| Pages:
1
2 |
edm1
Senior Nomad
Posts: 568
Registered: 8-23-2006
Location: Oak Hills, Ca
Member Is Offline
|
|
mud bogs in Baja
I'd like to hear mud bog experiences or sightings/locations in Baja.
Thanks,
Art
[Edited on 7-26-2007 by edm1]
|
|
|
CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
|
|
And I would like to see the pictures of the vehicles in the mud ....... CaboRon
|
|
|
Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Full Time Residents
|
|
and it was muddy
|
|
|
CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
|
|
Bob and Susan, Outstanding photo , but I'm sure it was no fun at the time. Was this from "John" last October ? CaboRon
|
|
|
Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Full Time Residents
|
|
no just diggin...
the boys from the edijo all came over and hauled it out...
it weighs 35,000 pounds...its no toyota
washed up and working the next day...
same thing happened later but no problems...
(sh--) stuff happens...it WAS muddy
|
|
|
Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Full Time Residents
|
|
they had 4 water pumps pumping out the water
and dumped dry dirt all around and the driver "walked it out"
amazing what these things and people can do...
|
|
|
wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3881
Registered: 2-9-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
There is a famous mud bog en route to Malarrimo Beach.
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Opera........
Good one!
Iflyfish
|
|
|
Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
|
|
We were surfing at Shipwrecks near Colonet years ago and this guy is on the bluff waving his arms and yelling for help...so we get out of the water to
see his problem is--turns out he tried to drive across the muddy salt flat estruary around the point--he thought it was like Bonneville so he took a
running start at it! He made it halfway across and got stuck well in over the axles...it took an hour of digging in that muck and my Ford Ranger, my
brother's F-150, and my friend's Izuzu all tied together to yank him out...his truck tweeked so bad that the windshield popped out! But he was able
to drive home...
|
|
|
Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
We got to El Requeson and settled in when some folks that we have met in San Quinton came into camp. They told of their night-time search for a spot
to camp near the whale lagoon.....
Recognize that dock ? I know where he was !
You can see the cable hooked to the tow truck they brought from GN to pull him out.
Shari, does the guy in the yellow jacket look familiar ??
[Edited on 7-26-2007 by Diver]
|
|
|
baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
Member Is Offline
Mood: good
|
|
While camped in the San Quintin back bay sitting around rehashing the days fishing I look up and comes a guy with a pained look on his face and says
"I need help bad I,m stuck on a mud flat and the tide is coming in please" so we jumed in my old W200 a potent truck in its day.
Sure enough there he was stuck up to his gunnels out on this mud flat
and the tide was coming in big time.
He had one of those flat nosed jeep pick-ups and a small camper,we pulled out the cable from his winch pinned it on my step bumper gave it a
pull all I did was bury myself,go to plan B I gave him a shovel and told him he better start digging well he dug for a while, the winch lets try that,
I set the brakes and he started winching BAM,my bud yells stop I get only to find my bumper bolts broke
I thought he was going to have a nice cry,I happen to have a couple bolts that fit just right,more digging now the water is inches away from
his rig and his wife is making a big racket what are we going to do she yells,well lets try MARY ANN again so named by my girls
Well this time MARY ANN got the job done 
An it was beers all round with happy faces
|
|
|
TacoFeliz
Nomad
Posts: 268
Registered: 7-22-2005
Location: Here
Member Is Offline
Mood: Exploratory
|
|
An error in judgement years ago at Malarimo.
|
|
|
Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
|
|
TacoFeliz was driving close to pull his friend out. No good deed goes unpunished!
![Malarrimo2 [800x600].jpg - 42kB](https://forums.bajanomad.com/files.php?pid=245067&aid=16428 "Malarrimo2 [800x600].jpg - 42kB")
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
|
|
|
Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
|
|
Friend an hour or two later......
![Malarrimo3 [800x600].jpg - 49kB](https://forums.bajanomad.com/files.php?pid=245072&aid=16429 "Malarrimo3 [800x600].jpg - 49kB")
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
|
|
|
Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
|
|
No pics for this old story, sorry.
