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SyntaxJO
Junior Nomad
Posts: 50
Registered: 6-19-2006
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Mood: Excited for November!
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Well I don't think I'd ever DARE get THAT close to the beach?!?! Haysus! "Malarrimo: Scared Straight" You're not telling me that THAT'S what I'm up
against. I have no trouble walking a little ways.... It's going from worse to worse.
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13052
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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good answer syntax!!!
I've heard a few scared straight stories about malarrimo thus try to go in some one elses vehicle and scream and beg them to stop before they get onto
the beach...stop in and have a beer with us on your way out so we can hear your trip report in person!!!...better yet...if we arent busy, maybe we'll
tag along in our monster truck...just in case!
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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The NAMES Neal.....we want the NAMES!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65410
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Hey Neal, does that Jeep driver now own a Tacoma (like mine)???   
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ArvadaGeorge
Nomad
Posts: 358
Registered: 9-2-2003
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Riding on that beach on a M/C in real good--that said i did get stuck once; but a M/C is a lot easier to get out.
In 1978 or 1979 while having dinner in San Jose Del Castro I was told there were more than 100 vehicles sunk on that beach+ 1 air plane ---they go
down and don’t come up??
Just a curiosity --There is a tower on the north end of the beach--who made it? and why??
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6364
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
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Mood: TEQUILA!
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OH MY GAWD! SUPERB FOTOS!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
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Mood: In love!
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DK, Yep, he does, or maybe it is the bigger cousin; in any case he eats a lot of tacos.. I'm dead!
The stuck scene is about one fourth mile west of where the arroyo hits the water (Castro route.) It all started when the first stuck vehicle left the
group and drove down half way from the vegetation toward the water. Nice dry looking sand - on top. An adjacent arroyo had dumped the mud on the
beach and then the sand had covered it up.
Then the tide started coming in.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Bajatripper
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3152
Registered: 3-20-2010
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I've been out there to the "Castro exit" part of Malarimo a few times. I think that it would be challenging to get a two-wheeled drive truck out
there, but definitely do-able. I can only think of one place that would provide a challenge, where the road drops down from the mesa to the wash. But
a winch (and, barring that, a come-along with a couple of tow straps) will get you through. But there is plenty of soft sand in the wash, so be ready
to air down and perhaps struggle--and take a pump (and lots of water), it's a ways to Bahia Tortugas.
Udo mentioned the possible damage of storms last winter. I traveled the length of the peninsula in the days following the big storm that messed up
Santa Rosalia, heading south. We didn't get into any sign of the storm until just after San Ignacio. North of there, one would never have noticed that
the peninsula had been visited by a storm recently, so perhaps Malarimo wasn't affected. However, on a recent trip to California, I did notice that
Laguna Chapala was full--the first time I have ever seen that. So perhaps that was what Udo was thinking about, storms from the north.
One thing that would cause me to hesitate recommending your trip is that you note that you just recently (I think) learned how to get out of the sand.
If you have little off-road experience (to say nothing of desert-survival knowledge), I don't think a two-wheeled drive trip alone out to Malarimo is
the place to cut your teeth. If you could get someone along with a four-wheel drive for company, then by all means "Alelante!"
Also, call me paranoid, but since I've only made the trip with my vehicle, I stay well back from the beach. I remember reading about beaches having
quicksand-like qualities along there, think it was in Walt Peterson. There are some fish camp structures that are as far as I go. If it's windy, I
stay quite a ways further up the wash, and still get blasted.
If you can find someone to go with, be sure to keep an eye out along the upper walls of the wash. There are many small caves with a couple of
different types of owls in them. You can sometimes see them at the entrances during the day, asleep (or, at least with their eyes closed) as you drive
by.
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SyntaxJO
Junior Nomad
Posts: 50
Registered: 6-19-2006
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Mood: Excited for November!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Neal Johns
The stuck scene is about one fourth mile west of where the arroyo hits the water (Castro route.) |
NICE! Any chance you can point it out on google maps?
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SyntaxJO
Junior Nomad
Posts: 50
Registered: 6-19-2006
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Mood: Excited for November!
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My plan is take the long way around AFTER the "Castro exit" - then I will NOT be going out to the beach. I will stop the car where the vegetation
ends. Seems like I can't make Castro cause I need a winch - and it seems like the mud is on the beach. If I stay away from both it seems doable to
me. Is there still a reasonable chance that I could get stuck in the mud staying away from both the beach and the Castro road?
I'm a crazy @#$% but I'm not stupid - and not stupid to me means that I might try it alone with 2WD but definitely have enough water and food to make
it Tortugas in just such an emergency and probably relish it.
If that is ABSOLUTELY STUPID then who wants to go out to Malarrimo sometime around the 2nd week of August?! I'm excellent company. And I'll be
filming it for an episode of my show that I just started. www.breaking-down.com
--J.O'Ly.
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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www.breaking-down.com
Kind of fooled me. I thought it was about your 2 wheel drive breaking down in various locations.
