Pappy Jon
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Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
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Baja Adventure: Part 3
From my beach camp north of Punta Coyote I continue down the graded Gulf road. It follows the Gulf, sometimes very close, other times winding up into
the hills. It passes San Juan de la Costa, a mining town with what looked like a DOA mine. Some folks were fishing where the pier used to be. I pull
into La Paz and quickly find food. I ask a local transplant what's good and he suggests the shrimp quesadillas. They were good, but I would not order
them again. Too much cheese. I chase it down with a pair of fish tacos and a Coke. Tab, 60 pesos. I now need to navigate through town. For some reason
Mexican towns are just hard to find your way through. Call it beginners luck, but somehow I end up on the right highway. DANG I guess good.
I'm now heading for San Juan de los Planes which turns out to be a small ag town. I miss my turn and start for Bahia de los Muertos. I quickly realize
I missed my road, backtrack, and get pointed in the right direction. Well, it sounded like a good idea and the right direction. This road crawled up
over the Sierra la Gata east of town and dropped down into a wash that went to the Gulf. The road was slow. It was steep. And it was very, very
narrow. At the beach was a nice camp, occupied. From there the road climbed into the hills, and the road was cut into the side of the Sierra for
several miles. Along the way I had a great view of Bahia de los Muertos. Why Bay of the Dead I don't know ... except for the fact that from where I
was it was a drop-dead gorgeous bay. Need to check it out someday.
From there it's Los Barriles. What a nice little town. One of the few I could actually live in. As I'm driving through town I see this mustard Land
Cruiser coming at me. Looks like a mid 60's FJ40 ... until we met on the speed bump. "Nice cruiser" I yell out, then I about swing a u-turn. That
wasn't a 40, but a cherry FJ45 shorty! I shoulda, shoulda, shoulda swung that U. Anyway, I continue through town. I wanted to take the dirt road to La
Ribera, but end up on the pavement instead. I'm amazed they engineered that road the way they did. Do they really expect those rocks to stay up there?
This road was deep cut into the mountains. I continue south on the dirt road along the east cape. There are many homes here and camping is very
difficult. I consider camping at Cabo Pulmo, but continue. I finally find a track that goes to the Gulf and follow it down. 4x4 required in one spot.
It goes to the beach where I see a sailboat in the bay, and a house visible on the cliff to the south. I backtrack to a "grove" of native figs growing
out of a ledge. Great camp spot, Camp 6 on the KML, but close to the road as I hear traffic until sunset. The figs have fruit, but not very ripe. I
wonder how hard they are to grow? I find out later there are two species down there and I have no idea which one I saw. I'm assuming it was Higuera
(Ficus palmeri). Next time I know to pay attention.
The next morning I beat the chickens up and I'm on the road as the sun comes up off the water. I bypass San Jose del Cabo and take the dirt road
toward the airport. From here I want to cross over the Sierra de la Laguna to the Pacific side. I wanted to take the route that starts out south of
the airport. I get on the road coming west from Santa Rosa, but can't find the route I need. From the KML I now think I see my mistake. Anyway, I end
up driving about 7 miles north of the airport and taking a road that was relatively high in the mountains. I think I saw a 3000ft on the GPS at one
point. This was a great road and I had no problem coming from the east. The vegetation was very lush, but not what I expected. Very sub-tropical
thorn. Acacia, Cassia, Tecoma, my first encounters with Cardon-Barbon (Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum) and Palma Palmia (Brahea brandegeei), and an
unusual vine with interesting bracts which I think is Exogonium bracteatum (Convolvulaceae). The vine was growing up into the tops of trees and the
bracts were bright pink. Made the trees look like they had bright pink flowers.
On the way down the west side the road deteriorated. It was clear somebody had been up there with equipment and fixed several parts, but the repairs
were made from the top down. The repairs stopped and the lower part of the road was in eroded shape. I was coming down and in one very narrow spot my
left front tire started to slide off the edge as I was making a left turn. It was my bad, and a new line solved the problem. I would not want to drive
this road in a full size anything. As I came down the west side I, again [sigh], missed my turn and instead of going north started going south. I'm
not sure the track was on the map, but it didn't matter. I knew where I was in space, and at some point continuing south would dump me on a good road
that would take me to Hwy 19. Once on Hwy 19 I was in camp mode. A quick stop for fuel in Todos Santos and I was north on the dirt road along the
Pacific. It took me a little bit to get on this track, but wasn't that hard. Camp was made several miles north of town, and I could see the town's
lights from camp. This will be Camp 7 on the KML.
This was a typical Pacific beach camp. Lots of sand, with the usual "blowout" dunes behind the beach. I camp above the high tide line and watch the
tide come it. The bank to the beach was very steep from where the tide max'd earlier in the day. As the tide came in it started to pull sand back from
the bank and make the angle more shallow. This was a great camp and the moon rise shot taken over my truck was taken here. Running along the beach
were little white crabs (ghost crabs?). I was able to get real close with the digi-camera, but you can hardly tell the crab is there.
From here on I'm in home mode.
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Frank
Senior Nomad
Posts: 861
Registered: 6-5-2005
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Is it time to leave yet?
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Another good one Pappy.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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Hey Pappy-
I've really enjoyed your trip report so far. I've been on most of the roads you mention...you're really taking me back. I'm guessing you crossed
over from SJD on the Naranjas road...awesome...indeed.
Thanks for sharing-
Zac
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jack
Nomad
Posts: 148
Registered: 12-21-2005
Location: Kamloops BC
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Good article and it looks like you had a great trip. What does KML stand for?
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Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
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Mood: Temp rising.
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jack
What does KML stand for? |
My Google Earth file, linked in another post, and in Part One. You will need Google Earth installed on your machine and broadband to view my tracks
for the trip and waypoints/camps.
Jon
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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The Google Earth link is just outstanding! Really brings the trip report alive! Thanks for such a great trip report!
Bob H
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