EL CAMINO REAL in Baja, Part 11, San Fernando to Alta California
Baja Almanac page 15:
Mision San Fernando Velicata was the first Franciscan founded mission in California in 1769 (and the only one in Baja). Junipero Serra found the site to be much more suitable than arid and limited Santa Maria de los Angeles, the final Jesuit mission (in California).
Junipero Serra's route north to San Diego bypassed El Rosario (the next mission, founded 5 years later) and instead went north past San Juan de Dios and into the lower foothills of the Sierra San Pedro Martir not returning to the coastal plain until the San Telmo/ Colonet region of today.
Harry Crosby's book (GATEWAY TO ALTA CALIFORNIA) is a superior guide to Serra's exact route from El Rosario to San Diego.
The Camino Real to the next mission (Rosario, founded by the Dominicans in 1774) traveled west from San Fernando.
Where the arroyo bends south at the base of the petroglyph cliff, the old trail went into the small canyon just to the right/north of that cliff and continued west.
The next point on the Camino Real was a water hole called SANTA URSULA. Howard Gulick drove to Santa Ursula in 1953. The road to it is 2.0 miles west of (now gone) Rancho Arenoso, on the old main road. Rancho Arenoso was just south of the highway at Km. 106 (west the the bridge named Arenoso I), the ruins were visible from the pavement for many years, some still are.
Going south to Santa Ursula, 6.9 miles from the old main road, Gulick found an old adobe house, remains of an old dam and an irrigation ditch.
The next water hole was called AGUA AMARGA and is located on ARROYO SAN VICENTE, probably close to the merging with ARROYO LA BURRA. Another water hole called LAS CUEVITAS was beyond Agua Amarga.
The Camino Real turns north up ARROYO EL SAUCE the turns west at about the 30° line of latitude passing the north side of MESA LA SEPULTURA and crosses the Punta San Carlos road just south of Highway One.
A place called SAN ANTONIO was on the old trail. Continue west to the older road going from El Rosario to Punta San Carlos, which was reached about 5 miles southwest from El Rosario. The Camino Real and that auto road took the same route on to El Rosario.
>From El Rosario north to Alta California both Highway One and El Camino Real were mostly parallel and close together. Exceptions would be were the ECR went inland via Mision Santo Domingo and San Telmo de Arriba, staying in the foothills between San Quintin to just north of Colonet. Also, San Vicente to Santo Tomas was partly west of Highway One.
See the Howard Gulick maps of El Camino Real, on the next page.
Enjoy exploring Baja as much as the pioneers of the past and the adventurers of today!