| Robert, Rob and I were on the way home from one
of our many trips to the San Felipe region one year, when we noticed something
on our Baja map. There was a small road which led about 4 1/2 miles west
to a spot called "La Fortuna Mine". We read what we could about the area
- used to be an onyx mine, abandoned, lots of trails. We thought this would
be a neat place to see.
So, after a lot of searching, we found the road heading to the small hills west of Highway 5. At first, the road was fairly rough, but passable. However, it soon became clear that we would not be able to get too far. We eventually stopped at a point about 1 mile before the mine, and hiked the rest of the way. The road was simply too rough for our vehicle. Although we never found any caves or mine shafts, the region was actually quite nice. Hiking up one of the many trails gave us a great view of the marshes up to the northern portion of the Sea of Cortez. We did a bit more hiking, took some pictures, and left. About 2 years later, I drove past the road with my wife and a couple of her nieces, while on the way home from San Felipe. I noticed right away that the road had appeared to have been completely re-graded. I decided to check this out for myself. Indeed, the road was in very, very good condition all the way to the mine area. Once we got to a certain point, a chain link fence blocked our path, and a guard stood at a station just before the hills we had hiked on! Yes, the mine had been re-opened, and the facility appeared to be booming! |
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