| Pages:
 1
 2 | 
| willyAirstream 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
Posts: 1786
 
Registered: 1-1-2010
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| Photo Essay- Mulege-San Juanico-La Purisima-Paso Honda-Mulege 
 
 Mulege-San Juanico-La Purisima-Paso Honda-Mulege trip album 43 pics.
 Extra Lap Al on a Honda 600XR and I left Friday and took our time to San Juanico, 4 hrs with stops of about an hour. Camped on the beach and meet 2
different parties from my hometown in
 
 Mass, a tiny fishing village. Amazing small world. Got a late start and headed for La Purisima, then back to Mulege via Paso Honda, the hard way, to
say the least. Climbed over two mountains of
 
 3700 ft from sea level and it was treacherous! Got back to Mulege in one piece about 4pm. Coming back this way revealed amazing sights from oasis,
deep canyons, 60 ft cactus, water holes
 
 and beautiful valleys. It was a true adventure over those mountains. The pics don't tell the whole story - steep! twisty narrow rock strewn trails (
not really roads), land slides, rock slides, hugh tire
 
 eating holes, no way to turn around, no way to back down, just go for it and make No mistakes. We had done one of those mtns last october and thought
that would be easier than the first and it
 
 was , but only slightly. It was 10 times more difficult than in Oct. Things change quickly here.  Enjoy the ride, I did !
 more pics on my facebook - zgdesign
 
 
  Packed and ready to roll
 
 
  
 
  Heading out Ice House Rd to San Juanico
 
 
  all roads from ice house road are recently graded to the base of the mountains
 
 
  
 
  San Juanico
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  Heading to La Purisisma
 
 
  
 
  
 
  Road is a freeway from LP to Paso Honda, then it is a trecherous climb over 2 mountains. Shoebox size rocks 2 ft deep up one side, small slippery
rocks and gravel going down. The next
 
 mountaion was full of dirt and rock slides. High clearance, crawling low gear, good tires is a must. Not for the faint hearted.
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  This is coming down the first mtn, arrow denotes the road. It looks easy, but it was a b-tch.
 
 
  
 
  Last descent and we will be home!  Great trip!
 
 
 
 
 | 
|  | 
| bonanza bucko 
 
Senior Nomad
     
 
 
 
Posts: 587
 
Registered: 8-31-2003
 Location: San Diego
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  Airport Bum
 |  | 
| 
 I certainly hope these photos meet the dumb guidelines on this page because they are just super!
 BB
 | 
|  | 
| KurtG 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
 
Posts: 1211
 
Registered: 1-27-2004
 Location: California Central Coast
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  Press On Regardless!!
 |  | 
| 
 Brings back good memories.  I have done that route across to San Juanico several times and in March '12 Kathy and I did the back way from San Isidro
to Mulege and posted a trip report here.  That trip was inspired by Mulegena's description of their trip.  I had tried 3 previous times going back 15
years to get through and finally managed.  As you said there were places where there was no turning back, the descent to El Llano in particular.  The
views at mile 37 southbound made the whole thing worth it.  Did the motorcycle go through there and if so how did he fare?
 | 
|  | 
| DianaT 
 
Select Nomad
         
 
 
 
Posts: 10020
 
Registered: 12-17-2004
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Very, very nice.  Great Photos!
 | 
|  | 
| willyAirstream 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
Posts: 1786
 
Registered: 1-1-2010
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Thanks for the compliments!
 Al never fell, but his rear tire came very close to bouncing off the trail and he would have fallen, way way down. He has years of experience and it
showed as he bounced from rock to rock.
 I usually post 2400 wide pics to FB, but used 1200 as a compromise so i could use the same pics here.
 May be a little bit big for antique monitors .
 
 
 
 
 | 
|  | 
| Pacifico 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
Posts: 1299
 
Registered: 5-26-2008
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Nice! Looks like a fun trip!
 
