Baja Hiker Ruefully Discovers His Companion Is Mule-Headed

Meanderings of a redheaded Englishman and his burro . . .

Graham Mackintosh, 46, who is walking down the middle of Baja California to Cabo San Lucas so he can write a book about it, has been afoot on the peninsula a month now.

He successfully negotiated the Sierra de Juarez Mountains--where his burro nearly froze to death--last week and pulled in for a brief respite at Mission San Vicente, about an hour’s drive south of Ensenada.

His wife Bonni met him there and returned the other day with her husband’s written account of life on the trail.

Mostly, it dealt with his trying to convince the burro that walking to Cabo with 200 pounds on his back is an adventure and that he should treat it as such.

The burro wouldn’t buy it.

“It seems a tired burro can be a grumpy, irrational beast,” Mackintosh wrote early in his journal.

The two eventually learned to get along, relying on the hospitality of ranchers at times for water and food, and living off the land when there were no ranches.

“Once, I tied him to a tree 150 yards from my camp so he could enjoy better grazing,” Mackintosh said. “Early in the morning his rope broke and instead of sneaking off, he wandered up to my tent and stood waiting, as good as gold. I showered him with hugs, carrots, tortillas and other treats. My trust grew to the point where I’d let him wander freely while I made or broke camp.”

Several days later, though, the burro grew tired of being Mackintosh’s beast of burden. He made his break and ran off to join another burro.

“I grabbed the halter and a carrot and took off after him,” Mackintosh said. “But as I went faster, so did he. Soon I was running, falling farther behind as he crashed through the bushes. I chased him for over two miles to where the other burro stood with a group of horses.

“When Mision [the burro’s name] saw the other burro, he was suddenly sniffing, cavorting and playfully biting and kicking. I couldn’t believe the transformation. The two of them acted like long, lost buddies.

“Mision was free and wasn’t going to let me catch him. My carrot was woefully inadequate. I gave up and returned to my campsite. I was miles from anywhere with all my supplies and equipment--but no burro.”

Mackintosh eventually tracked down some vaqueros, or cowboys, who agreed to lasso Mision and return him to his master.

Mision was captured, then treated to alfalfa and water, and Mackintosh was invited to spend the night. The next day, the two made their way precariously back into the desert, eventually ending up at Mission San Vicente.

The mission, founded in 1780, is being excavated and partially renovated. Mackintosh volunteered his services and spent three days there cleaning such artifacts as “an 1820s coin, a heavy-caliber bullet, and an assortment of porcelain from China, Great Britain and Puebla near Mexico City.”

Man and beast left San Vicente on Thursday, headed for the majestic San Pedro Martir Mountains despite warnings from ranchers of the many mountain lions that occupy the high country.

Since all Mackintosh has for a weapon is a machete, they gave him some firecrackers and told him to light them occasionally to keep the lions away. That was hardly reassuring to Bonni Mackintosh, who drove home to San Diego “wishing I had bumped up his life-insurance policy.”

WHERE THE BOYS GO

The Rolling Stones, who performed twice recently at Dodger Stadium, decided to get in a little fishing while they were here.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards went on one boat, and Ron Wood, his wife, Jo, their young son and Bernard Fowler, one of the backup singers, went on another.

Fred Archer, a Dana Point tackle manufacturer and author of fishing books, met the band and took the Wood group out in search of yellowfin tuna.

“It’s amazing what neat, regular people they are,” Archer told Western Outdoor News. “. . . I was a little nervous because I love their music . . . but these are family guys and they love to fish.”

Archer got them into an afternoon bite and Wood’s son, Ty, caught his first tuna.

TROUBLED WATERS

A group representing a large fleet of commercial swordfish fishermen in Mexico reportedly is lobbying to change a law requiring them to fish at least 50 miles offshore. They want to set their gill nets as close as 15 miles.

That would effectively mean removing the “sport-fishing only” designation on dorado and all species of billfish, which cannot escape gill-nets any easier than swordfish can.