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TMW
Select Nomad
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Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by SyntaxJO
If that is ABSOLUTELY STUPID then who wants to go out to Malarrimo sometime around the 2nd week of August?! I'm excellent company.
--J.O'Ly. |
I think this is the time for DK to go. With his Tacoma you will be safe and him and Angel would have a wonderful adventure. Well DK?
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mtgoat666
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 20374
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by SyntaxJO
My plan is take the long way around AFTER the "Castro exit" - then I will NOT be going out to the beach. I will stop the car where the vegetation
ends. Seems like I can't make Castro cause I need a winch - and it seems like the mud is on the beach. If I stay away from both it seems doable to
me. Is there still a reasonable chance that I could get stuck in the mud staying away from both the beach and the Castro road?
I'm a crazy @#$% but I'm not stupid - and not stupid to me means that I might try it alone with 2WD but definitely have enough water and food to make
it Tortugas in just such an emergency and probably relish it.
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as your trip involves working in mexico, perhaps you should hire a local guide, someone who can also be your location scout, hold the sound boom, and
keep you safe and out of trouble.
if you go alone, to avoid getting stuck, just use the roads used by locals to reach fish camps. stay on the traveled roads and stay off the unused
roads. re the mud shown in pics, 4wd won't help you in that kind of mud
when in doubt, park the car and hike the rest of the way. if you bring a mtn bike, you can always pedal out to find help (sort of a long walk).
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ursidae69
Nomad
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: Youngsville, NM
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I did the Castro route in early February of this year right after the record rains. The road was non-existant in many places and the washouts were a
hoot. My truck is a 04 Tacoma with a rear locker, lifted, on 33s, and there is no way your truck will make this unless a grader has been in there
since the storms. I camped a mile short of the beach up out of the arroyo just to avoid the quicksand issues since I was travelling solo. The beach
was not as exciting as I hoped and I don't think I'll visit it again. It could be that the storm surge had scoured much of the beach. The best part
was the various colors of red in the canyon.
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13052
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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Ursidae...glad you said it about the beach not being as exciting as you'd hoped. That was my sentiment exactly...what i experienced was a whole lot of
plastic garbage...I mean tons of it everywhere...it was hard to beach comb through all the junk...your eyes just get tired of seeing crap. It was neat
to see some big logs but we didnt find anything interesting at all...just gathered some floats and driftwood boards.
It was fine to tag along with someone else to see this famous beach but it is far overrated in my opinion and very windy...one of those places you do
once but the area has lots of neat places to visit...gorgeous beaches, fossil areas, coves, cliffs etc.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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Looks like an excellent area to test your/my winch and Pull-Pal------wow, that is MUD!!!! (quicksand?)
(Neal ends up in the darndest places)
Barry
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
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Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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Stuck in Malarrimo
Back in '76, a friend and I drove to Malarrimo in my Baja Bug which had a 4" Body-Lift kit and HUGE off-road tires on the back as a result. Having
gone where Baja Bugs would "usually" get stuck, I thought we could go anywhere on the Malarrimo Beach. Wrong. We came close to sinking in so many
times at low tide that we became overly (?) cautious and it was something of a disappointment as a result.
Being cautious was likely the right answer, though, since we were there for 3 days and never saw another vehicle or person on the beach.
One other thing that stood out about that trip was that the most prolific items found on the beach (other than Timber and other wood) were Olive Drab
items of all descriptions with U.S. Government markings on them. I remarked at the time that it was obvious how the U.S. Navy handled their shipboard
refuse disposal.
[Edited on 6-23-2010 by MrBillM]
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
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Mood: In love!
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SyntaxJO,
The small arroyos do not show up well on GE but it was somewhere between the ? arroyo and the main Castro route arroyo.
The First Left Bypass takes you up into the soft, dry dunes and back down into the mouth of the Castro arroyo to miss the sometimes soft mud near the
coast. This was a decade ago so YMMV.
[Edited on 6-23-2010 by Neal Johns]
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65410
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by TW
| Quote: | Originally posted by SyntaxJO
If that is ABSOLUTELY STUPID then who wants to go out to Malarrimo sometime around the 2nd week of August?! I'm excellent company.
--J.O'Ly. |
I think this is the time for DK to go. With his Tacoma you will be safe and him and Angel would have a wonderful adventure. Well DK?
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TW, it is YOU who should go... I may have the TRUCK, but you are retired with TIME to have such fun! Thanks for the thought, but we did not care at
all for the cold, windy, foggy Pacific coast that is north of Asuncion (Asuncion is suprisingly an exception from the cold summer Pacific weather).
For us, it is the desert and the heat of the Sea of Cortez coast in the summer!
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desertcpl
Super Nomad
Posts: 2406
Registered: 10-26-2008
Location: yuma,az
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MY take on this
I know it might sound romantic to go,
but you are a newbie in offroading in Baja
I wouldnt even think of going in a 2 wheel drive by your self.
even 4 wheel drives can get stuck, your just asking for trouble
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