El Arco to Bahía de Los Angeles - adventure or a bad idea?

Lots of beauty out that way. Forest of majestic cardons to be marveled at, along with lots of other great scenery. Well worth it. IMEO.

PHOTOS OF THE ROAD: July 2012

Consider a side trip to Mission Santa Gertrudis, founded in 1752, as well.


Good 2WD graded road to the mission from El Arco.

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Near Pozo Aleman, just east of El Arco.




Top of Cuesta de la Ley, the high point going towards the gulf.








Near Punta San Francisquito.


Important junction. You actually go west a short distance to catch the road north to L.A. Bay.






Nearing Bahia San Rafael.


Looking back south to San Rafael, the next morning.




The junction with the road north to Bahia Las Animas.






Mike's Mountain (above L.A. Bay town) in the distance.




That is the railroad bed along side the graded road, south of Las Flores.


The final miles to L.A. Bay.

To see photos of the beach, ghost town, cave paintings, mission... along the above road, see my July 2012 trip report (link below in my sig. or here):
A 15 Day Baja adventure, July, 2012: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=61576

I think im getting Baja fever looking at those pics, most go back to work lol~

Adventure or bad idea?

Quote: Originally posted by Sungirl

I am not a big fan of the stretch of hwy 1 around Guerrero Negro, and have been eyeing and alternative route. El Arco, San Rafael, Bahía de Los Angeles. There should be some cool cave paintings and a ghost town at El Arco, and lots of cordons on the way, it looks like fun. We drive Toyota Tundra, no modifications. Should I even think about doing this loop, or move on to the next dream? Sungirl (in my full planning mode!)

Quote: Originally posted by carlosg

This year in late September early October during our children’s school break we’ll be doing a LOOP in Central Baja so we can stay away from any hurricanes down further south; as always we’ll be traveling on a budget trying to stay at some hotels (suggestions welcome!!!) during our trip but mostly we’ll be camping and spending most of our time on the beach but also getting to visit and explore a couple of the Missions on the way. The First Leg of our journey will start in Chula Vista to Guerrero Negro where we plan to stay overnight and have breakfast (any suggestions?) and then drive to Santa Gertrudis (camp here) via El Arco. From here we drive down to the Gulf and camp in San Francisquito or Punta Ballena (suggestions?). Our next camping stops will be San Rafael followed by Bahia de las Animas; then we drive to BoLA and stay overnight (any suggestions?) and finally drive to San Borja Mission over to Santa Rosaliita (any lodging suggestions?) where we’ll spend the last day(s) of our journey before returning home. Our plan is to do the LOOP in two weeks, we’ll be traveling in a diesel 4x4 and hopefully we’ll have enough fuel to complete our journey between fuel stops with no problems. I have attached an image of our planned route; each color represents a leg of the journey. We will deeply appreciate any and all comments and suggestions for this exciting Baja journey, I plan to stay in touch with a satellite phone: probably buy one on eBay and buy time from a local provider (any suggestions?) then guide our travel with the help of the “BAJA CALIFORNIA ALMANAC” and/or probably buy and use a GPS (I have never used one), if so I would like to get something that is not only useful for driving but also while fishing (another trip) thus any suggestions are very welcome… like always: thanks for your time and all your knowledge BajaNomads!!! We’ll certainly post a TRIP REPORT after our journey. [Edited on 5-13-2015 by carlosg]

Thaks rts551,

I see this model is "discontinued" according to Garmin (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/discontinued/gp...) but it doesn't matter because there's always an available one on eBay, and for what I need it it probably does the job, as long as I can see the screen and figure where we are and where we're going that's enough I think...

Quote: Originally posted by carlosg

Thaks rts551, I see this model is "discontinued" according to Garmin (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/discontinued/gp...) but it doesn't matter because there's always an available one on eBay, and for what I need it it probably does the job, as long as I can see the screen and figure where we are and where we're going that's enough I think...

I was thru there in late April. The arroyos were over run with water during the hurricane and lots of sand was moved. The road bed is OK from traffic.



You can see the road bed here.



There was this washout but it has a good bypass.


A place to stay and maybe gas if necessary. East of El Arco maybe 15 miles.


[Edited on 5-20-2015 by TMW]