San Diego to Guerrero negro January 1-5 2016 (photos added)

I am returning to San Diego after a five-day trip to see the whales. I went down as a reconnaissance trip before traveling with a group next month. I wanted to preview the highway conditions and see what was in store when the heavy rains begin to arrive.

The trip south went smoothly and was uneventful. I stopped for the night at Catavina and enjoyed a good nights sleep at the hotel. ( I will post a hotel review in a separate discussion )

Enjoyed the first whale outing of the year with Shari. Had a relaxing Saturday and Sunday in camp and then did another outing on Monday after the heavy rains slowed a bit.

Departed ojo de Liebre Lagoon Monday afternoon en route to Catavina. It had rained heavily that morning and PM. There was a lot of mud and debris along the road in many places. Many of The areas that have been newly widened have more run off because of unstable slopes.

I noticed the area just south of El Rosario around kilometers 77 has some of the most dangerous collection of rocks on the road. At KM120 south of SQ looks like it's being under cut in one of the arroyos and is in danger of collapse.there are 2 small new bridges at kilometer 108 and 106 that seem to be holding together well.




Good to see the growing collection of emergency vehicles next to Baja Cactus Pemex station. I was told they have plans to build a new garage in front of the station to store them more securely.

Between SQ - Ensenada look for a lot of rocks on the road where the highway has been widened in recent years.




There is water across the road and a lot of mud in the towns. Be extra careful when stopping at signals or stop signs because people are slipping and sliding all over the roads.

There was a very deep pool of water just out of downtown Ensenada as you enter the highway heading north to the tollbooth. I drove through it and the water splashed up and covered my windshield on my lifted truck.

The rain intensified earlier this evening and I decided to wait it out and head north tomorrow in the daylight. I was delayed a few hours after being rear ended at a stoplight. I will write about that experience in a separate post.

Bottom line: while the road surfaces are in better shape, the run off of rocks and mud is making driving very dangerous this winter. Be very careful driving over these newly paved stretches in the northern Baja area



Scenic Highway was closed to 1 lane due to debris, north of Ensenada


[Edited on 1-7-2016 by Whale-ista]

Quote: Originally posted by Whale-ista

I noticed the area just south of El Rosario around kilometers 77 has some of the most dangerous collection of rocks on the road. At KM120 south of SQ looks like it's being under cut in one of the arroyos and is in danger of collapse.there are 2 small new bridges at kilometer 108 and 106 that seem to be holding together well. Between SQ - Ensenada look for a lot of rocks on the road where the highway has been widened in recent years. There is water across the road and a lot of mud in the towns. Be extra careful when stopping at signals or stop signs because people are slipping and sliding all over the roads. ["At KM120 south of SQ"]

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

Quote: Originally posted by Whale-ista   I noticed the area just south of El Rosario around kilometers 77 has some of the most dangerous collection of rocks on the road. At KM120 south of SQ looks like it's being under cut in one of the arroyos and is in danger of collapse.there are 2 small new bridges at kilometer 108 and 106 that seem to be holding together well. Between SQ - Ensenada look for a lot of rocks on the road where the highway has been widened in recent years. There is water across the road and a lot of mud in the towns. Be extra careful when stopping at signals or stop signs because people are slipping and sliding all over the roads. ["At KM120 south of SQ"] Did you mean north instead of south. KM120 north would be just north of Colonet but KM120 south would be near El Progresso.