Baja's Shell Island Adventure (1980)
I had discovered the remote Baja beach (now named Shell Island by David K) poking around the area the year before in my Land Cruiser. The two-track
off the old road between San Felipe and Puertecitos had looked inviting, so I took it. My religion is simple, if you pass a desert side road without
taking it, God will get you! After a few miles, we (my girlfriend and I) arrived on the edge of a muddy lagoon separating some sand dunes from the
mainland.
We had lunch while we tried to decide whether to drive through the mud or not. We could see that the two-track continued but my chicken blood
was running into my brain. Just then a Jeep passed us with a smirk, and drove on through to the dunes. That was it! No darn Jeep can show up a Land
Cruiser! We crossed with no problems even if our Tru-Traks (remember TruTraks? The BFG’s of yesteryear) clogged up.
Surprise! There was a pristine beach on the other side of the dunes with no one in sight except way down south. Hundreds of shells littered the beach
and we had lots of time to look at them because for every revolution of the tires, we moved forward about two feet. Airing down the tire pressure
helped but there was still a lot of slippage. After camping the night, we went on to other things.
Move the clock up a year and I am poking around Baja with two buddies, one with a Jeep CJ-5 and the other in another Land Cruiser. Nightfall
approached and I declared "I know a great place to camp!". It took us a while to get there and it was dark with no moon. The lagoon was full and the
two-track disappeared under the water. Said I: " No problem, I have been here before and if you stay on the track, there won't be any problem, just
follow me". That's when things started to go terribly wrong.
I took off in low range with the two guys behind me and things went OK until the unseen underwater "road" bent right, and I didn't. I started to bog
down and screamed the infamous words "Pass me on the right!" just before I got stuck. The Jeep did so and went two more car lengths before he got
stuck. We heard on the CB the other Land Cruiser say he was stopping.
There was a loud silence before they started cursing at me. The other Land Cruiser was stuck also. The Jeep had a winch on the front bumper
which was of little use because we were behind him. I had a small portable winch which we hooked up to his trailer hitch on the Jeep to pull him
backwards a ways. As the winch owner, they let me stand in the foot of brackish water and operate the controls. What could go wrong, it was only 12
volts?
My screams told the others that the kickback voltage from the motor windings was more that 12 volts and that experiment quickly ended. Next,
we broke out the Hi-Lift jacks and pushed some large jack boards down into the mud without moving the Land Cruiser upward. By that time it was
midnight and we decided to sleep in the vehicles until daylight. They didn't sleep too well because they thought the rising tide would bury them
alive. A few crabs in the water and mud did little to calm their fears.
The next day’s vista was very informative. If we had continued straight the way we were going, we would have been in the really big unseen mud flat
on the edge of the dunes which was much worse that where we were. Guess we missed that right turn. We fooled around some more with the Hi-Lifts to no
avail and then turned our efforts to the Land Cruiser closest to the mainland. By burying the spare tire in the mud and using a come-along puller, we
got him out about noon.
We drove back to San Felipe and tried to hire the large wheeled war-surplus boat launching vehicles to come and pull us out. No luck, they had
to remain there to pull the boats out. We then had to decide which would be better, a 400 foot rope, or some planks to serve as railroad tracks. Eight
foot long, two inch by twelve inch planks were decided upon and we went to the lumberyard on the main drag. They sawed them to length by hand and we
loaded six of them on the Land Cruiser fenders/running boards.
Back at the lagoon in the late afternoon, we set to work getting the Jeep out. For some reason, they vetoed getting my vehicle out first. We pounded
nails into the boards and bent them over to give more traction to the soon to be muddy "railroad tracks" and started to work. Using the boards as
giant jack boards for the Hi-Lift, we managed to get the wheels started up on four "tracks" and laid two more boards behind them. The plan was to go
like heck backwards until the Jeep ran out of track and then pray.
We must not have prayed to the right Gods because as soon as the Jeep got off the boards it would go only about 50 feet, and had no steering
control whatever. Oh well, only 350 feet to go. The boards that we could manhandle and lift so easily early on, took on a life of their own toward the
second midnight. The suction from the mud on a heavy eight foot by 12 inch board was all we could overcome toward the end. We got the Jeep out at
midnight and my former friends camped on the warm, dry, sand and informed me that "if" they were around the next morning, "maybe" they would help me
out.
