Six days in Baja

[fudgypup]

I have been to Baja more times than I can count in total but just four times on my motorcycle.  People say "don't go!  It's too dangerous!"  Well it's not exactly safe here but most of the problems in Mexico are on the mainland and not particularly Baja.  Baja is a peninsula to it's kind of like an island; there's no production or trafficking of drugs (for the most part).  Also, most of the violence in Mexico is one drug cartel going after another cartel.  Most of these people know each other, grew up in the same towns and know who they're shooting at.

Being on a motorcycle in Baja one is simultaneously anonymous AND famous.  Because you're on a motorcycle, you tend to blend  into the background.  Motorcycles aren't really a commercial target for thieves.  Drive a brand new SUV down there and you might attract the wrong kind of attention.  We are also celebrities down there because the locals love the Baja 250, 500, 1000 racers that go down there.  Kids mob us asking for "steekers por favor!"  These three little guys were begging me for stickers in Valle de Trinidad after lunch and pleading with me to jump my bike over a little dirt mound they pointed out.  Who was I to disappoint?

 

[fudgypup]

[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/rufgBjFtUik[/flash]

 

[fudgypup]

I had planned this trip a while ago but wasn't in the best of spirits to do it because I had been laid off my job in early December.  I was working for just three months for a company that turned out to be a bit too small and struggling to afford me.  They had some great leads at a food show in Germany in October from some grocery stores in South Africa and Australia and wanted to hire a sales guy to go get that business.  I did their annual operating plan so I was wondering where they were going to find the money to hire this guy.  I found out when they let me go!  :xxbah:

Bummer #2 was that I was supposed to pick up a brand new KTM 1190 Adventure R to do this trip on, but that will have to wait for a bit longer.  I'm already interviewing with a company closer to home for a better job so keep your fingers crossed.  I love my GSA but I prefer the dirt and sometimes ask too much of it offroad.  I'm thinking the KTM with its 21/18 wheel set up, longer travel suspension, lighter weight, etc... will be more fun off road than the GSA.  GSA has been a great bike though.  It's for sale if you're interested.  GARAGE QUEEN!  Only slightly used

I had done this route once before back in April of 2012.  The only really tough parts were this long stretch of deep sand south of this dry lake bed and before San Felipe on day 2.  You can see part of that in the video.  Now that I'm a better rider and have a 21" front wheel on the GSA, it was much easier than the first time; just give it the beans.

 

[fudgypup]

Mike on his new-to-him 800.  He had this big fat 2004 1150 GS that just wasn't any fun to ride.  He's having a lot more fun now.

Rich on his 690

My GSA

We started out crossing the border at Tecate.  Tijuana is just too busy and you don't want to be there after dark.  Day 1 was Tecate south on dirt through a national park called Laguna Hanson.  Saw some snow in the shade at around 5,000 feet in elevation.  Made it to Valle de Trinidad in good time to get some really good tacos.

Put a sticker up here right next to the one Jon Beck put up last year of the GS Trophy event in South America.

We made it to Mike's Sky Rancho in good time as well.  I got pole position!

Noticed another sticker

 

[fudgypup]

Day 2 was from Mike's Sky Rancho back to the highway, west and then south over a dry lake bed, through a long sandy road and then lunch in San Felipe to meet up with JD and Maria.

Mike waiting to get some rice and beans in his cake-hole

They showed up a bit later than we expected so we rolled south on the highway to get to Alfonsina's at Gonzaga Bay by dark...

but not before doing a bit of beach riding (see video).

This place is right on the water and has some spectacular views of the ocean, great fishing and just general good times.

Sunrise over the Gulf of California

You see some funny stickers out there

 

[adv]

Subscribed.

 

[KiLRoy]

Nice, subscribed :thumleft:

 

[fudgypup]

Day 3: Gonzaga Bay south to Coco's Corner, side trip to the "fountain of youth" then head back north to Catavina.

