BajaNomad

February Baja Adventure (2014)

geoffff - 3-29-2014 at 03:18 PM

Here's a write-up of a 2+ weeks adventure to Cabo & back I had in February: Baja 2014

Highlights include tracking down some new (to me) rock art (including the El Progreso Pictographs, Santa Gertrudis Cave Paintings, the Sad Coyote pictograph, and the Bahia Burro petroglyphs), some new spots (Bah�a Guadalupe, La Casona at Prosperidad, Bah�a Tortugas).



I also visited some old favorites, including Sand Island, Valle de los Cirios, Bah�a San Rafael, Mission Santa Gertrudis, Malarrimo Beach, the whales of Laguna San Ignacio, San Juanico, Bahia Concepcion, the peninsula north of La Paz, and a tour of the Cabo coast.



Lowlights include an getting myself stuck, an engine fire, and a tire delamination:



Overall, I come away with a sense of change -- of the impermanence of Baja California as I like to think of it.

I see more pavement, more houses, more security guards, and more �No Trespassing� signs. I see �Public Access� signs � little delineated slivers of beach among private property were the public can still get to the shore. This is especially the case from La Paz south to Cabo. I suspect I will never want to visit that area again. If I want �Public Access� beach zones, I can experience them right here at home.

The reason I drive 2 � days from my home in Seattle to the Mexico border is to experience places where I can feel like I have the world to myself � where I can go anywhere, camp anywhere, and hardly see another person. The Highway 5 pavement south from San Felipe is almost completed, and with it the feel of the north gulf is changed forever. Well, perhaps not � if for some reason finances change and the money dries up someday, the pavement will be left to rot and crumble away � like the old Puertecitos road I experienced in 2005.

Anyway, enough whining. There are still some remote beaches without paved access roads � and hopefully there will always be. Besides, I had a fantastic trip!



-- Geoff

[Edited on 4-25-2019 by geoffff]

willardguy - 3-29-2014 at 03:55 PM

hey i notice in the stuck photo you're using one of those get yourself unstuck traction boards. did it do the trick? how did the sportmobile catch fire? great report!

Pacifico - 3-29-2014 at 04:51 PM

Awesome trip and adventure! U2U sent.

blackwolfmt - 3-29-2014 at 05:27 PM

great report looks like you had a great time, dang battery cable was keepin you on your toes

geoffff - 3-29-2014 at 05:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
hey i notice in the stuck photo you're using one of those get yourself unstuck traction boards. did it do the trick?


Yeah, the MaxTrax. My first time using them! Two MaxTrax helped, but still weren't quite enough with my rear axle down in the muck. Four would have been ideal.

I did end up using the MaxTrax again later in my trip in a similar situation -- but before I got my rear axle sunk down so far, and the 2 MaxTrax under my front wheels did get me out that time.
Quote:
Originally posted by willardguyhow did the sportmobile catch fire? great report!


I've got more on my website about the fire, etc: http://octopup.org/baja2014/san-rafael#fire

-- Geoff

David K - 3-29-2014 at 05:37 PM

Incredible... 5 gold stars! Thank you Geoff!

David K - 3-29-2014 at 05:42 PM

PS... do a search here on Nomad about the peril of Boca Grande mud pit. Barry A is just one Nomad with a horror story.

The mines in the hills near where you camped (north, off the San Francisquito road)... Do you know what they are or if there was activity going on?

There was a helicopter flying around the region with a huge metal detector below it, a few years ago.

Bwana_John - 3-29-2014 at 06:34 PM

Quote:

how did the sportmobile catch fire?

Quote:

A big red cable from the engine battery heading towards the back of the van was getting P-nched by the heavy house battery, which had somehow bounced up and out of its holding pan.

Cause Sportsmobile does not think it necessary to tie down the huge coach battery :rolleyes:

DosMars - 3-29-2014 at 07:21 PM

Thanks for the additional pics Geoff! You didn't mention you hit Bahia Guadelupe. We're heading there in mid April to pick up my buddy Mark. Check out his Salsipuedes Canyon report, he should have some amazing pictures up when he gets back to a computer...


[Edited on 3-30-2014 by DosMars]

geoffff - 3-29-2014 at 10:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
The mines in the hills near where you camped (north, off the San Francisquito road)... Do you know what they are or if there was activity going on?

There was a helicopter flying around the region with a huge metal detector below it, a few years ago.

No, I've never seen signs of recent mining activity in that area. The roads still showed very little evidence of use.

The helicopter with the giant metal detector -- I took photos of that in 2009!

-- Geoff

geoffff - 3-29-2014 at 10:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
PS... do a search here on Nomad about the peril of Boca Grande mud pit. Barry A is just one Nomad with a horror story.

Looks like this post has the Barry A and Pappy Jon stories on getting stuck there at Boca Grande:

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=16243

Thanks for sharing!

I'm pretty sure I would have freaked out if I even suspected the tide might come in through those rocks and flood the playa.

-- Geoff

oladulce - 3-30-2014 at 06:40 AM

Beautiful photos and great presentation on your website geoffff. Thought I'd found my favorite photo and then you'd top it with an even better one! The shot of the night stars and the aerial photos especially!

