desert calendar - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

12-mile climb is a nerve-racking experience,
even in a jeep.
At the top of the grade we passed
through the little settlement of Alaska,
built in the '20s by Gen. Abelardo
Rodriquez, then governor of the district,
as a summer capitol. Two miles
west of Alaska we left the Mexicali-
Tijuana highway and followed the unimproved
road which winds to the
south across the plateau which is the
top of the Sierra Juarez.
Most of the way it is a 15-mile-anhour
road, but despite its crooks and
sand and rocks it passes through a
lovely mountain terrain covered with •mpppppp
pinyon, Rhus ovata, manzanita and
juniper. We passed through an old 1
placer field near La Milla and stopped
briefly at a tungsten mine where the
Tecate Mining and Milling company
is working three shifts a day.
We were gaining elevation as we
traveled south and the pinyon timber
changed to Ponderosa pine. At noon
we came to Laguna Hanson, now full
of water and one of the prettiest mountain
lakes in the California sierra.
Fringed with pines and great white
granite boulders this idyllic lake, at an
elevation of 5000 feet, is little known
except to hunters who go in occasionally
for ducks. In recent years the
lake has been nearly dry, but this
season's rains have filled it to overflowing.
Five miles beyond Laguna Hanson
we passed through an old saw mill
camp, now abandoned. Scores of
buildings bore evidence of great activity
here at one time. It is surrounded
by a fine stand of pines, but we were
told that the Baja California market
for lumber is too limited and transportation
costs too high to make it
a profitable operation.
Beyond the lumber camp we began
to lose elevation and within a few
miles had passed out of the big timber
and were rolling over hills covered
with a dense growth of red shank—
which also has an equally descriptive
and prettier name—ribbonwood.
At 115 miles from Mexicali the
winding dirt road we were following
joined the Ensenada-San Felipe road.
There has been much talk in recent
years that this road was to be paved
—but it showed no evidence of improvement.
It is just a winding trail
through the brush—a road that could
be traveled with a conventional car,
but it would be slow going, and damaging
to a new paint job.
Fourteen miles along this road Top—All the Santa Catarina men have horses, but there are no wheeled
brought us to a conspicuous landmark
vehicles in the village.
—Pino Solo. This is a great lone Pon- Center—Most of the 90-odd tribesmen in the Santa Catarina villages live
derosa pine tree standing out alone in
in tulle-thatched huts.
the bush country, many miles from Bottom—This cemetery, still used by the Indians, was established by the
any other tree of its species. On one
padres near their mission 155 years ago.
JULY, 1952