Dave Krieg & Anne Kiehl
Imagine yourself standing before a broad
panel of rock, profusely covered with larger-than-life sized prehistoric
paintings. You are in a remote mountain wilderness area near the geographic
center of Baja California, on a ledge part-way up the wall of a canyon.
The drawings depict humans, deer, big-horn
rams and occasionally rabbits, antelope and mountain lions or puma, with a few
birds, fish and sea mammals. Bold colors of red and black predominate, with
occasional white, orange or blue. The pictures were made first with graphic
outlines, then filled in with one or two solid colors (lacking features within
the outline). Sometimes the central "fill" is made one half painted
red and the other half black, and occasionally geometric designs appear within
a figure with representative outlines. The humans are consistently frontal
views with arms outstretched or raised, but offer variation in headdresses and
other details. Deer stags and rams are often gracefully drawn as running,
leaping or upraised as though contesting with other males of their species. A
few whales are evident, as are apparent seals or sea lions (indicating that the
artists migrated between the mountains and the nearby Sea of Cortez). The age
of the paintings is not known precisely as yet, but is likely between 1000 to
4000 years.
This is Cueva Pintada (Spanish for the
Painted Cave), in the Sierra de San Francisco, located about 30 miles from
Baja's main highway (Route 1), between San Ignacio and Guerrero Negro. The
grandest of many painted caves in these mountains, it is nearly 500 feet long,
up to 40 feet in depth and 150 feet above the floor of the canyon. We reached
this cave and others in the course of a three-day excursion which involves
either hiking 5-7 hours a day over rough terrain or riding a mule, plus driving
22 miles on a very rough road from the highway up to the trailhead (more
details on logistics are presented later). One cave (Raton) can be viewed near
the end of the road without the long walk; it is only about 40 feet long but has
two fine paintings of mountain lion, plus deer, humans and other figures. We
also saw Cueva Flechas, near Pintada, which is noted for the arrows drawn over
or piercing many of its figures, and Cueva de la Soledad, with a pair of
distinctive eagle-like birds among its many figures.
The Mexican government has designated the
INAH (its famous and excellent national museum of anthropology and archaeology)
as custodian of the region's rock art and the visitor must work through their
San Ignacio branch (phone & FAX: 91-115-40222) to obtain a permit and
certified guide(s). Their office and a good little museum is located just to
the left of the historic mission located on the square in town. The guides are
local ranchers, and while their fee of $10 a day sounds small it is probably
becoming an important source of cash for them. They also provide (at $8 each
per day) the animals which will pack your camping gear (permitting you to hike
with only a camera, water and light day-pack) plus a mule to ride if you wish.
The Sierra de San Francisco mountain range
extends about 35 by 20 miles and is of volcanic origin. It has a few sharp,
scenic peaks over 5000 feet high but is mostly a broad plateau, perhaps 3000
feet above the nearby Sea of Cortez, formed with successive hard layers (like
basalt) and softer layers (like tufa) made as a aggregate of ash and stones.
Over millennia, the rainfall has resulted in the plateau being carved deeply by
over a dozen canyons -- and within these canyons there are many shallow caves formed
by erosion of a soft layer capped by a hard layer. Many of the caves are
smaller than Pintada and a few are larger. Ceilings are generally sloped
upwards toward the front and may range from 10 - 25 feet high; sometimes they
are nearly horizontal but commonly they extend upward approaching the vertical
in the front of the cave. The paintings are usually found on these ceilings or
sometimes on a back wall of the cave. They usually appear very high above where
one stands to view them; the local Indians found by the Spaniards were of short
stature and when they asked them how the paintings were made up so high, the
Indians explained that they were made by an ancient race of giants. (It might
be noted, however, that palm trees growing in the canyon bottoms could have
been used for scaffolding.)
The area's vegetation is mostly of an
interesting desert type, but is more abundant than at lower altitudes since it
gets somewhat more rainfall. You will see cirio (or boojum) trees (shaped like
an inverted carrot), elephant trees, cardon (like a saguaro but often larger)
and other unusual plants.
This is one of four such mountain ranges in
the area where rock art has been found, but the concentration and quality seems
to be the richest in San Francisco. The area is sparsely populated by Mexicans
who have lived there for generations, with ranches or villages of a few
households located at the rare persistent sources of water. They eke out a
living raising goats and are said to make a fine cheese from the milk. Sure-footed
burros and mules are their historic and still customary form of transportation
locally, but battered pick-up trucks are also to be seen. We found it odd to
see huts constructed of loosely piled stones and plywood sheets, with a
thatched roof but having a solar panel and antenna. For our first night in the
mountains we camped at the end of the road in a rancher's yard; we were
permitted to use a table in his porch and heard a 2-way radio constantly
transmitting messages to which they would respond occasionally -- it made us
think of an old party-line country telephone.
