough daylight to reach the mission (allow 6 hours). Photos and GPS at: http://davidksbaja.com/1103/page2.html.
Soon after, in December, 2003, Don Jorge continued on to reach the mission and returned via the Indian Trail and canyon (Arroyo Santa Maria). Photos, GPS, and topo map at http://southcoastfarms.com/gonzaga_to_mission_santa_maria.htm.