Baja Graphic Arts

I discovered that Baja California has their own flag and seal. It is bold, and graphically interesting, but what the heck is this?  It took me a while to find a narrative explaining all of its meaning. 

From Wikipedia: it represents the past, the present and the future of the state. The motto "Work and social justice" is one of the goals of this state. In the upper part is the Sun, symbol of light, the main element nature gave the world and an inexhaustible source of energy, heat and life. To the sides, two human figures, with their hands joined in the middle, project a beam of light, symbol of energy. The book the man is holding in his hand represents culture. The woman is holding a test tube, which stands for chemistry, a carpenter's square, representing engineering, and an allegory for medicine. Together, these stand for the joining of intellectual work and science. 

I can figure out most of this, but I invite you to your own interpretation.

I am also enjoying the look and character of the official Mexican seal, as it appears on the national flag, with the eagle and snake motif that I remember from high school history and the founding of the Aztec empire.  A no-nonsense eagle.







Here is that eagle again, in a painting by Diego Rivera, depicting the history of Mexico from the time of the Spanish conquest - complicated maybe?
I will be staying in Loreto, the site of the first California mission - established in 1697. And from there the Spanish padres strung the chain of missions up to Sonoma, north of San Francisco.
Thank you Jared for the image.

Sea of Cortez

View Loreto Region in a larger map

I'm prepping for a trip coming up in a few days. I'll be leaving for Baja on March 9th and returning April 1st. On the Searcher. It's whale watching boat with a group put together by Michael Ellis, my naturalist friend - going from San Diego into the Sea of Cortez,  / then a few days in Cabo and Loreto / then eight days sea kayak camping on the islands and beaches south of Loreto. I had been on the Searcher before and it was an amazing voyage, so I am excited. There was so much marine life it gave me an expanded appreciation of what is just offshore. The boat's captain posts daily updates on their online ship's log - there is a link over on the right of the page and down a little, to "Captain Art".
The sea kayak leg is with a local outfitter and guides from Loreto, named Paddling South. This will be a big adventure into some new territory for me and I am looking forward to it.

I hope to include updates to this journal whenever possible, but, well, it's Baja. Not likely to be able to upload anything until reaching Cabo on the 20th, but you never know. 

Yellow pins on the map are places we should visit from the Searcher; the pink, blue and green pins are intended kayak destinations. The map should be interactive with zooming, etc.

Spam and Eggs

I am the Honolulu airport, waiting for our delayed flight to Molokai. It is super windy and flights are a little bit pushed back due to "in route weather conditions" so I can only imagine what our small plane will be like. This morning breakfast was spam 'n eggs with a poi donut at Jared's (not bad if you don't mind purple) So here we still are at 4:00, waiting for our 12:30 flight.

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Wheeler Peak

We are in Great Basin National Park: isolated, quiet, majestic. Very few visitors to this place near the border of Nevada and Utah. Twenty of us are here, camping with Michael Ellis and the group is very compatible, aged 50's to 80's and coming from Northern California, Oregon, and Long Beach.










Several days into the visit, after wonderful walks to the tree line and above, Michael has planned an optional climb of Wheeler Peak - thirteen thousand and some odd feet high, and I am among the eight that raise our hands around the campfire the night before. By breakfast, the group is reduced to six due to some injuries from the hike yesterday. We rise early to set off on the trail by seven, due to concern for possible afternoon thunderstorms.

The last time Michael was here he was on the exposed ridge in a sudden lighting storm, and he is NOT going to let that happen again. Now it is a beautiful day, and an easy first mile starting at 10,000 feet through meadows and aspin groves, but the mountain looms in the distance. The upper sections are very exposed, and the route follows a ridgeline that is easy at first and then steeper and steeper as we proceed.


The six of us stretch out along the trail - a quick count indicates that there are more bad knees than there are climbers. Soon after the trees thin out near 11,000 feet, Melody checks in by walkie-talkie to say she is turning back. Now the trail is just loose rock of all sizes and footing is tricky but Michael is powering ahead, wanting to reach the peak and celebrate with his hula hoop before his knee gives out. Richard, Lee, Jane and I plod along, offering encouragement to each other. We are also spurred on by Melody below, and now by Michael from the summit, but it is slow going.

For a while, I am in the lead and it is easy to loose the trail - just rocks on top of rocks. Now we can see the summit, but it doesn't seem to be getting any closer - this is not good. Somehow we do get to the top, the last little bit goes quickly -  Michael is ahead, waving is up with is hula hoop. The view is spectacular - Wheeler is at least a thousand feet higher than anything to the horizon.

After a few group hugs and photos of The Wheeler Peak Five, as we have been dubbed by Richard, we pick our way back down on tender knees. We all knew this would be the hard part, and it is. We survive, but somehow it is longer going down than it was going up.