What follows are details that could be of
interest to folks planning a trip.
NEARBY ATTRACTIONS -- It is possible to see some small samples of rock art
without need of overnight camping; we suggest contacting Salvadore Castro
(phone115-30232) in Mulege for a choice of day-hikes.
You may see gray whales at two nearby
Pacific coast areas: Guerrero Negro is the easier to reach; Laguna San Ignacio
involves a longer rough road but has whales so easy-going that adults and
babies come up to your boat and let you touch them. Rides to the whales are
available from San Ignacio.
Bahia Conception offers wonderful boondocking
on the beach, plus clamming and kayak rentals. Fishing is said to be very good
(especially in summer) at Loreto and at Bahia de Los Angeles (the latter
involves a 41 mile road with many pot-holes). Inquire locally re fishing at
Mulege.
MORE INFO AND LOGISTICS -- If you are intrigued by this area and its rock art,
we highly recommend the book "Cave Paintings of Baja California" by
Harry Crosby. He searched the area thoroughly for several years, beginning in
the 1970s, with an excellent local guide. The book is a beautifully illustrated
systematic guide and also a narrative of his adventure. You may find it at
large libraries or buy the 1997 edition over the internet from Barnes and Noble
(ours was discounted to $32).
February (the time of our trip) through
early April appears to be a good time for the trip. Temperatures are generally
acceptable and rainfall is unlikely to be a problem. But being desert, it can
get quite cool at night and (in later months) hot in the afternoons.
One source of info on arranging a trip there
is Kuyima Servicios Ecoturísticos. This company may respond in English to
e-mail inquiries sent to kuyimasi@cybermex.net and offers a complete trip
package, providing tents, camping gear, food, guides and transportation over the
rough road -- this can be expensive but they are the easiest, fastest source of
info if you can do e-mail. If you have your own gear and the inclination and
patience to make your own arrangements with other local outfits, you can do a
3-day expedition for about $120 per person plus food. To drive to the trailhead
over the 23 miles of sometimes steep and twisty, rough mountain road from the
highway requires a sturdy high-clearance vehicle and a fearless disposition
undeterred by thoughts of what it will do to the vehicle -- or hiring a local
Mexican to drive a van from San Ignacio for $120 per van-full per round trip.
We did the later and considered it a sensible choice. One good provider is
Senor Padrino (phone 115-4-00-89) who speaks English and operates a restaurant
and campground located just before you enter San Ignacio. There are other
providers; one which we do NOT recommend is Senor Fisher (who has been known to
demand a second payment for the return leg of a round-trip that was supposed to
cost one payment).
SAN IGNACIO -- The town has several campgrounds and an excellent
hotel (La Pinta). It has some good-to-adequate restaurants (we recommend La
Muralla) and small stores providing a few basics. Larger supermarkets are
available in Guerrero Negro and Santa Rosalio, but you may want to stock up on
freeze-dried back-packer's food packets in the States.
There are several ways to get to San
Ignacio. You may drive 535 miles through Baja from California. This main
highway (Rte. 1) is good but has some moderately rough portions; it is prudent
to allow 3 - 4 days for an RV and one stretch involves 200 miles between
reliable gas stations. (Even at some of these the gas supply may be temporarily
exhausted and a few days' wait may be necessary.) A second way to get your RV
there is by ferry from Guaymas, on mainland Mexico, to Santa Rosalio. This
involves driving an easy divided highway for 420 miles from Nogales to Guyamas,
about 3066 Pesos (about $330) for a motorhome and two people on the ferry and
then 45 miles on a good-surfaced highway. A third way would be to fly from the
US to La Paz (where you could rent a car or van) and drive 400 miles, or fly to
Loreto where it might be possible to proceed by bus for 170 miles.
If you wish more info on
making such a trip, we would try to respond to enquiries sent to us by e-mail: Click here to write us.
Or send a "snail-mail" letter with
a self-addressed stamped envelope to our mail-forwarding service:
David Krieg and Anne Kiehl
103 Rainbow Drive, PMB344
Livingston, TX 77399-1003.
Allow up to three weeks for our reponse if
the USPS is used.