Punta Final to LA Bay - Again

Quote: Originally posted by Mark_BC

Probably opened up by the dune buggies. I'm going to order some ESG books but in the meantime does anyone recall reading how passable the Botica cliff is? If they were getting pakjaks down there it couldn't be too bad. Wondering about coming up with my bike and 100 ft of rope. Any pictures of the whole cliff for perspective?

Graham Sunday 11-8-15, Bahía de los Angeles

He rounded Punta la Gringa, so he is in the bay!

Leaving Ensenada Alcatraz at 4 am this morning...



Passing Punta La Gringa at 9 am this morning...



His possible track this morning (so far)...



New Spot/ Date/ Location*/ Distance estimate (partial/ total)

#1 10-22-15 Playa Grande.................. 0.0 mi / 0.0 mi
#2 10-23-15 Punta Final...................... 8.5 mi / 8.5 mi (2 nights)
#3 10-25-15 Pto. Calamajué .............. 12.1 mi / 20.6 mi (2 nights)
#4 10-27-15 Punta Bluff .................... 15.8 mi / 36.4 mi
#5 10-28-15 Cerro Botica..................... 6.8 mi / 43.2 mi (4 nights)
#6 11-01-15 Puerto Rivada................. 14.4 mi / 57.6 mi
#7 11-02-15 North of Pta. Remedios...... 4.0 mi / 61.6 mi
#8 11-03-15 Punta Remedios................ 4.0 mi / 65.6 mi
#9 11-04-15 Bahía Guadalupe............... 3.2 mi / 68.8 mi
#10 11-5-15 Bahía Guadalupe fish camp. 1.5 mi / 70.3 mi
#11 11-6-16 Ensenada Alcatraz............. 4.8 mi / 75.1 mi (2 nights)
#12 11-8-15 Punta La Gringa............... 12.0 mi / 87.1 mi

*Location is nearest named feature on the Baja Almanac Map Book. Punta Remedios is about 4 miles south of his 11-2-15 location.


[Edited on 11-8-2015 by David K]

HE MADE IT !!!

New Spot/ Date/ Location*/ Distance estimate (partial/ total)

#1 10-22-15 Playa Grande.................. 0.0 mi / 0.0 mi
#2 10-23-15 Punta Final...................... 8.5 mi / 8.5 mi (2 nights)
#3 10-25-15 Pto. Calamajué .............. 12.1 mi / 20.6 mi (2 nights)
#4 10-27-15 Punta Bluff .................... 15.8 mi / 36.4 mi
#5 10-28-15 Cerro Botica..................... 6.8 mi / 43.2 mi (4 nights)
#6 11-01-15 Puerto Rivada................. 14.4 mi / 57.6 mi
#7 11-02-15 North of Pta. Remedios...... 4.0 mi / 61.6 mi
#8 11-03-15 Punta Remedios................ 4.0 mi / 65.6 mi
#9 11-04-15 Bahía Guadalupe............... 3.2 mi / 68.8 mi
#10 11-5-15 Bahía Guadalupe fish camp. 1.5 mi / 70.3 mi
#11 11-6-16 Ensenada Alcatraz............. 4.8 mi / 75.1 mi (2 nights)
#12 11-8-15 Bahía de los Angeles........ 20.6 mi / 95.7 mi

*Location is nearest named feature on the Baja Almanac Map Book. Punta Remedios is about 4 miles south of his 11-2-15 location.

Sure is nice to have made it to LA Bay and be in the shade and out of the wind and to have access to all the water I want. Appreciating the simple things at that moment... just like 32 years ago when I limped into LA Bay after the hardest day of my walk around the coast of Baja.

And the way the wind and tide Gods played out, I covered exactly the same distance yesterday as I did back then. Left almost exactly the same camp location in the dark, dropped down to the rocks beneath the cliffs and with my cup of water and a few sad limes walked hopefully on to Bahia not quite realizing it was 20 miles away.

And ended up on the same beach where I met and stayed with Mountain Man Mike.

So many memories and parallels... and similar times of tension, like leaving Calamajue and Punta Final.

A huge thank you David for following and sharing my route... that was awesome the way you charted and recorded the whole thing. I owe you a lot of cold ones.

It made so much difference knowing those Spot signals were going out... thanks everyone. It was a very personal trip... just an old mountain goat, and maybe a little bit of a sea slug, enjoying reliving some of the most vivid memories of his life.

I took lots of pictures of the coast I walked. When I rounded Punta Final by moonlight in some scary waves I saw the black outline of the coast and heard the roaring surf and it seemed impossible anyone could walk under those cliffs. But daylight revealed nearly all of it was walkable/climbable even at high tide.

Will post pics as I can. I took three Canon cameras. One died on the rocks after a fall, another around my neck after I was swamped by a breaking wave, but my old trusty A630 made it to the end.

Last water I was able to pick up was from a gringo couple camped at Calamajue, otherwise the place is totally abandoned apart from a profusion of both mice and coyotes. So much left behind including several old pangas. Suspect the authorities went in and cleaned out a drug op.

A couple of days after leaving the camp I was dependent on my desalinator... every day spending a couple of hours pumping three liters or so.

Didn't expect 3 days of strong headwinds around Bahia Guadalupe. Tried to ride the winds and tides as much as I could but sometimes just had to paddle and keep on... never worked so hard since Into a Desert Place days.

When conditions were right, like yesterday, I just kept on, even when the tide turned strongly against me as when entering LA Bay. The N. wind was nullified by the tide but still made progress.

I thought of camping at Tony's but was concerned I'd be there a week if the wind became contrary or didn't work with the more extreme tides exposing the rocky shore.

Don't think I'll be back north to enjoy your company Mr. Fisher. I'm sure I'll be in Bahia at least a few days and then I need to head back to San Diego. But thanks for the offer.







