TW New Years Trip 2013

Saturday morning December 29, 2012 I picked up my friend Bill in LA and we headed for the border crossing in TJ. Traffic was medium light and moving good. I love the new border crossing; it’s so much easier to get to the toll road. This trip was to check out a couple of dirt roads for use later this year in a trip to La Paz and back and drop off supplies to a couple of friends.

We stopped for gas and a snack in Ensenada then continued south to San Quintin. We arrived just after dark and checked into the Villa de San Quintin hotel. We made our way over to the Cielito Lindo restaurant for a great Veracruz style fish dinner. Up early for a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant then hit the trail.

The Map

Google Earth


We left hwy 1 at KM16 going east following an old Baja 1000 trail last used in 1989. I had marked the route on Google Earth with way points to follow. It was a little confusing at first with several roads going everywhere but once on the route it was easy to follow. The X spot @ 30-22-963x115-46.986 shown on the Google Earth map puts you on the correct road. Once on the right road there are side roads but none had any traffic lately on them. Our route had two sets of motorcycle tracks and two sets of truck/SUV tracks.



The road is typical of the dirt roads after a heavy rain. Gullies and rocks are washed down it. Nothing was too bad except a downhill at 18.5 miles in. The center was washed out pretty deep. Of course the MCs just went to the sides and the Truck/SUVs were wide enough to straddle it. My Tacoma was too narrow. We could have dumped rocks in it etc but that would take some time. To the left was an off camber wide enough for me to try and go around. I did and all was fine.

We soon came upon the jct. which was part of the 2007 Baja 1000. It followed the east part of the road we were on and turned south at the jct. Next we dropped into a wash for a mile. At 21.5 miles we turned left, going north. Another .5 miles east is the jct. for a well used road south to hwy 1 at KM103.

We soon crossed Agua Escondida, a wide arroyo. About 4 miles from the jct. are ranch buildings to the left. At 7.6 miles is a ranch on the left and a well used road to the right. We went straight. At 13.5 miles is another ranch on the left. Again we traveled the most used road. At 18 miles we crossed another wide wash. It may be the Santa Maria arroyo as seen on the maps.



Just after the wash we turned left up a long steep switchback hill. At the top is a building shrine.


Road after the shrine.


At 25 miles is the corner of a crop field. For the next 7 miles it gets very confusing with multiple roads and some dead ends. Somewhere we crossed over the road we started on and came out to hwy 1 at KM17. The total loop is about 50 miles if you don’t get confused on the start and especially the end.

It was near dark when we got to the hwy so we went back to the Villa de San Quintin hotel. We had dinner at the Old Mill restaurant. Another excellent fish dinner. After dinner we stopped by Don Eddies place. His son Tony runs it. They are rebuilding after the fire. The restaurant and bar are open as are several rooms for the hotel. Tony said he contracts out the bar and restaurant. He lives and works in Chula Vista.

Monday morning we traveled south on hwy 1 to the Catarina turnoff at KM133. The road is well graded.






Several miles from the ocean you get into the mud flats and when SCORE runs a race thru there they turn into silt beds. We bear to the left before the ocean and at 45 miles there is a jct. to the right the road goes to the ocean and follows the coast line down. I have not been on that road other than to where it meets the ocean so I can’t say how good it is. We bear to the left at the jct.

It’s a good road and after about 17 miles from the jct. (62 miles total) it meets the road from the ocean at San Jose. We turned left toward hwy 1. Rancho Bonito is 8 miles up the road on the left (70 miles total). Another 6 miles (76 total) is the road to the San Telmo onyx mine on the right. The hwy is 25 miles from the jct. The complete loop from hwy 1 at KM133 around the hwy 1 at KM168 is about 87 miles.

On hwy 1 we make hast for LA Bay. At La Bay we stayed at the Villa Del Sol. For dinner they had a ham special which was very good. There were 3 off road motorcycle riders there plus the chase truck driver and we sat outside and chatted for a couple of hours then they went to a party and I went to bed. Must be an age thing. Tuesday morning after breakfast Bill and I continue down the recent Baja 1000 course to Bahia San Rafael to see Pancho.