TMW - 3-30-2014 at 12:04 PM

Excellent, great pictures. Long trip from Seattle. Thanks

renebruz - 3-30-2014 at 05:36 PM

Geoff, great trip report, It's sad to hear about the beaches around La Paz, I was just down in Nov toward Loretto and had a blast, found some nice beaches with nobody around, doing same trip this Nov for the Baja 1000 again, and was hoping to find some nice stuff that way... I also flew a multi rotor, except I built mine not as easy to fly as those Phantoms, but very good way of seeing things you wouldn't normally see I fly a vtail simple copter www.flickr.com/photos/renebruce/sets/72157637362034815/ will show ya a few shots I got... now I'm off to China next week to finalize some stuff on multirotos as I have one now that flys 45min it's a hex copter... anyhow great great stuff !!! Enjoyed your site !!! O try the Cooper Discovery tires, I bought 3 sets of them BFG as the kelly awr safari didn't come 17" and after 3 sets of them bfg and only getting 30k per I'm over it, my lil subie I just got some gener grabbers and they seam to be sweet, they are 60k warranty, the truck tires I got are 50k in snow them bfg were horrible compare to them kellys.....

geoffff - 3-30-2014 at 08:52 PM

Thanks, everyone!

Yeah, the DJI Phantom is amazingly easy to fly. I only get 7 minute flights, but that's all I need.

General Grabbers are the tires I'm currently thinking of getting as replacements. They seem to be good BFG T/A KO clones.

-- Geoff

[Edited on 3-31-2014 by geoffff]

geoffff - 3-30-2014 at 09:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by oladulceThe shot of the night stars and the aerial photos especially!

That night shot with all the stars visible was a bit of a trick -- I set the camera up for a 30 second exposure, with all the van lights off. Then while the photo was being exposed, I went into the van and flipped all the lights on & off for just an instant.



And this is the aerial gear I'm using: DJI Phantom with FatShark goggles.

-- Geoff

wilderone - 3-31-2014 at 07:59 AM

WHAT AWESOME PHOTOS

Ateo - 3-31-2014 at 03:22 PM

Almost missed the report. Wow. Love those aerial shots in the El Datil area.

You are the man extricating yourself from the mud.

What a great Baja experience.

David K - 3-31-2014 at 06:36 PM

Having that helicopter with a camera is sure cool... How long do the batteries last before recharging?

geoffff - 3-31-2014 at 08:15 PM

I only get about 6 minutes carrying the camera payload. But I have lots of batteries and keep them all charged.

I can fly it about a mile away and back in this time.

-- Geoff

[Edited on 4-1-2014 by geoffff]

Pacifico - 3-31-2014 at 08:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by geoffff

General Grabbers are the tires I'm currently thinking of getting as replacements. They seem to be good BFG T/A KO clones.

-- Geoff

[Edited on 3-31-2014 by geoffff]


Geoff,

I'm currently running the red label General Grabbers on my truck. Mine are wearing down pretty quickly and I have a friend that has them and is experiencing the same. There is also the Grabber AT2 (I think it's called) that might last longer. The Grabbers were WAY cheaper than BFG's though.

churro - 3-31-2014 at 08:54 PM

Amazing!!!! I Got to get back down there SOON!!!Thanks for the report!

Sweetwater - 3-31-2014 at 09:12 PM

Yup, another big thanks for that report.

I find myself agreeing with you since my moto trip a few weeks ago. The big greed with big money is back. We can only hope it gets derailed and try to keep ourselves from getting locked out.

Marc - 4-5-2014 at 05:40 PM

Geof, "The times they are a changing."

BajaBlanca - 4-5-2014 at 08:27 PM

What an amazing report and incredible pics. Thanks sooooo much for taking the time to post.

Baja is changing, our town changes every single day and we are small, very small.

cpg - 4-10-2014 at 09:50 AM

Wow those photos are bad ass!.
Thanks for the report and sharing the pictures!

4x4abc - 5-13-2014 at 01:32 PM

great pics, Geoff!

jimcallard - 5-13-2014 at 07:57 PM

Great report and photos.

güéribo - 6-1-2015 at 08:02 AM

Had to bump this one to the top--so beautifully done. Thank you.

SFandH - 6-1-2015 at 08:50 AM

Thanks for the photos. The Scorpion Bay photo shows exactly why the place is so popular. Did you have a longboard with you?

[Edited on 6-1-2015 by SFandH]

Von - 6-1-2015 at 12:00 PM

Thanks I needed a good shot of Baja love. Cannt wait to go and get lost down south :)


Awesome reports and pictures!

Ken Bondy - 6-1-2015 at 03:35 PM

Fantastic post!! Magnificent!! Gracias!!!

David K - 4-23-2019 at 08:17 PM

Bump up of geoffff's super 2014 trip report.

Skipjack Joe - 5-1-2019 at 10:32 AM

What happened to most of the report and pictures? Most has been removed.

David K - 5-1-2019 at 12:22 PM

In this 2014 trip, his photos are all thumbnails in the first post, click to enlarge.

If you are seeking his newest trip, look for (2019) in the title.
Geoffff did a post "Poking Around Baja" showing the pot farm he stumbled upon on the 2019 trip but did remove his original drone photos showing that and the two workers... Fearing safety for his family, I guess?

[Edited on 5-1-2019 by David K]

geoffff - 5-1-2019 at 03:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Skipjack Joe  
What happened to most of the report and pictures? Most has been removed.


Yes, this is an older trip of mine from 2014. In that case I wrote it up on my website first, so the full story is there... http://octopup.org/baja2014/gulf-north

-- Geoff