 
 
 
 "Plan your life as if you are going to live forever. Live your life as if you are going to die tomorrow." - Carlos Fiesta  | 
|  | 
| Pompano 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
 
Posts: 8194
 
Registered: 11-14-2004
 Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  Optimistic
 |  | 
| 
 Great trip photo report, amigo.  Brings back some very old memories of the trail to the Far Side.
 
 
 
 
 I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me. | 
|  | 
| Cypress 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
 
Posts: 7641
 
Registered: 3-12-2006
 Location: on the bayou
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  undecided
 |  | 
| 
 WillyAirstream, Thanks.
 | 
|  | 
| chuckie 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
 
Posts: 6082
 
Registered: 2-20-2012
 Location: Kansas Prairies
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  Weary
 |  | 
| 
 Graet pics, Richard!
 
 
 
 
 | 
|  | 
| Mulegena 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
 
Posts: 2412
 
Registered: 11-7-2006
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Great ride, thanks!
 
 One of the best favorite places in the world - La Purisima to Mulege, south to north-east.
 
 Love it!!
 
 
 
 
  "Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
 "It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
 | 
|  | 
| Ateo 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
 
Posts: 5927
 
Registered: 7-18-2011
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 That tienda for sale in La Purisima would be the hippest place in town if it was north of the border.  Put that in SD and it would be some urban
trendy pub or something.
 
 Thanks for the photos.
 | 
|  | 
| rts551 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
 
Posts: 6700
 
Registered: 9-5-2003
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 great!  Picture perfect.   Would like to try that route on a 4x4 quad.
 | 
|  | 
| Majorcynik 
 
Newbie
 
 
 
 
Posts: 16
 
Registered: 1-9-2014
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 FANTASTIC!!!
   | 
|  | 
| MulegeAL 
 
Nomad
    
 
 
 
Posts: 299
 
Registered: 8-25-2009
 Location: PDX/Mulege
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Thanks for posting up the pics of our trip, 'yer an easy guy to travel the backcountry with!
 Honda XR600 rules on no bueno camino!  17 years of baja on that bike, is still a solid dependable ride.
 
 Note to any who think they wanna do the route from San Isidro north:
 Road conditions over the high passes around here have deteriorated significantly since Jimena/Paul and subsequent tormentos.  I have been over all the
high pass routes this season and the only one that is passable easy w/clearance is west of here down the San Raymundo wash.
 
 All the other high pass routes have severe erosion damage to the roadbed and are very difficult to transit.
 
 The part I am concerned about is that the low roads on the valley floors are much improved, better than ever actually, making the approach to the mtns
easy.  But as soon as you go past the end of the improved camino it becomes very difficult and would be dangerous for transit by anyone with less than
very good to expert skills off road/survival/self-recovery.  Richards pics in no way show how bad the bad parts are, and neither do mine.  Please do
not let his scenic pics suck u in over your head, this route is the deep end of the pool, around here anyways.
 
 If anyone does choose to go the hard way, please be sure to let nomads know behind and in front!
 
 I got a cold one here for the next one who can make a clean pass through (probably shouldn't say that, but the guys who are gonna do this are gonna do
this, might as well compare notes!)
 | 
|  | 
| Udo 
 
Elite Nomad
        
 
 
Posts: 6364
 
Registered: 4-26-2008
 Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  TEQUILA!
 |  | 
| 
 Great photos Willy...brings back memories, great ones!
 
 
 
 
 Udo 
 Youth is wasted on the young!
 
 
 | 
|  | 
| tiotomasbcs 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
 
Posts: 1837
 
Registered: 7-30-2007
 Location: El Pescadero
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Thanks for sharing your trip and fotos, Amigo.  The beaches  in San Juanico look inviting with the little shade palapas.   Summer escape from the
heat.  I'll be up in another month and let's go exploring.  Where did the dog ride, shotgun?  Tomas
 | 
|  | 
| Kgryfon 
 
Senior Nomad
     
 
 
 
Posts: 624
 
Registered: 1-27-2009
 Location: East Bay, CA
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 Great photos! Do you know the story behind the whale looking boat thing?
 | 
|  | 
| Sweetwater 
 
Senior Nomad
     
 
 
 
Posts: 915
 
Registered: 11-26-2010
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  chilly today hot tomale
 |  | 
| 
 Wow, I've been to those spots 3 years ago and they were torture on the motos. Beautiful scenery but brutal routes to ride. You've got a U2, I'll be in
Yuma 3:10 on Friday.
 
