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mcrider69
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: 11-16-2010
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Tent Camping
Thank you for the info on the campgrounds. I am making a trip in Jan./Feb. and would like to tent camp as much as possible. I can go down to 50
degrees at night before I freeze. Will the weather cooperate?
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64479
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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WHERE???
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mulegemichael
Super Nomad
Posts: 2310
Registered: 12-24-2007
Location: sequim,wa. and mulege
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it was 47 this morning here in mulege and it's likely to get colder before the winter is over...down in the east cape region it doesn't get nearly as
cold at night so i would suggest you visit around cabo pulmo, la ribera, etc...nice beaches, great fishing, super folks..
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Location: San Diego County
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Before you answer 'Baja'... keep in mind, Baja is longer than California, has 3,000 miles of costline, and almost every climate from sea level to over
10,000 feet above sea level. So, where in Baja are you going... and what kind a vehicle do you have? Your interests would help, too: fishing swimming,
hiking, off roading, fossil hunting, Spanish mission ruins, mountains, deserts, tropical oasis...???
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
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Location: Mission Viejo
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Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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DK, ya forgot "BARS"..... 
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64479
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by wessongroup
DK, ya forgot "BARS"..... |
Oh, I figured Dennis would jump on that answer! 
There are lots of things to do in Baja... The Baja Adventure Book by Walt Peterson is a great guide for many of them.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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If 50 degrees is your threshhold then either coast is fine. The lows are in the low to mid 50s.
It should be colder inland at such places like Catavina and San Ignacio, I would think, as temperatures drop in the desert without the marine layer
that acts like a buffer.
This is one of the nicer times to camp in baja. The only factor I can think of is the sporadic wind days.
http://weather.yahoo.com/mexico/baja-california/
http://weather.yahoo.com/mexico/baja-california-sur/
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tiotomasbcs
Super Nomad
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Registered: 7-30-2007
Location: El Pescadero
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Amigo, camping south of El Rosario is beautiful albeit a bit cold at night during Jan/Feb. TJ nto El Rosario can be very dangerous. Search Nomads
for previous posts! Bring good equipment. Tio
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tiotomasbcs
Amigo, camping south of El Rosario is beautiful albeit a bit cold at night during Jan/Feb. TJ nto El Rosario can be very dangerous. Search Nomads
for previous posts! Bring good equipment. Tio |
Say huh?????
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3778
Registered: 2-9-2004
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Be prepared for dampness and cold mornings (out of the sleeping bag) as well. 75% of your body heat escapes through your head, so bring a cap to
sleep in. Even a plastic poncho spread over your bag to retain body heat will help. I discovered that once when temps dropped to 15 degrees in the
Sierra Nevadas in September. Double up on your sleeping pad for insulation, or put another sleeping bag inside the other (if there's room). I have a
sleeping bag liner that adds 15 degrees. A fire on a cold morning is nice, so bring wood. I've had frost on the ground at the turnoff to Erendira in
December; Sta Inez in February; Mision Santa Maria in January. Or just get a 0 degree bag.
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chrisx
Banned
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Registered: 12-17-2009
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No, it wont cooperate.
It is winter everywhere.
Get a better sleeping bag. To milk a few more degrees out of a bag, sleep without any clothes on, wear a hat, a good one. Zip up you're warm jacket
and pull it over you're feet on the outside of you're bag. put you're rain jacket / poncho on top of you're bag, over you're chest. Bag liners are
nice, silk if you can afford it. An insulating pad helps a lot.
Have a tinder box. There are many choices, cotton balls soaked in Vaseline among the cheapest. Keep more than one lighter/matches in separate dry
places.
Know how to build a fire with rain soaked and snowed on wood. (build fire on flat rocks), (the middle of the stick is still dry, use you're knife, or
appropriate rock to remove wet outer layers.)
The list goes on and on.
Winter gear is required in the winter!
[Edited on 1-6-2011 by chrisx]
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BooJumMan
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 8-11-2007
Location: San Diego
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Just to point out that the whole 75% of your body heat going through your head is an old wives tale! Heat escapes the same amount from all parts of
your body. No offense, just pointing it out thats all.
But yes, I have camped a lot during the winter months in Central Baja and it gets very cold. Just bring lots of warm stuff to sleep in.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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We just came back from a tent-camping trip and have some advice for you. It has to do with wind.
