Baja excursion

Times Reporter 

 

When Leslie Pringle is not running the Eagle Lake RV Resort in the summer months, she is always thinking about what part of the world she wants to explore next. Recently, she and three other women travelled down the Baja Peninsula on mules from September 2013 to March 2014. This was Pringle’s third time doing the trip and she enjoyed every moment of the adventure. The trip entailed 1,000 miles on mules through Mexico.

“I work hard all summer, so I make sure I go away and do something big every couple of winters,” said Pringle.

“So a few winters ago in around 2008 I started doing some mule rides down in Baja, Calif. and Mexico.”

When Pringle ventured down to the Baja on her first trip, she was fortunate enough to be able to travel with people with vast knowledge of the area.

“On that first trip I ended up lucking out riding with some people who are anthropologists and others who are big into rock art and I got to know a lot of the people, one of the ladies on the trip is still a huge rock artists,” said Pringle.

Pringle’s interest in excursions came from the explorers, who first travelled the Baja on the Meling Expedition many years ago.

What those explorers had to do is ride their mules to a place where there was grain, as that would have been the food source for both the rider and the animal.

“The (explorers) had to follow the feed. So they had done grain dumps, there was 13 places they had been able to get trucks into and leave grain,” said Pringle.

“So what they would do is ride for about  three weeks and then stop at a ranch for a week to 10 days, buy a cow, slaughter it, dry it and process it so there was enough food for the humans.”

The food supply then consisted of dried beef, rice and beans.

The trip for those explorers was an enjoyable one but there was a covenant signed to not reveal stories on the trip.

“This was a real exploratory trip, a lot of fun. A covenant was signed not to publish, so no stories , there was only one time that there was any publication about this ride and other than that it was a completely unknown adventure,”said Pringle.

With this knowledge in mind and her most recent journey being  complete, Pringle wanted to replicate the same journey with a friend and her daughter.

“I had gotten to know Trudy Angel, the owner of Saddling South in Baja, Calif. So together we decided to re-create this ride and each of us took on different aspects of the organizing and responsibilities,” said Pringle.

“So Olivia (Trudy’s daughter) joined us. It was the three of us that were going to ride the whole thing and we had different guests joining us. Sometimes we found our own way, sometimes we hired guides  and cowboys.”

The three women had set goals for the excursion and wanted to make people aware that it is a safe area to tour in.

“We had four goals. One was to replicate as near as we could the Meling Expedition but we did it in reverse because that way it would be gradually getting warmer as we went north,” said Pringle.

“We also wanted to show that this part of the world is safe for tourism, a friendly, warm and welcoming country.”

A part of the journey, as well, was to raise awareness for their favorite non-profit associations.

“I’ve got Coins for Classrooms which delivers school supplies to disadvantaged learners and we ask them for a wish list and we fundraise to provide a specific thing. If it’s available then we’ll take the money down and let the school buy it from the locals,”said Pringle. 

Other organizations that Trudy, Olivia and Leslie took on were Living Roots Baja and Mujeres de Golfo, which helps the less fortunate in Mexico.

Some of the highlights included staying safe and being able to experience some of the culture  on her own.

“I appreciate surviving a black widow bite. I cherish the time I got to spend in the back country, seeing a lifestyle that’s going to exist only for another couple of generations and being taken in by these people,” said Pringle.

If you are interested in following Pringle on her adventures you can get more information on the group’s Facebook page at La Mula Mil.