Puertecitos-San Borja 10-04

I haven't been down since last October. Its been the only trip without any real problems I've taken for a while.
Was me and my Guatemalan girlfriend. We were driving a 1988 Mitsubishi Montero that had 201,000+ on the clock, equipped with an old beaten 4 cylinder engine. Struggled a little up the grades on I-10, but from Palm Springs to Puertecitos, not much of a vertical challenge. After that, some struggling on Mex 1.
We drove down(from LA-Pasadena area), leaving at about 10pm. We had planned at camping at the LTVA campground off I-8, near the Highline Canal, but upon arrival in the lower Imperial Valley, we opted to just head on through Mexicali while it was late and the traffic sparse. We had ten gallons of gas on the roof-rack, which the Mexican border inspector(at 2:30 am)ordered us to get rid of before entering Mexico. They had a big 55 gallon drum there, which we emptied the first jerry into. The inspector decided to let us keep the other five gallons, probably because it was taking us so long. Continuing, a little purturbed, we drove south on Mex 5 until reaching the edge of Laguna Salada. About 4am, we pulled off somewher near Yuri Muri and made camp amongst hundreds of shells.(????)Not a very good night of sleep without much darkness to sleep in. In the morning, after adjusting to the atmosphere(waking up on that lakebed can be unforgiving)we headed on to San Felipe and had some tacos on the beachfront. Continuing south we pulled off at our favorite Baja beach- Punta Estrella, this time taking the "4X4 only" enterance. We came into a dip too fast and bent the cheap roof rack, still held the gas cans on though. Made it out on to the beach before realizing the tire pressure was at 40 psi! Got bogged en route to the nearest palapa. It was a tease beacuse we made it within ten feet, bogged in its shade! Well, with some tarp under the tires, along with a few sturdy palm fronds that were lying on the beach, and taking the tires down to 20 psi, it was an easy recovery. Had a Tecate and toured the beach. Continuing south, we made it to Puertecitos in time for the sunset. Camped on the beach and soaked in the geothermal tide pools. Had a great pasta dinner, Slept for 10 hours, bean burritos for breakfast the next morning. One of Baja camping's greatest mysteries is finding a good technique for preserving your tortillas.
Ready and rested, we headed over Volcan Prieto and took some good pictures. The view up there is supreme. Stopped near El Huarfanito to cook black bean tacos. Made it to Rancho Grande before sunset, stocked up on fresh corn tortillas, and then we drove south another 10-15 miles in the darkness and camped up amongst the cardon. We found a bivouac and made camp. Spotted a desert rat at night and took its picture. Then after a few rounds of Tecate went on a night hike only to get badly disoriented in the dark. Even with a flashlight, it's easy to get lost at night amongst a thick forest of central-Baja vegetation. Eventually we found the road, although at first not knowing whcih way to go, and then camp.The next day a few trucks passed by, friendly locals.
Continued south through Coco'c Corner and on to Chapala.
En route a Military Hummer was temporarily inspecting vehicles on the road near Laguna Chapala. I've never seen a checkpoint here before. Kind of a cloudy day. Drove south on Mex 1, and turned off at the Bahia de Los Angeles road. Somewhere shortly after we pulled off and had soup in a cactus garden, then drove on hoping to find San Borja. The north access road is signed at the highway at this time. We turned onto the dirt road- I was suprised at the accuracy of the AAA map through the next 25 miles. Passed Agua de Higuera and the swampy looking spring. This area back in here is big impressive country, with high mesas and incredible stands of cirio, amongst the other usual species of cactus. But the cirio in particular grow huge around here! About 15 miles in, the road gets rough, time to engage 4H, although not not absolutely required. One spot, the road crossed a short boulder field. This is the only place I used 4L. Up a pass and around a few bends, now we're in the Baja high desert! 20+ miles in, taking the first turn, we headed up a narrow road a few miles, realizing it was the wrong way. Then we backtracked to the "main road" and kept driving another mile to a signed junction, where we could see the old mission off in the distance. WE MADE IT! We pulled into a palapa and made camp. The family here was great company- good down home Mexicans who lived mostly off the land. They made us a special batch of some weird mango-jelly, quite a treat. It lasted for weeks afterward, too.
The warm springs here were a big reason for our trek. There are two thermal springs, about 96 degrees, make for a good daytime soak, but a little chilly at night, at least in October.
One of the sons who lived there, Genaro, took a liking to us. This 14 year old was very fascinated by the simplest trinkets of technology, that we all take for granted. He had never been outside of Rosarito or Bahia de Los Angeles. We gave him a pair of head-phones for his walkman which had none.
He was a great friend while we were there. On the third day he showed us to some petroglyphs on the north face of Mesa San Borja, amongst a few small caves. A big fog storm rolled in off the coast the last morning, shrouding the mission and the valley, with the tops of taller cardon and cirio popping out like a periscope.
We stayed three days total and then drove to Bahia de Los Angeles for supplies, and chatted for a while with some snowbirds on the beach who thought we were crazy for driving down the dirt road from San Felipe to Chapala. They were headed to Cabo in there RV's.
Although we wanted to continue on to Bahia San Rafael to visit Pancho and his dog at the fish camp, we had to turn around for the long drive home. We drove back to Rancho Grande and camped on the beach- great campsites they have there with the palapas and outhouses. The hombre in the market where you pay insisted we camp for free. They don't even come around to collect the fees here! Talked to some militaros jogging down the beach, who reported they had to run from Papa Fernandez to the southern tip of Gonzaga bay, and back. They was sweatin good...
Drove back to near Laguna Percebu by nightfall in a fury, changing drivers a few times. When we pulled off to camp I didn't even know where we were, was so tired. But in the morning we could see Picacho del Diablo reigning the west, and knew we were close to San Felipe. Had some ratty tacos in town
and then drove to the Highline LTVA, camped. It started raining before we left and rained most of the drive home...
that's it!

Total mileage log- 1,288
(one week)

[Edited on 5-22-2005 by Geothermal-Shane]

great memories

sounded like a fun adventure,i'm amazed you can remember so many of the details of your trip over 6 mo. later....usually i tend to forget some things but i take alot of pictures which helps me remember later...

Yeah, I have three rolls to go along with that trip- got one shot of the Mexican military playing an intense soccer game at the checkpoint north of Rancho Grande...while the jealous inspectors on duty just waved us on through...well, every moment in Baja is enthralling and memorable- I only tend to forget those nights after muchas cervezas en la palapa

is that why

i keep forgetting stuff,because of the beers....well then i will have to cut out that nonsense and start only drinking tequila

i'm wondering

hey arthur...

Dr. H.S.T.

I've been honoring the memory of Hunter as my avatar since he croaked.

Great stuff to read while on vacation/hanging out at the beach. First found his stuff while I was in college and dug the fact that he glorified substance usage after having it drilled into our heads how horrible drugs were during our teens.

Had a buddy/housemate in the late 80's whose father owned the Hawaii vacation house that Hunter rented, trashed then wrote about in "The Curse of Lono". Small world, but I'd hate to paint it.

One of the funniest HST stylized stories I ever read was by this board's own Capt. Mike about his flying adventures coming back from Las Vegas after a liquor-soaked, vegas- breakfast-buffet-stuffed weekend.

Maybe if we ask real nicely he'll reprint it?!