Rich checking in with wifey on the sat phone

Alfonsina's is on a spit of sand with a lagoon on the other side

After that great sunrise, we had another great meal of breakfast at Alfonsina's, gassed up, got some water and headed south to Coco's Corner.

Making friends

This road really sucks.  It's flat and pretty straight but it's littered with rocks that will give you a pinch flat if you're not careful.  I saw this parallel two track that was smooth, shallow white sand and it was too much to resist.  That was a lot of fun until I came over a hill and found myself going down a steep sandy hill down into a wash of more deep sand. 

I made it down into the wash some some difficulty but Mike was behind me and dumped his bike and honked for me to stop.  He got it back up fine and we got out of there and back onto that other horrible road.  But then just a ways ahead we saw Maria standing in the road with her 650 on its side.  Got her going and then there were a few other assorted reasons to stop, such as JD's "sympathy fall" right after Maria's.  :imaposer:  We made it to Coco's eventually.

Coco is a very interesting and friendly guy.  He's been there forever and knows all the great desert racers of the Baja 1000.  I had met him once before and we helped him for a few hours do some construction work on his new snack bar.  It was good to see he was putting it to good use.  He pulled out his "guest register" (volume 8) and was able to turn to the page from April of '12 when I was last there.  Sharp as a tack.

Maria had some problems with her 650 I suspected was due to a loose battery terminal (same as last year's trip).  She and JD stayed to fix that and Mike and Rich and I took a little side trip of about 23 km's out to this "fountain of youth," which is a sulphur spring that has deposited this white limestone shelf over thousands of years.  I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  The road was a lot more chewed up this time from the Baja race though.

We got back only to see Rich had a rear flat.  We spent quite a while trying to fix that.  Had trouble with the bead lock and had to improvise a new rim strip.  Gave us some time to chat w/Coco.  I had heard this story from another old timer about something funny Coco had done way back in the day and wanted to hear Coco's version.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as funny for Coco at the time (1968) and I instantly regretted asking him about it.  The guy has a big heart though for sure.  He gets around with no legs quite well for 77 years of age.

https://www.bajaexpo.com/coco.htm

SCORE race course markers

Sweet D90 yeah?

Coco was loving on Maria and really wanted her to donate her panties to hang up

A true gentleman!  :lol8:

Made it to Catavina just in time to empty them of all their tequila  :laughing4: 

 

[Knucklhead/knuckey]

Leka

 

[The Badger]

Thanks for the interesting RR so far..... :thumleft:

 

[lj111]

:sip: :thumleft:

 

[fudgypup]

Day 4: Catavina north a bit then west on dirt out to the Pacific coast of Baja, north along the water then back north east to the highway.  Long day.

I gave JD and Maria an alternate route for them that was a bit of dirt, a bit of coast only short and easier.  We ended up arriving at El Rosario at the same time!  Mike and Rich and I did about 170 miles.

Mike at our 10:30 snack break

The cactus there are the most beautiful I've ever seen.  Super tall saguaros and thousands of them.  I grew up in Arizona and never saw that many.  You have to watch it too because getting those in your skin makes for a bad day.  I hit one on my barkbuster hand guard then later on the arm but luckily none went through.

The terrain is pretty amazing.  You see this wonderful expanse of coast line and wonder "why isn' this developed yet?"  Only thing we saw was a few fishing camps along the water.  You almost expect to turn a corner and see a dinosaur pop out.  Cool geology too.  We saw all kinds of colorful strata and one in particular was a 3 foot band of dark black volcanic soot.  That must have been a bad day.

Very big cactus

This point break had three perfect rights breaking in succession, one outside, one middle and one inside.  Rights forever!

Now you see him

Now you don't

I mentioned it was 170 miles, right?  What's the range of a 690?  Not 170.  Not with empty Rotopax either    Had to loan Rich a gallon from the supertanker GSA

Ran into Daniel again driving the D90.  He was helping out this rally promoter guy I know, Scotty Breauxman, and another guy while they rode.

