BajaNomad

Last year

josesbox - 2-17-2016 at 10:44 PM

So last year I went to La Ventana. It was my first trip on the Baja and I had a blast. However, on the way back my buddies Garmin told me a great big lie. I ended going straight past a place called Ciudad Insurgentes and ended up in a small town on what I can only describe as a jeep trail. I ended up turning around and spending the night in my van well south of my intended target which was Guerrero Negro. Was I in fact passing through San Isidro? I would remember but a year later I just don't. Does that off road trail end up back on pavement at some point? Just an FYI...Quigley makes an awesome 4x4 system. It really pulled my ass out of the fire last year and I was too embarrassed to tell anybody what I did. :P

GPS lies

bajaguy - 2-17-2016 at 10:54 PM

Always carry a back-up paper map

TMW - 2-18-2016 at 07:50 AM

If you had stayed on the paved road north of Insurgentes and did not turn off it the pavement ends at La Purisima. If you kept going you would have went thru San Isidro then make a left turn out to highway 1 on a graded road. If you did not make the left turn you would be going south to the Comondu.

Did you ever think to stop and ask where am I and where to go. Next time get a map.

David K - 2-18-2016 at 07:52 AM

Quote: Originally posted by josesbox  
So last year I went to La Ventana. It was my first trip on the Baja and I had a blast. However, on the way back my buddies Garmin told me a great big lie. I ended going straight past a place called Ciudad Insurgentes and ended up in a small town on what I can only describe as a jeep trail. I ended up turning around and spending the night in my van well south of my intended target which was Guerrero Negro. Was I in fact passing through San Isidro? I would remember but a year later I just don't. Does that off road trail end up back on pavement at some point? Just an FYI...Quigley makes an awesome 4x4 system. It really pulled my ass out of the fire last year and I was too embarrassed to tell anybody what I did. :P




bajaguy - 2-18-2016 at 08:02 AM

Go into your GPS settings and review what is selected. You may have to change the setting from "direct" or "shortcut" to another route/driving option.

You may also want to see if your GPS has the most current update and download from the Garmin site.

Also, never travel with a GPS alone. Get a paper map and do a route recon on the map so you have an indication the GPS is trying to re-route you

mtgoat666 - 2-18-2016 at 08:32 AM

Quote: Originally posted by josesbox  
So last year I went to La Ventana. It was my first trip on the Baja and I had a blast. However, on the way back my buddies Garmin told me a great big lie. I ended going straight past a place called Ciudad Insurgentes and ended up in a small town on what I can only describe as a jeep trail. I ended up turning around and spending the night in my van well south of my intended target which was Guerrero Negro. Was I in fact passing through San Isidro? I would remember but a year later I just don't. Does that off road trail end up back on pavement at some point? Just an FYI...Quigley makes an awesome 4x4 system. It really pulled my ass out of the fire last year and I was too embarrassed to tell anybody what I did. :P


I use GPS when navigating in urban so cal, it's great, and gives me reliable voice directions.
I haven't used GPS in Baja for many years. Paper maps are more useful in Baja.
Now, it sounds like you were driving hwy 1 and went straight when you should have gone right. Even if you were operating on GPS, I can't imagine you didn't see your mistake within 10 minutes of taking wrong turn. Sometimes you just need to pay attention, eh? Open your eyes, and put down the electronic gadgets!

woody with a view - 2-18-2016 at 08:41 AM

How come the word ass isn't censored any longer?

Ateo - 2-18-2016 at 08:55 AM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
How come the word ass isn't censored any longer?


Hooray!

Traveler's

captkw - 2-18-2016 at 09:58 AM

don't want or use a gps for driving a car !!:rolleyes:

AKgringo - 2-18-2016 at 10:21 AM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
How come the word ass isn't censored any longer?


Let's hope some burro-hole doesn't abuse this new freedom and get the bad word police back on our burros!

AKgringo - 2-18-2016 at 11:20 AM

I use a GPS while I am driving in the Baja, but the information is frequently incorrect, even with the most recent updates. I have never been guided to the correct set of detours to get in the right lane for a north bound border crossing.

I had fewer problems using a TomTom, than with a POS Garmin that I used in 2013, but with both of them I double check against a AAA Baja map if I think I am being lied to.

If I was making the drive you mentioned (La Ventana to Guerrero Negro) I would pre-enter all of the towns I expected to drive through and change my destination to the next one as I approached each town. That should get you on the best route through a town, and you will always have an Idea how far the next community will be.