After surf landing in Ensenada Alcatraz

Climbed a few times to scan the coast ahead, and look for landing spots....

And about to step ashore in the shelter of La Gringa point... still wearing my headlight after my 4 AM launch.

It was beautiful out there.... the Baja coast is just awesome. Just checked the memory cards from the defunct cameras. Cards are fine... so I'll post more pictures as I can.

I was carrying the Survivor-35 hand pump desalinator. Dang thing must weigh about a dozen pounds but worked well and gave me gallons of drinking water.

Way better than boiling seawater and condensing the steam. Though I had that set up as backup.

It was the second one I had. The first my wife bought for me on eBay or Amazon and I used as is... lasted for a couple of months while I was out on Guardian Angel Island, then blew apart when I was back home and getting it ready for storage. I made a youtube about that... search for survivor-35 fails.

The model I had on this trip was reconditioned with new filter and seals, etc. It was the one that Bryan and Justin carried on their What is West Baja walk and paddle board adventure.

They never needed it and I bought it off them after they finished their trip.

Towards the end of my journey I was using it every day and every chance I got, and often drank directly from the tube when thirsty.

That was good advice about catching the countercurrents close to shore. And for me, staying close to shore was paramount anyway. Getting hit by a westy too far from the safety of the beach or rocks was the surest way to get myself killed.

And a reminder how the Sea of Cortez can change.

I paddled into this lovely protected colorful cove and set up for the night.

And that night... Wild winds, smashing surf, and soon a thick foamy sludge coating the shore... making it impossible to get seawater to use the desalinator.

At 1 or 2 AM I had to get out and move the tent from what would have been a tolerable patch of gravel to very uncomfortable stones and rocks.

That was one of the places I had to stay several nights... three I think.

Quote: Originally posted by Mark_BC

Hey dosmars you need to come with and then people will be vicariously following you! I want to parallel this route on my bike. I found an "easy" way into the canyons from 10 km south of calamajue, then you can ride the canyons south, coming up at botica. Go down to the ocean at each canyon to resupply with fish and water. Gotta figure out how to dry fish on the campfire to supply for the next couple days riding inland. Hard to do all that by yourself, way easier in a group.

Can you draw us a map?

I'm with David... I'd be intrigued to see the proposed bike route. There are long stretches of high cliffs and as Ed Wills told me back in 1983, why do you think there are no roads along there?

As for smoking fish... may be tons of firewood but I was usually so exhausted at day's end I didn't have the energy to struggle with a fire in the wind and try to cook. A bowl of cereal and dried milk, and a fi-bar inside my tent and I was happy.

Would be even less motivated with shorter days and cold nights.

Thanks Desert Rat, but my trip was a cruise compared to your life and death wanderings attempting Picacho Diablo... now that was tough and memorable. The guts and courage you showed getting out of that was awesome...

So glad my photos were of interest to so many... I'll try to post more as I can.

Looking back, my head is filled with images of predawn launches, mesmerizing bioluminescence, wonderful sunrises and a truly magnificent coastline. Not to mention having my life and comfort governed by winds that were often relentless and unpredictable.

Dawn, kayak deck and hatches locked and loaded, eager to move on, waiting for a gusting offshore wind to ease...

Quote: Originally posted by Graham

And DosMars not sure if you've seen the 2014 Return to Malarrimo stories on my website? http://www.grahammackintosh.com/Pages/ReturntoMalarrimoBeach... http://www.grahammackintosh.com/Pages/SandIslandCoyotesandDo...

And just finished the Malarhimo writeup
Mark (Mark_BC) and I headed down last year to see if we could run across any tsunami debris, but were sidetracked and spent three days on an amazing cove near your departure point on your most recent trip and ran low on time...

That's what I love about Baja, you can plan out a trip but they always seem to evolve into something amazingly different.

Quote: Originally posted by DosMars

That's what I love about Baja, you can plan out a trip but they always seem to evolve into something amazingly different.

^^^^ So true DosMars
And thanks David and Graham for taking us along, looking forward to the pics and notes

Quote: Originally posted by Graham

I'm with David... I'd be intrigued to see the proposed bike route. There are long stretches of high cliffs and as Ed Wills told me back in 1983, why do you think there are no roads along there?

Quote: Originally posted by Graham

As for smoking fish... may be tons of firewood but I was usually so exhausted at day's end I didn't have the energy to struggle with a fire in the wind and try to cook. A bowl of cereal and dried milk, and a fi-bar inside my tent and I was happy.

The paddle down was so fascinating, but being alone there was barely enough hours in the day to get things done.

One of the last chores of the night was exiting my tent and walking up and down the beach with my flashlight chasing away the glowing eyes. Really made Halloween extra special this year.

I was fortunate to have the kayak to secure food and water, and large lidded plastic containers that I could coyote-proof.

Between the crows and mice and coyotes, if you don't secure stuff... it's history.

The mice would be crawling over my shoes and running all over my gear while I'd be sitting out by my campfire or stargazing with my humble ration of grog.

I guess you're never really alone in Baja...

Five of the seven coyotes circling my tent on the saltflats near Calamajue

Yes, that was my ideal camp set up... didn't always looks so neat, like when I was forced to camp on rocks.

The four nighter was when the sea turned to caramel sludge in the big blow, mentioned higher up the page.

And a couple of those nights became wild scrambles to move my tent and kayak when surging waves kept smashing higher up the beach.

I explored both north and south and inland a bit, and checked coast ahead, but it was so crazy windy I was in danger of being blown off the cliffs.

Anyway, all worked out and I was able to get away early morning into a relatively mild sea.


The view from my campsite!

Graham's Story on Baja Bound... March 2016