BajaNomad

northen pacific trip this coming labor day weekend

charlie_brown - 8-26-2022 at 11:35 AM

so this is more of a pretrip post. I have not been down to baja in 2 years (40yr vet) and i know a lot has changed with all the world bs and the recent cartel crap.

will be with about 6 other prerunner trucks just on a fun run. I know there is a score race a week or so later so we will be on the look out for and cross traffic.

i think my concern (or my gf has talked to me about) is driving through tj.. more specifically coming back because of the way the roads are i seem to always take a wrong turn and see things i dont want to in tj.

for folks that are more connected, have things cooled down? whats is it like?

our travel will be as much as possible in the dirt. coyote cals, san quintin (old mill) then back to cals. cruze back home.

fuel?? we will all be running gas

Bajazly - 8-26-2022 at 11:42 AM

Go thru Tecate and avoid TJ altogether if you are concerned.

TMW - 8-26-2022 at 12:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Bajazly  
Go thru Tecate and avoid TJ altogether if you are concerned.


x2

I think going south TJ is better to get the FMM card and is easy to follow the border around to the toll road. Coming back north I prefer Tecate and I try to get to the border around 9 to 10 am.

[Edited on 8-26-2022 by TMW]

Bajazly - 8-26-2022 at 05:13 PM

And, unless you have SENTRI, TJ could be 3 or 6 hours if you hit it right (read wrong). I've spent hours at Tecate too but it is generally not that bad but that cat is out of the bag so the waits have been edging up on the longer side.

That being said, I've also been the second car in line at Tecate, pretty hit or miss as to how long you will wait there but generally never as long as TJ unless you happen to have lottery luck when you get there.

bajatrailrider - 8-26-2022 at 08:10 PM

Quote: Originally posted by charlie_brown  
so this is more of a pretrip post. I have not been down to baja in 2 years (40yr vet) and i know a lot has changed with all the world bs and the recent cartel crap.

will be with about 6 other prerunner trucks just on a fun run. I know there is a score race a week or so later so we will be on the look out for and cross traffic.

i think my concern (or my gf has talked to me about) is driving through tj.. more specifically coming back because of the way the roads are i seem to always take a wrong turn and see things i dont want to in tj.

for folks that are more connected, have things cooled down? whats is it like?

our travel will be as much as possible in the dirt. coyote cals, san quintin (old mill) then back to cals. cruze back home.

fuel?? we will all be running gas
Im near coyote cals hope to see you guys. Will you take the route from cals south .

TecateRay - 8-27-2022 at 07:33 AM

1. You need to get the SCORE Baja 400 course map and make sure you are not going against the race direction. Pre runners will be active during your trip and even though they are supposed to go slowly while pre running, most don’t.
2. Crossing south through Tijuana is easy and you get a nice ride down the coast on the toll road. Crossing north I always use Tecate. Even if the line is long, it’s a single file with no stress. If someone cuts in a local already in line usually calls the cops and they remove the”cutter”.

David K - 8-27-2022 at 07:48 AM

The Baja 400 map is posted in the Nomad Off Road forum.

bajatrailrider - 8-27-2022 at 09:15 AM

I know every foot of the route your planning on. Can tell you where is cool route .Also where to avoid as far as race route . Also more fun route off the beaten track

charlie_brown - 8-27-2022 at 01:03 PM

thanks to all that have replied. we are all past/present racer of baja at one point or another. i have looked over the map and several have down loaded it into the gps so we should know when we are close to the course.
i guess tecate will be a good choice for coming back. most but not all have a sentry pass.

#bajatrailrider we will be passing by Friday from the north to stay the night at cals, then again sunday night back to the boarder monday..

charlie_brown - 9-9-2022 at 02:56 PM

had a good time for the weekend.
in our group we had to change: parts store
1 power steering pump, one alternator. yonke
I got stuck in the rocks along the beach rock section with all the slime fish guts thrown all over my truck. slinked the rest of the run.
weather was nice for being in a heat wave.
thank goodness old mill hotel has AC now.
the hotel restaurant was great.
thanks to bajatrailrider.

i would post pictures but the files are to big even for one photo and i am to busy (and lazy) to resize pictures. just to get them here i have to email them to my computer, save, then load them.

David K - 9-10-2022 at 08:41 AM

Quote: Originally posted by charlie_brown  
had a good time for the weekend.
in our group we had to change: parts store
1 power steering pump, one alternator. yonke
I got stuck in the rocks along the beach rock section with all the slime fish guts thrown all over my truck. slinked the rest of the run.
weather was nice for being in a heat wave.
thank goodness old mill hotel has AC now.
the hotel restaurant was great.
thanks to bajatrailrider.

i would post pictures but the files are to big even for one photo and i am to busy (and lazy) to resize pictures. just to get them here i have to email them to my computer, save, then load them.


Thank you for the trip report! Can you post the photos on the Baja Nomad Facebook page? Facebook pretty much makes photo posting easy, no matter how the photos are sized. https://www.facebook.com/bajanomad