I also use the GPS on back roads, because the main road sometimes looks less traveled than a dead end ranch road. Even that can be a trap! I found a road headed north from San Juanico to San Ignacio that doesn't show up on my map, but Garmin assured me that it was the way!

Sometimes it can be amusing, such as when I watched the icon of my SUV trolling just off shore while driving roads behind the beach south of Punta Conejo! As of Nov 2014, neither of the units I used is aware there is a paved road from Los Barriles to El Cardonal, and kept telling me to bush wack over to the dirt road on the coast!

For that matter, I don't see that road on my AAA map either, but it is not brand new! Anyway, for information, and amusement, I use a GPS, and a bit of common sense,which for me is also unreliable !

Udo - 2-18-2016 at 02:57 PM

My Garmin is updated every 6 months or so. And I too find it amusing to be driving over water via the GPS co-ordinates. I will take a photo of the phenomenon next time it happens and post it here.
Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  

Sometimes it can be amusing, such as when I watched the icon of my SUV trolling just off shore while driving roads behind the beach south of Punta Conejo!

Bajahowodd - 2-18-2016 at 05:00 PM

OK. I'm a geezer. But have never used GPS for two reasons. I have always had a great innate sense of direction, and refuse to rely on a device which at the end of the day is garbage in, garbage out.

Driven in somewhere near two dozen countries, and NEVER thought I would need GPS. Never did.

David K - 2-18-2016 at 05:19 PM

Where GPS street directions is helpful in Mexico is in cities or nighttime conditions if you get put on the typical "no signed" detour routes. Getting across Ensenada when a parade closed the usual route was the one time my TomTom GPS with Mexico maps was helpful. Most of the rest of Baja I have pretty well imprinted with paper and wall maps that decorate my walls!

gsbotanico - 2-20-2016 at 09:27 AM

My solution often is to simply stop and ask someone. Of course, this requires a certain level of proficiency in Spanish, but a local can always get you going in the right direction. My SUV has a built in compass which also helps. On little traveled roads I've even flagged down an approaching vehicle to ask.

The one time I got snookered was in the lowland jungles of Chiapas looking for a jungle lodge on a dirt road 40 miles off the paved highway. Mileage showed we should have arrived. I stopped at a jungle hut to ask, but the owners did not speak Spanish, only Mayan! Fortunately a pickup with local farmers who spoke Spanish came by and told us we had missed the turnoff a few miles back.

In Baja any rancher or driver in the rural areas will help. In urban areas I always stop at the corner grocery store. If the owner doesn't know, he/she will ask someone who does. The question to ask in Spanish is: ¿Por donde se va a ...? What is the way to ...? Just add the name of the of the next important town, hotel, or place you are looking for.

wilderone - 2-20-2016 at 09:53 AM

Even a map - if it's wrong - will lead you astray. Local people know best, but sometimes difficult to understand directions if you don't know the language well. I was directed down a logging road - not on the map - to see some lakes, and was told to go to Santa Maria to see an archaeological ruin in Yucatan couple weeks ago. Never saw the lakes - no signs. Kept driving - sprained my wrist pulling a tree out of the road. Never saw the ruins - no signs, and when I finally got to Santa Maria - not on the map - and asked about the ruins that were supposed to be there, was told, You passed them. Looked on the map - Nohbec next - how do I get to Nohbec. "It's on the other side" she kept telling me. So, I don't go straight on this road? No. It's on the other side. Otro cada de QUE, I asked. The plaza, turns out. Make a left at the mercado she says. Got to Nohbec; the map shows you can go straight or cross over. Drive past the cemetary - the straight road - which deteriorated into a rocky two track. Asked the guys at the cemetary, my map shows this goes straight to Hwy 307. No, it's not a good road - go back and cross over through town to Los Limones. Go back to middle of town, and ask someone which street to cross over - they all cross over. Don't the streets have names I ask? He laughs. No, in this town the streets don't have names. Go to the green house on the corner on that side of the street, two blocks down and turn left. I pass 3 green houses, but come to one on the corner, and take a wild guess. Finally get on the main highway. I ask about a camping place - there's a very small sign at a jungle entrance that I would have missed had I not been told by the pineapple ladies. Ended up with a lakeside, palapa roofed campsite - not on the map - ham dinner and margarita in hand at the end of the day. Life is good.