BajaNomad

Baja Grande '08 Tour Notes

Ken Cooke - 10-12-2008 at 10:28 AM

I have been going over logistics for the trip, and meeting in San Ysidro will be best for us. We can get our 30 day tourist stamps taken care of in Tijuana, travel through Tecate and then down to San Felipe (fastest route). We can gas up in El Hongo - right before the steep descent into the Mexicali valley. The Baja 1000 will wind through San Felipe on the Thursday preceeding our run, so if we get there early enough, we can purchase t-shirts from the 1000. My "guess" is the prices will be slighly lower since the event will already have passed-maybe not. From San Felipe, we will travel straight to San Luis Gonzaga and utilize the Rancho Grande palapas on the bay just like we did last year. I do not know the number of people going with us this year, but Team Isreal expressed interest, so that means 3-4 vehicles, possibly Tom Severin, Russ, Mike, myself, and a guy with a Hummer H3 makes approximately 8 to 9 vehicles. Mike Hill explained that he will not go this year, as his family wants a more Traditional Thanksgiving. From Gonzaga, we will spend 1 night in LA Bay. From there, we will travel to San Franscisquito - as a group. I will not stay behind as the previous years. I want to see these bays, and as a group, we will then leave San Francisquito and travel the 65 dirt miles to the state line of Guerrero Negro. We will officially be in Baja Sur at that point. From Guerrero Negro, we will tackle the return drive up Hwy 1 to Cataviņa and to the Mission. We can do it at night if necessary, but if we get up early enough, we can stop in Guerrero Negro for brunch, look around a quick minute, get gasoline, and then shoot up to Cataviņa. There is gasoline available in San Francisquito by the 5 gal containers. We will need this if gas is not available in LA Bay - due to the generators being shut down early. Gas should be available in Gonzaga Bay with the Baja 1000 moving through approx. 1/2 week prior to our arrival. The caretaker lives near the Pemex station, so we can ask him to power everything up for us to get our gas. In LA Bay, Ice will also be an issue as it has been in years past. Rancho Grande in Gonzaga Bay carries Ice, so we should get what we need as it is available. With a large group, we will need all the ice we can get. Once we reach Guerrero Negro, it will be imperative that we gas up our tanks and gerry cans. Gassing up in Cataviņa with an additional 5 gal might not be a bad idea. We can do lunch there, and quickly head into the mission. At the mission, we will take 1 full day to rest our weary bones. I'd like to hike to the Camino Real this year, and hopefully we will find it. There are cold springs that are lined like a pool, so we can clean up for Thanksgiving! From Mission Santa Maria, we can drive to El Rosario for our sendoff celebration. I am working on t-shirts at the moment with Victor Chacon (MyJeepRocks/ JustRuns) . The design for t-shirts is much different this year - focusing on a map of our tour along with imagery that is not vehicle-specific like last year. Merchandise will be available in early November. VIVA BAJA!
-Ken

David K - 10-12-2008 at 10:41 AM

Hi Ken,

It will be a grande trip, for sure!

Some notes:

'30 day visa' FM-T is the same price as 180 days... Might as well ask/ write in for the full term for future Baja trips within the 6 months.

L.A. Bay now has 24/7 electricity.

You can avoid crossing into Baja Sur by using the original Baja main road north, out of El Arco... and get gas, ice, tamales at Villa Jesus Maria... Just FYI.

The El Camino Real switchbacks up the side of the mountain, to the left of the road... before the bulldozed road comes to an end, before it gets too rocky to drive... Use a GPS to find it where it leaves the road... I made a couple small rock cairns. See http://vivabaja.com/msm for GPS data and photos.

Have fun!



El Camino Real 29°43.126', 114°31.753' elev. 1,413' (Map datum set to NAD27 Mexico) where it goes uphill from the road (northerly... then swings southeast staying above the canyon towards Punta Final)




'El Camino Real' heading north from Mision San Borja to Mision Santa Maria switchbacks down the mountain to Arroyo Santa Maria (seen in background). It was difficult to find until I started climbing straight up from the auto road.







[Edited on 10-12-2008 by David K]

Ken Cooke - 10-12-2008 at 01:48 PM

Muchas gracias, David.

The guys have driven up that road on the side of the hill near the mission. I didn't know the Camino Real was near there, so now we have a location to start from.

Last year, the weather was very bad, looked like rain, so everyone camped 1 mile away from this hill near the mission.

Good to hear that LA Bay has full-time electricity. Waiting for the generator to get turned on was a bummer.

Villa Jesus Maria?? That might be a plan for us. I think everyone will want to see something new, and Guerrero Negro will make everyone happy being this will be the first time many of us will have been to Baja Sur. I drove all the way to Cabo and back with Andrew/Gretchen and Suzanne in December '01. That was an adventure I'll never forget.

David K - 10-12-2008 at 03:12 PM

10-4... It is too bad you don't have just one more day because you will be so close to San Ignacio... That is one of the gems of Baja!

IF YOU DID: From San Francisquito, head towars El Arco then take the south route out which passes just a few miles west of Mision Santa Gertrudis (another place to see) and goes to Ejido Guillermo Prieto then out to Hwy. 1 just north of Vizcaino. (You cross the Camino Real on that road too!) See it from space on wikimapia.org, I marked it...

akshadow - 10-12-2008 at 03:23 PM

From the San Felipe web site it sounds like you will be in the area when the race is going on. I think it starts on Fri. Thursday is the technical inspections etc.
"The Baja 1000 race will start pre-running on Saturday 1 November for the section east of Ojos Negros (outside Ensenada). There will be many race vehicles coming through San Felipe during the period before the actual race on 21-22 November so please be alert if you are planning any trips into our deserts in November. The relevant section of the course map is shown below. Note that this year, the race in our area is running from South to North. Most of the vehicles will be passing through San Felipe on Saturday 22 November."