Bill and Pancho


As we pulled into Pancho’s place he greeted us with a big smile and handshake. I had some supplies for him and he gave me some sea shells, a couple were very delicate. He showed us his satellite system and solar panels. I can’t remember his little dogs name but she is a sweet thing. Later we pushed on for San Francisquito. San Francisquito is not in the shape it was on my last visit. The showers are out, at least the hot water side is. There were only three rooms for use. The building behind the restaurant had collapsed. They appear to be fixing things up as there were people working. I guess it just takes time.




We went out thru El Arco to hwy 1 and north to the Chapala turn off for Coco’s. We got to Coco’s about 7pm. We gave him some supplies and chatted for a while. We moved on to Gonzaga Bay. Alfonsina’s restaurant was closed so we move on for San Felipe. To our surprise the paved hwy started 3.6 miles from the Pemex station. We made good time but arrived in San Felipe at 10pm so we stopped at an Oxxo store and picked up some things to eat. We slept in Wednesday morning and after breakfast we didn’t get on the road until 10am. Went thru Mexicali with a 1.5 hour border wait. Back to LA by 6pm.

It was a quick trip, fun and interesting.

[Edited on 1-10-2013 by TW]

TW,
There sure is some great riding east of San Quintin and El Rosario....
















































And my favourite....

"AFTER THE RAINS .... " :

Same area, 11/05

Cool that Ged found the blue palms in there, as well...



Trip Road Log (in miles) and 21 GPS waypoints (Map Datum NAD27)

0.0 Leave Hwy. 1 (28.5 mi. from El Rosario Pemex) at cafe just past Km. 103, head north. 30°03.81', 115°20.87'

2.5 Fork, go left

3.6 El Sauzalito ruins on left at 30°05.89', 115°21.76'

4.9 Cross San Juan de Dios river 30°06.83', 115°21.28'

5.2 Fork, go right (left goes back to El Rosario via La Vibora grade) 30°07.04', 115°21.33'

5.4 Fork, go left (right goes to San Juan de Dios) 30°07.22', 115°21.42'

11.7 Fork, go right (left goes to Rancho Los Martires)

13.5 Cross Arroyo Los Matires/ Arroyo Grande 30°12.37', 115°26.33'

13.7 Road in from left to Rancho Los Martires. Rancho San Antonio is passed about five miles ahead

21.3 Fork just north of Arroyo El Portezuelo crossing, go left (right goes to San Miguel and La Suerte) 30°18.42', 115°42.28'

26.1 Fork, go left (right goes to ranch). Only 4WD beyond here.

27.8 Bulldozed switchback grade to ridge top 30°22.26', 115°29.21'

31.9 Fork, go left (right for La Suerte) 30°24.79', 115°29.21'

32.6 Jcn. with old El Socorro to La Suerte road, turn left 30°25.18', 115°29.72'

33.2 Jcn. with road north to El Agua Escondida 30°24.97', 115°30.27'. A second road north is at 30°24.28', 115°31.51'

37.0 'Petroglyph Park' 30°24.19', 115°33.38'

39.2 Fork, go left (right goes 0.9 mi. to blue palms and beyond) 30°23.58', 115°35.01'

41.2 Jcn. road south to El Canuto 30°22.51', 115°36.24'

43.4 El Cipres (abandoned ranch) 30°22.10', 115°37.98'

49.4 Fork, go left (right to Nuevo Odisea) 30°21.56', 115°42.80'

54.8 Jcn., road in from left to Tres Palmas 30°19.96', 115°46.82'

54.9 Old road to north (to Nuevo Odisea) 30°19.94', 115°46.85'

55.5 Join road along south side of river valley, turn right 30°19.66', 115°47.25'

57.1 Hwy. 1 near El Socorro (Km. 24-25). El Rosario is 20.0 mi. south. 30°19.25', 115°48.77'

BajaLou made this map from my GPS waypoints:



Lot's of boojums along this route, and some cardons too...


Rarely seen 'baby boojum'!




























El Cipres