The next morning, the water had gone down a little and we started on my Land Cruiser. Around dark, we and our aching backs had it almost out
so we quit and they again camped in tents on the sand while I spent another night in the Land Cruiser. The next day after a little more work, we all
headed for San Felipe. We checked into Ruben's Camp where we proceeded to wash off the six inches of mud onto the gravel driveway. We got a few funny
looks, but it was a rustic campo at that time so we got away with it. When queried as to where we got the mud, we just shook our head and said
"south". A few months later, my former friends presented me with a tee shirt that said "Pass me on the right!"
Rumor has it that there is a “sort-of” causeway there now.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
|
|
|
bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
|
|
Almost every time a full moon falls on a weekend in San Felipe 1 to 5 vehicles get to be submarines. The sand looks so great - smooth - nice, so lets
run the flats. All of sudden there's a mud spot that just looks a little darker brown and whooops you're in it. Sink about 16-24 in. And your 4WD
might move you back and forth a little but sure not out of it.
One time I was on the beach near Playa del Sol and a Bronco running the beach happily splashing in the small puddles. I came back a little later and
he was stuck. Pushed and pulled with a bunch of other spectators as the tide rose. Finally we helped unload the family's camping gear and bags when
the water was coming in the doors and I took him to look for someone to try to get him out. (I had less Spanish those days and he had almost no
English). Took him to see friends who weren't home, some guys who pull out the fishing panga at the Malecon, and finally ended up at the Fire Chief's
house. He talked to someone Mickey, the chief then told me He was OK. I went back to the beach the next morning and they had gotten a large truck
with a big winch to tug him out. He had been working on it for a couple hours but had it running when I got there. The water had been almost to the
roof before they got it out.
4-5 years ago, someone got stuck in a similar manner in front of El Dorado. A El Dorado employee decided to help and got a backhoe and went down to
pull him out. The backhoe got stuck just as bad and both went under for the night. Then more tractors with cables finally got them out.
With the 20+ feet of tide change, you don't have much time to get the help you have to have to get out.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
|
|
BajaWarrior
Super Nomad
Posts: 2307
Registered: 9-27-2006
Location: Mission Bay, San Diego. Playa Hermosa, San Felipe.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Anxious to get south
|
|
The causeway is like a sucker punch. If you follow it to the defunkt wanna-be bridge that never materialized, you'll drop your front wheels into a
trench that was dug years ago that crosses the elevated road. We've put tires in it and tried to replace the sand in it but it has lost it's hard pack
and re-appears.
Take the low road to the right of the "causeway" and if the tracks are covered by water prior to entering the beach, don't go in. You'll have to wait
another trip when the tides are lower. Next hazard will be the thick sand as you enter the beach.
We easily cross the beach in a 88' Toyota 4x4 with 5 pounds of air in the 33" tires. And also an 85' Bronco ll running 7 pounds on 30" tires. These
trucks live there so they are always aired down, but we air up a bit for the desert runs.
We go out there each trip we're at our home, two miles south, great beach.
Haven't had a bad trip yet....
|
|
|
bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
|
|
2000 and Neal John's flats
Four of us tried crossing the flats Neal Johns mentioned earlier, heading from Percebu to Santa Maria. We had done this many times but never when the
mud was damp.
Took a while but we finally got out.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
|
|
edm1
Senior Nomad
Posts: 568
Registered: 8-23-2006
Location: Oak Hills, Ca
Member Is Offline
|
|
Neal, great photos and great mudbog stories. I could still feel the anxiety and adrenaline from my last trip as I read your story.
I'm very many months away from seeing Malarrimo / Requeson / Baja Sur. There's so much more to explore in Baja Norte first.
BajaWarrior, I'm so glad I chickened out crossing that mud creek at 7:30PM a few weeks ago or Neals story could have happened to me. I'm scared of
mud. I'm not having my heavy rig cross that path unless I have a companion vehicle or early in the morning and with sand/mud ladders. I did get stuck
in the sand in the other branching trail (in Shell Island) but was able to get out and turn around before it got dark.
[Edited on 7-26-2007 by edm1]
|
|
|
edm1
Senior Nomad
Posts: 568
Registered: 8-23-2006
Location: Oak Hills, Ca
Member Is Offline
|
|
Bajalou, THAT PLACE looks familiar!!! That was my "unplanned" second campsite two weks ago.
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