Ken Cooke - 10-12-2008 at 05:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by akshadow Most of the vehicles will be passing through San Felipe on Saturday 22 November."


Muchas Gracias for the heads up. Our plan is to buy Tourist Visas in Tijuana at 9 a.m., head to El Hongo for gas at around noon - eat ourselves lunch on the side of the road, drive down La Rumorosa by 1 p.m. and hopefully make it into San Felipe by sunset.

Last year, we had dinner at El Coloradito Restaurante. Baja Lou showed up, and put on a light show with his rack of HIDs. He was amazed at the number of full-built Jeeps down in Baja. A couple of guys brought their $60,000 Unlimited Rubicons for fun in the dirt.

Our plan is to camp north of San Felipe Saturday evening. I'm sure it will be a zoo, so I am going to reserve our campsites NOW.

...THIS SHOULD BE FUN!!!:bounce::bounce::bounce:

David K - 10-12-2008 at 07:07 PM

Nuevo Mazatlan or beyond... otherwise it will be a zoo all night! Have fun!!

The race goes up through La Rumorosa... see the map posted in the Baja 1000 thread.

Ken Cooke - 10-12-2008 at 08:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Nuevo Mazatlan or beyond... otherwise it will be a zoo all night! Have fun!!

The race goes up through La Rumorosa... see the map posted in the Baja 1000 thread.


Thanks for the heads up. I can't access the map. Not at home, not at work. Kinda sucks, but I've been trying to access this map, but no luck.

We're going to stay at an undisclosed location in San Felipe near our restaurant choice so we can get a shower in the morning, walk to the beach, and just relax. Too bad you can't make this one David. You'd have fun.

David K - 10-13-2008 at 08:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Nuevo Mazatlan or beyond... otherwise it will be a zoo all night! Have fun!!

The race goes up through La Rumorosa... see the map posted in the Baja 1000 thread.


Thanks for the heads up. I can't access the map. Not at home, not at work. Kinda sucks, but I've been trying to access this map, but no luck.

We're going to stay at an undisclosed location in San Felipe near our restaurant choice so we can get a shower in the morning, walk to the beach, and just relax. Too bad you can't make this one David. You'd have fun.


Ken, you don't have to access anything... I posted the map on Nomad in the Baja 1000 thread. Here it is again:

Ken Cooke - 10-13-2008 at 07:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Nuevo Mazatlan or beyond... otherwise it will be a zoo all night! Have fun!!

The race goes up through La Rumorosa... see the map posted in the Baja 1000 thread.


Thanks for the heads up. I can't access the map. Not at home, not at work. Kinda sucks, but I've been trying to access this map, but no luck.

We're going to stay at an undisclosed location in San Felipe near our restaurant choice so we can get a shower in the morning, walk to the beach, and just relax. Too bad you can't make this one David. You'd have fun.


Ken, you don't have to access anything... I posted the map on Nomad in the Baja 1000 thread. Here it is again:



Muchas Gracias, David! My friend Mike brought a photo copy to work today, and handed it to me for planning purposes. This year will be a "Crowd Favorite" with so much happening so close to the border/San Felipe, etc. Perhaps the softening economy necessitates this year being more of a crowd spectacle than years past? Who knows. Baja Grande will be a blast this year, and I can't wait to smell the creosote. :bounce:

Ken Cooke - 11-8-2008 at 03:10 PM

I'm having a tough time getting someone to manufacture the t-shirts for the event - which happens in 2 weeks. I have to make more phone calls. You'd think in this economy...

Ken Cooke - 11-14-2008 at 12:00 AM

T-shirts will become available on Tuesday.

capt. mike - 11-14-2008 at 06:46 AM

do you have the dates itinery for stops in gonzaga, BOLA and PSFO Ken?

Ken Cooke - 11-14-2008 at 08:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
do you have the dates itinery for stops in gonzaga, BOLA and PSFO Ken?

Gonzaga - arrive on 23rd, sleep until the 24th
BOLA - we're breezing through town direct to San Francisquito - 24th and 25th, leaving the 26th.

It should be plenty of fun, fun, fun. :bounce:

David K - 11-14-2008 at 08:16 AM

Bahia San Rafael (Pancho's place) is just 1/4 mile off the road... do have a look and buy a beer from Pancho, as you would Coco... It just may charm you to camp there for that 'Baja Feeling' instead of the fly-in resort (San Francisquito)!

Edited to not sound negative... just give Pancho a chance at some business from your group!

[Edited on 11-14-2008 by David K]

PSFO gatherings

capt. mike - 11-14-2008 at 09:25 AM

2 nites in PSFO sounds fun. you will really like that place.
since you are self contained the campo condition will not be a factor, it is rustic for sure but they will be open with normal services, the cantina etc. - and the palapas can hold plenty, there will lilely not be a group there during the week, this time of year.

take a bunch of pix.

here we are at PSFO during the 2004 Baja Express group ride hosted by Desert Bull and Wild Bill. Flew in to hook up for the night.

might be a good occasion to repeat it.

screaming airlines fotos 004.jpg - 46kB