There was plenty of it. It was blowing 30 with gusts to 40. All through the night. There periods of time when the tent flattened on top us (a 5' high
tent) only to spring back up when it diminished. We had 12" nails buried in the sand which did not hold. I ended up rolling large rocks in the night
over the nails to keep the tent from flying off. The wind blew for 3 straight nights but the first was the worse.
My recommendation is to get a quality ($300+) 4 season tent where rain flaps tie down to the very base of the tent. It may not rain in baja but you
want to be sealed inside when it starts to blow. Rain flaps that come half way down the sides fill up with air pulling the entire tent like an
umbrella.
Our experience is very common in baja during the winter. It will blow in 3 day cycles, as high and low pressure systems make their way across North
America moving west to east.
Good tent:
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
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Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Bad Tent:
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 11-15-2004
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That picture of the "bad tent" reminds me of our first trip to Punta Chivato.
Just before dark, a little car pulls up and they start setting up a tent that looked just like that.
It was very windy and there was no wind break to be found.
After I went over to say hi and saw a young mom and infant, I sent my wife over to go get them.
We fed the wife in our camper while the young dad spend an hour trying to get the tent up.
In the morning when the tent was partially blown over, they came over for coffee and to get the sand out of ... everything.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Oh, another small suggestion for tent camping in the winter.
It gets dark at 5 and stays until 6:30. Nobody can sleep that long. Bring a propane lantern (or candle) with those cartridges (sold everywhere in
baja). Don't try to get by with flashlights. Plan for evening activities (e.g., write journal, play backgammon with partner, read book, drink
Rompopo).
Personally I don't think most of us sleep enough. You don't realize how tired you had been until you sleep a series of such 12 hour nights in baja.
Come back to the states - and everything seems to be more in focus. You notice details you had never seen before. It's one of those subtle benefits of
baja traveling that is seldom appreciated.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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First Up Sand Bags
I picked some of these up and can't recommend them enough:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/First-Up-Sand-Bags/10237197
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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
Oh, another small suggestion for tent camping in the winter.
It gets dark at 5 and stays until 6:30. Nobody can sleep that long. Bring a propane lantern (or candle) with those cartridges (sold everywhere in
baja). Don't try to get by with flashlights. Plan for evening activities (e.g., write journal, play backgammon with partner, read book, drink
Rompopo).
Personally I don't think most of us sleep enough. You don't realize how tired you had been until you sleep a series of such 12 hour nights in baja.
Come back to the states - and everything seems to be more in focus. You notice details you had never seen before. It's one of those subtle benefits of
baja traveling that is seldom appreciated. |
Igor you are an absolute GEM!!! I wish I had known you when we were younger.
[Edited on 1-7-2011 by Ken Bondy]
carpe diem!
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BajaDanD
Senior Nomad
Posts: 745
Registered: 8-30-2003
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Ive used one of those "Bad Tents" for years lost the fly 5 years ago takes 10 minutes to set up even in the wind. I put a large rock inside in each
corner then set it up. I use my truck and a tarp for a wind block. Its never blown over or colapsed. I never stake it down with four large rocks and
a bunch of my gear is inside its not going anywhere. Camped all over Baja in it.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64479
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaDanD
Ive used one of those "Bad Tents" for years lost the fly 5 years ago takes 10 minutes to set up even in the wind. I put a large rock inside in each
corner then set it up. I use my truck and a tarp for a wind block. Its never blown over or colapsed. I never stake it down with four large rocks and
a bunch of my gear is inside its not going anywhere. Camped all over Baja in it. |
Same here... fast and easy... The air mattress & sleeping gear inside plus our clothes bag, is enough weight to keep it still... and when we're in
there.. it ain't going anywhere (LOL)!
The tent Igor shows looks great... I like the entryway/ airlock idea! But, I am affraid to ask the cost of it... from REI probably? Dome tents for me
and my kids are Wal Mart specials... and we have used them only in Baja and the desert... so no snow/ mountain stuff and that is probably why we get
away with cheap stuff.
We keep it real simple... a sun shade and a tent on Shell Island. Photos from last 4th of July when Ken Cooke and Leidys arrived in the Jeep, and Art
(edm-1) drove in his monster 4WD motorhome/ van.
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