Made it to El Rosario and got a shower at the Cactus Inn, then dinner at Mama Espinosa's.  This place had really slow service.  I think it's because there's two hotels within walking distance.  El Metate down the street was much better but I didn't want to ride the bikes after dark and after a few margaritas.

Ran into Daniel and Scotty and crew again at the restaurant

The first time I did this route in '12 a buddy of mine got hit by a truck and we spent most of the day trying to get his front wheel fixed.  Always got to watch the corners.

 

[BryanOC6]

:sip:

 

[Kaboef]

Subscribed....

 

[silvrav]

sub...

 

[fudgypup]

Day 5: El Rosario north on some highway to a dirt section starting at Camalu, then continuing north and ending at Coyote Cal's in Erendira.

This was originally a seven day ride but we only had six this time, so these last two days had a bit more pavement than planned.  We headed up the highway after a great breakfast at El Metate in El Rosario.  Mike realized he'd lost his wallet back in Catavina, probably while filling up with gas.  We were able to loan him some cash after a stop at the local gas station, Pemex (government owned station).

After about a little over an hour of pavement, we hit the dirt trails at Camalu and headed up the coast past some really great scenery.

Not sure the story of this ship but I heard it ran aground in the 70's or 80's.  Local fisherman push off here in their "pangas" or small boats for abalone, etc...  We saw a few surfers and stand up paddlers that day.

Look how tiny Maria is!  I think she's 4'11" (150 cm) but she wears these platform motorcycle boots.

At the ship, we gave JD and Maria the easy tracks and said we'd meet up in Colonet for a late lunch.  We wanted to check out these dunes Scotty told us about.  They ended up catching us as we had a few detours looking for this road around a point.  We got to the turnoff for Colonet and while we could have taken a left and seen the dunes, it was already almost 2:00 and I wanted to be sure we got to Erendira before dark, so we all went to get lunch in Colonet.

After a really great lunch of tacos and beer, we did some more highway north to Erendira to Coyote Cal's, a well known hostel.

View south to Punta Colonet

Room 8 has four bunk beds but it was just Mike and I.  Rich got his own room, as did JD and Maria.

Rick runs Coyote Cal's, which was started by his father, Cal, way back when.  They get a lot of motorcycle travelers, fishermen, etc... down there.  Lulu is a local he hired to help run the place and serve drinks.  We were lucky to see her, as she is going to school in Ensenada now and only came down over the break to make some cash.  His wife, Ta, is Thai and is an amazing cook along with a great massage therapist.  Rich and Mike got massages and said she's the best.

Lulu

Okay, so I had some tequila...

 

[fudgypup]

Scotty Breauxman runs this Baja Rally.  Here's a video where you can see those dunes we wanted to get to...

[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/XjVBGbHmzhg[/flash]

 

[fudgypup]

Day 6:  Erendira to home.

The last day of this trip when I did it the first time back in April of '12 was the first time I didn't really want to go home.  I wanted to keep riding!  But this time I was ready to go home.  I typically don't like to ride the same tracks twice.  I like the novelty of new scenery and experiences.

So we packed up, had a great breakfast of Begian waffles and the others gassed up from Rick's own 55 gallon gas drum.  He's rp proud of the pump he got in Thailand and had always wanted one.

He's got a compressor hose too.  You should see some of the pictures posted here... they show what looks like hundreds of dirtbikes parked outside.

We suited up, said goodbye to Lulu and then set off on the highway north through Ensenada (horrible traffic), east a bit to Ojos Negros, then north on dirt (Compadre trail) up to Tecate.

I'd like to bring my kids back here for a fishing trip

The ride back was fast.  We let JD and Maria go at their own pace while we raced ahead.  Left my tank bag open a bit and lost my air gauge.   We did find one last really good taco stand in Tecate called Mis Tacos.

Great trip once again.  No one got hurt.  Only problems were some loose battery terminals and one flat.  ;D

If anyone wants to come see Baja, let me know!

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

Nice ride!

8)

 

[adv]

im coming to BAJA!!!!

Can I bring my XRR?  >