EL CAMINO REAL in Baja, Part 10, Santa Maria to San Fernando
Baja Almanac page 16:
Santa Maria de los Angeles (located midway between Catavina and Gonzaga Bay's Punta Final) was the last mission founded by the Jesuit order, in 1767. They built a chapel from palm logs before being expelled from California by order of the king of Spain. The Franciscans replaced the Jesuits, and built the adobe church and residence structure whose ruins are viewed today. See http://davidksbaja.com/missionsm for photos by Neal Johns and Baja Mur.
Franciscan padre, Junipero Serra had a cargo trail constructed from Santa Maria northeast to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga. Remains of a warehouse built by the padres are still visible: http://davidksbaja.com/1102/page4.html At Gonzaga Bay, supplies were off loaded from ships to supply Santa Maria and subsequently the first Franciscan mission in California, San Fernando Velicata.
Santa Maria was abandoned as a mission in 1769, but continued as a visiting station and rest stop on the El Camino Real.
Baja Almanac page 16:
>From Santa Maria, the auto road and trail took the same path to the peninsular divide: http://davidksbaja.com/403/page3.html. There-abouts, the ECR went more northerly to a water hole known as San Antonio, then northwest to a spring called San Nicolas, located on the upper portion of Arroyo Catavinacito (the arroyo that crosses Hwy. 1 north of Catavina, by the pictograph cave).
>From San Nicolas the trail headed west to Agua Dulce, an important spring located just north of Highway 1, about 8 miles east of Rancho Sonora: http://davidksbaja.com/1102.
>From Agua Dulce the old trail and the old transpeninsular dirt road were very near each other, except that the El Camino Real went to the south of Rancho San Agustin (as does Hwy. 1).
It should be noted that the Mexican topo maps (and Baja Almanac) never plotted the new highway correctly and just 'paved' the old road (on the map) in the section from near San Agustin to San Roque, page 16. The highway actually parallels the old road, about 1-2 miles to the south and west of it.
The Camino Real parallels ARROYO SAN FERNANDO west from near San Agustin, as does Highway One.
Baja Almanac page 15:
Today's Rancho Progreso cafe is a half mile north of the old Baja road and ECR route, where that rancho used to be. It is then about 3 miles west along Arroyo San Fernando to Mision San Fernando Velicata.
The next section (to El Rosario) is quite different from the old or new transpeninsular roads!
Another water source on the old trail...
Among the beautiful photographs from Neal Johns, the bottom one at http://davidksbaja.com/neal2/page5.html showing the oasis in ARROYO AGUAJE GUILLERMO may very well be a place named 'Agua Escondida' by Arturo Grosso to Howard Guilick, in the 1950's.
This 'Agua Escondida' was between San Nicolas and Agua Dulce on the Camino Real. Gulick's 1954 map of the El Camino Real places this spring in the same arroyo where Neal's photo was taken.