Can( y)on Tajo Baja CA Mexico near San Diego

Has visitation increased since the Northern Mexico including Canon Tajo guidebook came out? Is that the most updated climbing guide available? Are you up for a weekend there? Its a couple of hours south of San Diego CA. Passport required. I'm not sure what kind of vehicle is needed on the roads. Google Canon Tajo for info.

ClimbBaja wrote: There is an increasing number of Mexican climbers in northern Baja, under the mentoring of Tajo climbers.

Climb Baja.... thank you so much for all that you have done to protect one of the most awesome climbing spots to be found anywhere on the planet.

It makes me feel good to know that some of the locals have picked up our sport.

Many years ago while returning from another trip I made down there with several other climbers we were getting some cold beers at one of the stores located where the Dirt Road cuts off from the Paved road (hwy 2 IIRC..by the cement plant) anyway there are some prominent large boulders right there, so we started to boulder on the excellent stone. We noticed a few young guys watching us. My GF went over to them and struck up a conversation, she was the only one of US who spoke Spanish, and invited them over for some beer and we showed them just what we were up to. They seemed interested and curious about the climbing. They told my GF that there were indeed many places close by that have boulders even larger than the ones we were climbing on.
Anyway we decked these guys out with climbing shoes and chalk bags, with boots on, they picked up the moves quickly and we spent the rest of the afternoon bouldering. When it was time to leave and we started changing out of the boots, our new friends took off the loaner boots and tossed them back into the van, we made a decision to "Plant a Seed" ...... as E said. So we gave them Boots and chalk bags- bid them farewell and took off for home.
Its good to know that there are some local climbers down there, maybe one of those guys that got a free pair of shoes is a climber now.

Climbing down there is really an adventure, every time I go, something wonderful or scary goes down.....we have a real international climbing destination and its right next door.

I hope that every American who goes there is a good ambassador and takes the time to shop at local stores and hit the restaurants... you can learn a lot about the people who live in Northern Baja and have a blast.

There's a guidebook? Man what I would have given for one of those 20 yrs. ago when I had time to explore. The only info I could ever get was copying handwritten topos from San Diego climbers, the few that had been down there at least.

Fat Dad..... oh that would have ruined the experience. The first time I went there we drove the land cruiser around for two days before we found the big stone... and what a stone it is!

Baja I was there twenty years ago and didn't drive. I read the dozens of pages of rants and attacks on potential guidebook authors. The haters claimed that a book would destroy the area. Now a book exists, visitation has increased and no one is saying that Tajo has been destroyed. You echoed what Kennedy said-Americans are afraid to go. You're angry that you haven't been paid for your route names, you're angry that the info is wrong but you refused to help the authors to make the info right.

???

other.... this is an argument as old as the hills, namely .... guidebooks bring the hordes.

Im sure that this has been argued to death and deserves its own topic.

I don't know if visitation has increased. I do know that from 1976 to 1988 (the last time I was there) visitation increased cause there were more climbs. But I never ran into another group of climbers.

I know that the wildness of the place changed. In 76 there was open range cattle ranching going on. In 88 there were small farms, homesteads, sprinkled around the landscape.....

So if you have some sort of AX to grind, why don't you come out and be more specific????

Stop beating around the bush... this is MP after all.

cheers.

"You give a guy climbing shoes,,,,awesome! But that isn't how the climbing community grows."

p.m. ..... you got a beef with ME?

If you ask, I will tell you all I know about the place. I do not have the time to spend writing guide books.

Over at Super Taco.... there is a long running thread about this place. Many of the active players post there all the time.... have you asked what is up?

I bet you would get some very up to date information if you did.

the LAST time I visited the place was 25 years ago so I would hate to give out stale old information.....

I recommend the "South Face" route, a 10 pitch 10B? or the next climb over... Joya... the Jewell 11B(?) 10-11 pitches... bolted face climbing.

Have a nice day.

So the noob feels like he can lecture everyone else about how everything has transpired since climbing began.

If you have a vision of what climbing and the climbing community should be, great. That's your vision. It's not everyone's vision. If you want a guarantee of easy to find climbs, bomber bolts, and guarantees of maximum efficiency for your limited vacation time, fine. Stick to sport climbing. However, that is not everyone's goal in climbing.

No one like spending most of their time finding climbs, but some people still like adventure and the feeling of climbing in an area that requires some work. No one likes old bolts, but some see them as an inconvenience vs. an impediment. If you want to find out more about an area, great. Keep doing what you're doing. Find a local and go. Mugs Stump had a dream of finding the biggest, raddest alpine climb, doing it, leaving no trace and then not telling anyone. That wasn't the dream though. It was hearing someone else say that they had just found and climbed the same route, thinking they had done it for the first time.

If you want to share, good for you. If others don't, that's there gig. Some of us don't need someone to hold their hand for them.

ClimbBaja...... thank you for posting updated information. The place is a changing but that is the way "progress" works, I guess.

Thank you for all the work you do taking care of things.

Guy Keesee wrote:ClimbBaja...... thank you for posting updated information. The place is a changing but that is the way "progress" works, I guess. Thank you for all the work you do taking care of things.

+1

It is also great to hear of the growing numbers of local climbers.