“The problem is that swordfish are caught with nets, and when they try to get swordfish they’ll get all the other fish we rely on to stay in business,” Geronimo Cevallos, general manager of El Cid resort in Mazatlan, said in a recent phone interview. “This is an extremely dangerous situation.”

Commercial fishermen long have argued that since these fish are migratory and targeted commercially elsewhere--swordfish off California and dorado, or mahi-mahi, off Hawaii--they should not be under such severe restrictions.

That is true enough, but to allow them--with their highly effective but totally indiscriminate gear--this kind of freedom would be a telling blow to the economies of such resort towns as Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Acapulco, which rely on healthy fisheries to keep the tourists coming.

NO FLY-FISHING JOKES

The Papua Post Courier in New Guinea reports a run on condoms by local sport fishermen, who have discovered that the contraceptives are more deceptive than any conventional tuna lure.

Apparently, when rigged properly and trolled behind boats, the condoms fill with water, become translucent and take on an appearance similar to live squid, a favorite prey of yellowfin tuna.

JAWS, THE REVENGE

Five fishermen aboard the private boat No Slackers were set adrift recently off Dana Point by a 70-pound mako shark that bit through their steering lines.

The San Diego Log reports that the 6-foot shark swam up to the stern of the boat, whereon Todd Rodriguez of Laguna Hills grabbed it by the tail and tried to pull it aboard. The reluctant shark tried to bite the nearest object.

Unfortunately for the boaters, that was the hydraulic steering cable. The shark eventually let go and swam away, leaving the fishermen stranded until help arrived.

SKI AREA OPENING

Only Mountain High in Wrightwood among local ski areas is scheduled to be operating this weekend, with limited skiing on 15 inches of man-made snow.

Other areas, including Bear Mountain and Snow Summit at Big Bear Lake and Snow Valley in Running Springs, are making snow when evenings are cool enough but have not scheduled opening dates.

Farther north, Mammoth Mountain, Heavenly and Boreal ski resorts are open with limited runs.

MISCELLANY

The annual Bob Marriott’s Educational Fly Fishing Fair will be held Saturday and Sunday at Marriott’s in Fullerton. The event is expected to attract 5,000 fly-fishing enthusiasts from around the country, including such big names as Lefty Kreh, Nick Curcione, Joan Wulff and Gary LaFontaine. Casting demonstrations, travel seminars and manufacturers exhibits will be featured. Details: (714) 525-1827.

The Sportfishing Assn. of California’s annual Casino Night fund-raiser is tonight at 6:30 at the Balboa Pavilion in Balboa. Cost is $55, which includes $100 worth of gaming scrip and a buffet dinner. More than $50,000 in prizes--from tackle to long-range fishing trips--will be raffled. Tickets will be sold at the door.

The West Coast’s largest artificial reef, situated three miles west of Huntington Beach pier in 90 feet of water, became even larger Thursday when volunteers from United Anglers of Southern California supplemented it with 5,000 street light poles donated by Southern California Edison. The Bolsa Chica Reef has become home to a wide variety of marine life and thus has boosted fishing opportunities for anglers.

The Long Beach Casting Club, in cooperation with the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Department, will hold its annual kids’ fishing derby Saturday from 8 a.m.-noon for children 2-15. Biggest fish earns a new bicycle. Details: (310) 598-2403.

Whale researcher Michelle Kinzel-Porter will give a presentation titled “The Gray Whales of British Columbia” Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. The program will focus on the increasing number of gray whales spending the summer off Canada instead of migrating to and beyond the Bering Sea. Admission is free. Details: (310) 548-8500.

In an attempt to “de-mystify” the state’s deer management program, the Department of Fish and Game is inviting Southland hunters to a series of sessions where they can voice their opinions. They are scheduled Dec. 2 from 7-9:30 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Government Center’s first-floor meeting room; Dec. 3, 7-10 p.m. at Prado Regional Park in Chino, and Dec. 4, 6-10 p.m. at the San Diego Ramada Inn’s Mississippi Room.

For the record: It was reported here last week that Hawaii’s Todd Chesser was killed last winter by a giant wave while surfing Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore. Chesser actually was surfing a nearby break because Waimea was closed-out at 25-plus feet.