 
 
  
 [Edited on 2-17-2014 by Sweetwater]
 
 
 
 
 Everbody\'s preachin\' at me that we all wanna git to heaven, trouble is, nobody wants to die to git there.-BB KingReality is what does not go away when you stop believing in it. -Philip K Dick
 Nothing is worse than active ignorance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832, German writer, artist and politician)
 When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I\'ve never tried before. - Mae West
 Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.
 | 
|  | 
| KurtG 
 
Super Nomad
      
 
 
 
Posts: 1211
 
Registered: 1-27-2004
 Location: California Central Coast
 
Member Is Offline
Mood:  Press On Regardless!!
 |  | 
| 
 
 | Quote: |  | Originally posted by MulegeAL Thanks for posting up the pics of our trip, 'yer an easy guy to travel the backcountry with!
 Honda XR600 rules on no bueno camino!  17 years of baja on that bike, is still a solid dependable ride.
 
 Note to any who think they wanna do the route from San Isidro north:
 Road conditions over the high passes around here have deteriorated significantly since Jimena/Paul and subsequent tormentos.  I have been over all the
high pass routes this season and the only one that is passable easy w/clearance is west of here down the San Raymundo wash.
 
 All the other high pass routes have severe erosion damage to the roadbed and are very difficult to transit.
 
 The part I am concerned about is that the low roads on the valley floors are much improved, better than ever actually, making the approach to the mtns
easy.  But as soon as you go past the end of the improved camino it becomes very difficult and would be dangerous for transit by anyone with less than
very good to expert skills off road/survival/self-recovery.  Richards pics in no way show how bad the bad parts are, and neither do mine.  Please do
not let his scenic pics suck u in over your head, this route is the deep end of the pool, around here anyways.
 
 If anyone does choose to go the hard way, please be sure to let nomads know behind and in front!
 
 I got a cold one here for the next one who can make a clean pass through (probably shouldn't say that, but the guys who are gonna do this are gonna do
this, might as well compare notes!)
 | 
 
 Al,
 I agree with you completely.  After going through there in our Explorer part of the reason for my trip report was to give a good picture of the
difficulties.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, there were places that we didn't want to have to try to go back up and I would only do that trip
South to North.
 
 I admire your riding skills.  I am a mid-level dual sport type who has done most of those back country roads on a beat up old KLR over the years.  I
would not attempt that route on two wheels.  Perhaps in younger days but no more.  I'm going to be in Mulege in the near future so will look you up. 
Also, I agree with you about the xr600, a great  dependable bike.  I just can't handle kick start anymore, gotta have that nice starter button.
 | 
|  | 
| MulegeAL 
 
Nomad
    
 
 
 
Posts: 299
 
Registered: 8-25-2009
 Location: PDX/Mulege
 
Member Is Offline
 |  | 
| 
 KurtG,
 Hell yeah, come on down!
 I expect to be out in the San Martin wash again end of the month/2 wks with the mexicans for a couple of days.  Got some stuff to take 'em.  Might be
quad, might be moto w/mexican backup, will see.  Is all good.
 
 Believe it or not, when the XR was new I could start it by hand when stuck in tight places in the Trask River coastal mtns where it was impossible to
get a foot on it.  It has unique and effective compression release/anti-kickback features.
 
 SweetH2O,
 Not sure if you are conversing with me, but anyways, if u are in Yuma, go east of town and practice your powerslides on the irrigation dike roads,
they go for miles, are perfectly graded; is a real hoot!
 
 And then there's the Barry M Goldwater bombing range to ride thru.....
 | 
|  | 
| Pages:
 1
 2 |