BajaNomad - BOLA TO EL ARCO

BOLA TO EL ARCO

Marc - 7-12-2017 at 06:11 AM

Any info on PRESENT condition of this road. Driving a 4X4 Tundra. Mostly concerned with BOLA to El Progresso.

David K - 7-12-2017 at 08:16 AM

Easy road... all good except a slow climb up the grade Between San Rafael (do stop and get a cold Pacifico from Pancho) and the El Arco/ PSFO road (near El Progreso).

Photos in my January (New Years) Trip #1 report. Here is the grade. You may use 4WD briefly on it if you get tire spin, but otherwise all 2WD stuff. There is a detour around a washout just before meeting the El Arco road.

Much of the road is like this!

In June (2017) I was on the El Arco-El Barril road. I don't think there was much weather that would have changed the L.A. Bay road in the past 5 months since I was on it. El Progreso and Rancho Escondido both appeared abandoned. El Barril and Piedra Blanca both advertised gas for sale, last month. The El Barril gas guy was out fishing, however.

[Edited on 7-13-2017 by David K]

Marc - 7-13-2017 at 05:31 AM

Thanks David, we are thinking of doing this in late October or early November. Hopefully the road will not suffer to much through the hurricane season.

TMW - 7-13-2017 at 12:29 PM

During your time frame there will be people pre-running for the Baja 1000 race. Be careful. Pre-running will start around October 21 or the 28. Since the race will finish in La Paz there could be pre-runners on the course at anytime between now and then as the course most likely will use the the BOLA to EL Arco section.

larryC - 7-13-2017 at 01:06 PM

I drove to San Francisquito from BoLA in June in a ford 1 ton with a 8' cabover on it and never needed 4wd. A lot can happen between now and when you go.

Marc - 7-13-2017 at 02:33 PM

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

During your time frame there will be people pre-running for the Baja 1000 race. Be careful. Pre-running will start around October 21 or the 28. Since the race will finish in La Paz there could be pre-runners on the course at anytime between now and then as the course most likely will use the the BOLA to EL Arco section.

Thanks, That was in the back of my mind. May reconsider the dates.

mtgoat666 - 7-13-2017 at 02:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Marc

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Thanks, That was in the back of my mind. May reconsider the dates.

it's a public road. The racers need to learn to share it and drive safely. They dont need to speed to pre-run it. Hell, they could probably get pics from DK to see what it looks like :light:

AKgringo - 7-13-2017 at 03:31 PM

I have shared hundreds of miles of back roads with pre-runners on two different years. The first time was by accident, it was before I even knew about BN, and had no clue that the race was going to use the route I had picked.

It wasn't a problem, in fact it added to the adventure! It was also fun chatting with some of them at places like Coco's Corner, B.O.L.A., and down in La Paz.

I don't think I would want to be on the course during the race though!

[Edited on 7-13-2017 by AKgringo]

TMW - 7-13-2017 at 03:39 PM

SCORE recommends a pre-run speed of 25mph but racers will be racers and some like to see how fast they can run a section. When I'm on a race section I keep my windows down and my am/fm radio off (not my race radio) so I can hear other vehicles better and watch for dust. I've been on many race courses during pre-runs and never had a problem. But there have been people injured and killed especially bikers.

chippy - 7-13-2017 at 04:46 PM

I´ll be headed down the peninsula around that time too. When will we know the race course?

David K - 7-13-2017 at 05:22 PM

Quote: Originally posted by chippy

I´ll be headed down the peninsula around that time too. When will we know the race course?

Maps are published when pre-running is about to begin, ie. about a month before the race. The course can change, hurricanes can cause that or complaints from racers about a section of the course. This being the 50th anniversary of the first 1000 (1967), there could be an earlier preview of the course. It is going to be longer than the typical race.

TMW - 7-14-2017 at 02:34 AM

Usually the race map is posted in the SCORE booth at the Off Road Expo in Pomona at the Fairplex Sept 30th and Oct 1st this year.

[Edited on 7-14-2017 by TMW]

AKgringo - 7-14-2017 at 02:43 AM

Sorry for a mini-hijack, but for me TMW's reply to this post is still five hours in the future!

I checked my time zone setting, and it is correct. Anybody else see the wrong date/time ?

BajaNomad - 7-14-2017 at 08:44 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Everyone here can set the Nomad clock to their own time zone. Just click the user control panel above, right link. Then click Edit Profile. Remember that most of the year many here are on Daylight Savings and we need the time zone just east of our normal one.

HOWEVER, THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE WRONG! LOL! :wow:

[Edited on 7-14-2017 by David K]

This has been addressed now.

Marc - 7-14-2017 at 10:52 AM

Are these postings set in GMT? Or in the navy ZULU time. I am posting this at 5:46 AM Pacific time.

TMW - 7-14-2017 at 11:59 AM

Thanks DK, I wondered why my time stamp was an hour off. It's reset to MT.

TMW - 7-14-2017 at 12:04 PM

That's odd. When I changed my time to MT it matched my Nomad time to my real time and when posted above DKs time changed to 12:11 and came up under my post that thanked him. This post is back to the way it was using PT. Oh well. I'll leave it to the techies to figure out.

AKgringo - 7-14-2017 at 12:08 PM

There is a one hour difference for me between being logged in, or not!

bigjohnsd - 12-15-2017 at 05:57 PM

Any updates since the race, headed this way on my KLR in February. Thanks.
John

El Cabrito - 1-16-2018 at 08:20 PM

I'll be going this route back to Bola in a few weeks, and will try to remember to update.. I'll be on my XR400

Sunman - 1-17-2018 at 09:42 AM

Drove it over xmas/new years, IMO worst part is between San Rafael and San Francisquito. Nothing to be concerned with in a vehicle with good tires, just slower going.