Two Amigos Tackle The No Wimp Trail

GE Image of Trail Top Half


Bottom Half


Roy (The Square Circle) and I enter Baja at Tecate on Friday morning Dec. 9 and go east on Hwy 2 to the Santa Veronica turn off. There used to be a sign for Santa Veronica but it was not there. We stopped in to check their beverage quality and with a passing grade we moved on down the El Compadre trail stopping from time to time to take a picture or discuss something along the way. Past the Indian Village at La Huerta we continue to Hwy 3 at KM55. It�s Hwy 3 to Hwy 5 and into San Felipe and the El Capitan hotel. We had a great Filet Mignon for dinner at El Ninos and then to bed.

Along the El Compadre Trail


Saturday morning and we�re on the Hwy south stopping to say hi to a friend then pushing on to Gonzaga Bay for lunch at Alfonsina's and then into Cocos. We have some Christmas presents for him and visit for a while then it�s out to Hwy 1 and south to the LA Bay turnoff and on to LA Bay. Gas and ice and we continue to the Las Animas turn off and find a camp site for the night. During this trip the days are warm and sunny and the nights are on the cold side. Every night we camped we had a nice warm fire using a combo of fire logs and local wood laying around.

Sunday morning we�re off to Pancho�s. A note here on the spelling of his name. I asked him how it is spelled and he says with an a as in Pancho. I�ve seen people spell it with an o but that is not correct per him. We also brought him some Christmas presents. Soon we�re on the road again to El Barril.

Sunrise


Camp


Road damage from two years ago


South of El Barril is a mine called La Sirena which Roy wanted to see. Roy remembers it with a large opening that a car could drive in. We follow the trail showed on Google Earth (kind of narrow) back to a place to park and Roy walks up the remains of a road to the mine. He says it had the same view toward the ocean but the mine drops down at the entrance instead of going back flat. He is not sure it is the same mine.

We continue to Rancho La Ilusion where we find two vaqueros. We talk to them about the trail ahead but they did not know it�s condition as it gets close to the ocean. We move on to a Jct. with a bypass Nomad 4x4abc used last year to get around the old R. Santa Barbara/R. San Muguel Jct. Nomad rich t did the NWT several weeks ago, and I thought I had downloaded his GPS track into my GPS but I didn�t. I did have the Google Earth maps I made. My GPS has the original trail from before the hurricane damage. We travel a mile or two then stop for the night. The sky overhead is full of stars. After eating my Denny Moore beef stew, I take the can over to the arroyo and set it down. It still had some stew in it. I was hoping the coyotes would eat some if they came around.




Camp


Monday morning with a warm fire and hot coffee to get the blood circulating it appeared to be another great day in Baja. Checking my beef stew can there was no tracks and the stew had not been touched, no coyotes that night. We pack up and move on. We stop at the Shrine for pictures.

Shrine


Next up is Rancho San Miguel. The building is still standing in what appears to be good shape. The rock corrals are also in good shape. The negative side is all the stuff laying all over the place near the building. Lots of junk, a real eye sore. While walking around we spot a tent on the other side of the corral. We called out but no answer. As we get near the tent there are bicycle tracks but no bicycle or people. It appears there is only one rider but he or she is nowhere to be seen. I cannot imagine someone riding a bicycle down there whether solo or in a group. You are in the middle of nowhere. But I guess people do it.

Ranch house


Corral


Tent


We move on following tracks from the jeeps that rich t was with plus some motorcycle tracks and another vehicle that appears to be fresh. Soon we lose the jeep and MC tracks. I think this is where Rich had to turn around. We turn around and start looking for tracks leaving the arroyo and soon find them. Before long we are near the ocean. We come to a small arroyo where the old road crossed but it is blocked with somewhat large rocks. We see a bypass the others used. It goes down onto the rocky beach across the arroyo and up the other side and back to the road. The only problem is the rocks are loose and it is not an easy go. Roy went first and made it. As I start to climb up I�m having trouble so I stop to back up and my gear shifter won�t go forward to reverse. I pull it back then push it forward, now it won�t go past 2nd. I get out and there is a log jammed between my skid plate and tranny. I pull it out and now I can shift, soon I�m up and out.

Roy going down


Before I would take the beach route again I would attempt to clear the rocks in the arroyo. The beach rocks were the size of softballs and loose making driving on them very difficult. Perhaps less air in tires would help.

Down the trail, we go stopping at Los Corrales at the rock corral. We pass the 28th parallel and spot a couple of fishing boats in the distance. Somewhere along here a couple of years ago, someone had put up a rope gate with a tin cup for toll money. At the time, we left a few coins and moved on. Maybe it was the bike rider. We find a camp site up an arroyo for the night.

Los Corrales


Down the beach


Tuesday, we climb up and out of the arroyo onto a small mesa. There is a palapa on a hill with some wire and post. Someone is building a fence. The trail goes west away from the ocean a mile or two then south and finally back east to the ocean.

The morning sky



What is left of the Palapa


Wire and post


Soon we are at the salt flats, some say quick sand. Around it to the west and on the south side is a pickup truck and a camp setup. We did not circle around to it but kept going toward Trinidad. We turn inland at Trinidad following the tracks in the arroyo. Lots of small rocks make it difficult to see any tracks and at times we walk ahead to find them. Before long we are out of the arroyo at El Gato. A large rock corral on the east side of the road and a smaller rock corral on the west side. The east side corral had a large plastic water tank in the northwest corner that was not there before.

Salt Flats


The camp is in the center


El Gato


It�s down the dirt road as it gets dark. Suddenly I�m looking at several large buildings with a chain link fence. I don�t remember ever seeing it but Santa Marta comes to mind. I had not been there before. We had missed the Jct. So, it�s back to the Jct. and on to Hwy 1 and San Ignacio. In San Ignacio, we get rooms at the La Huerta hotel and clean up. It�s over to Rice and Beans for dinner. They only had hamburgers which were not that good. The fries were good and the margaritas even better.

Wednesday it�s breakfast in town then off to BajaBlancas in La Bocana. Arriving at their home Blanca was in town shopping and Les invited us to have lunch. At first, we said no but Les insisted so we ate and it was delicious. Soon Blanca arrived and she gave us some of her chocolate cake. A meal fit for a King. After leaving a suitcase full of stuff Blancas mom gave me we were off to Bahia Asuncion to see Shari and Juan and find Motoged. We pull into the La Bufadora Inn and there is Shari and Juan. We talk for a while with Roy showing some tricks with a fly. Shari, Roy and I head over to the house where Motoged is staying. He already has the margarita prepared and soon we are around the table sipping his delight.

Blanca with the two amigos


The La Bufadora Inn at the top


Shari with Roy and GED


The day is wearing on and we must leave and head north. At Vizcaino we gas up and move north. Soon we are in fog and about 25mph is it. It clears a little at Guerrero Negro but gets thicker as we go north until near Jesus Maria where it clears up. It�s smooth sailing all the way to Cocos where we stop for the night.

Thursday morning, we have coffee and cookies with Coco then it is off to Gonzaga Bay to air up at Rancho Grande. We continue to San Felipe for gas then Mexicali and the east border. In less than an hour we cross and it�s homeward bound. We left Cocos at 7:30am and I got home at 10:30pm a long day for sure and one I do not want to do again.

Roy did not have any problems on the NWT with his Land Rover.

All in all, it was a great trip, fun and certainly interesting.


[Edited on 12-28-2016 by TMW]

[Edited on 2-23-2023 by BajaNomad]

Thanks for the ride ...