We nailed it !!!
Three days of some very challenging long stretches of boulder arroyos, over a dozen wet crossings up to three feet deep, lots of soft sand, washouts
that could wreck a trip, and everything in between provided three solid days of adventure.
AKGringo (Gary) came down from Grass Valley, Ca. with his beautiful, well-mannered, rambunctious pit bull/boxer (Bailey) in their Kia Sportage, and
03David came up from Los Barriles with his bike (500 Husqvarna) were excellent travel mates each very capable in their abilities and spirit.
Day One was west out of Mulege....the first half of that day presented some challenges and great canyon/mountain scenery...the second half was endless
miles of rocky riverbed track usually visible with lots of wet crossings with intermittent soft sand and occasional short stretches of hardpack
road...and managed to find accomodation in San Juanico, but Gary camped on the beach as all three places with rooms would not allow dogs....
Day Two was down to Comondu...easy paved day hat was short in duration....the new hotel Hacienda Don Mario would/could not offer us rooms ("but if you
wait until after 6:00 pm we might give you a room if the reservations don't arrive")...as it was 2:30, we could take the risk that rooms were
available in La Purisma an hour or so away....and as the conversation continued, the guy said he could find rooms in two other casas but couldn't
promise that....a half-hour wait resulted in confirming that offer which we accepted after I pressed for a guarantee handshake.....and what we got was
an annex of sorts to the church that had three separate rooms with defunct bathroom and kitchen....and reeked horribly of a kerosene type smelling
liquid they mopped the floors with (insecticide?)...handmade cots of palm wood and dried stretched leather strips....we ate at the Don Mario....very
simple but good chicken soup, beans, tortillas for supper and huevos revuelltos con machaca for breakfast....
Day Three was north to San Isidro/La Purisma for a lookabout and I snapped a few pics of the mission site in LP for DK (will post later) and then out
to highway #1 and up to Mulege. Road from San Isidro to highway junction had a lot of washout ravines in road and rocks, ledges and abrupt
dips....shorter than the duration of Day One conditions, but its own harder surface irregularities.
Summary: Day One was the difficult day compared to the other two; I have respect for Gary taking his Kia through there at the pace that Dave and I on
bikes were impressed with...Bailey was the silent hero of the trip and a cool dog (looked fierce but was muy amable) ...the group dynamic couldn't
have been better, no accidents or breakdowns, the mix of two bikes and a 4-wheel vehicle was good as Gary carried some gas which we needed as well as
a day pack for Dave and I with change of clothes....made the bikes lighter.
We saw some fat tire cyclists near the last part of day one heading towards Mulege and who were just getting into the difficult stuff...glad I wasn't
doing that....maybe part of the cycle route mentioned in another thread....
So, I consider the rally a raving success....more vehicles would have increase the risk of issues arising and accommodation problems, so the camping
readiness is a strong suggestion for "next time".
I want to thank Gary, Dave and Bailey for showing up and doing the loop....great guys to travel with.... |
