Humboldt Chris and Robin
Junior Nomad
Posts: 75
Registered: 11-13-2004
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just back from another great Baja trip
No Place like Baja!!
Started out by visiting relatives in Tucson, so we headed across the border at Sonoyta and got our visas stamped. On to Puerto Penasco for the night
(Jan 1), never having been there (no reason to go back). Stayed at the cheap ($5) camping spot at the north end of town. Took the new road north to
Golfo de Santa Clara. The road is super, with a lot of well-done desert interpretive displays along the way. Continued up to San Luis, cut over to
the new toll bypass and cut-off to San Felipe and camped at Pete's Camp for the night.
Next day, went south to Puertecitos and was surprised at the 5 miles of new road south of town. They are cutting a whole new road, with huge bridges
over washes. The rest of the road south to Gonzaga Bay was the worst I've seen it. Took 6 hours to get to Gonzaga Bay, mostly crawling on terribly
rocky road bed. We passed a couple creeping along towing a boat - I sure hope they made it! Ate at Alfonsinos and then went up the road to Campo
Beluga and spent a nice night.
The next day, on to Coco's, stopped and put a 20 lb sack of cat food in a 5 gal. bucket and tied it to the post in his cable spool table. Hope
whoever is looking after the cats that they got to it before the coyotes! On to Bahia de Los Angeles (the road from Gonzaga out to Laguna Chapala
is in good shape).
Stayed four nights at Bahia de Los Angeles, at Campo Archelon, and visited with Antonio a lot. He has retired from the turtle project, family spends
most of the time in Ensenada as his kids are high school age. Future of the campground in the long run is dubious - lots of pressure to sell and
Antonio wants to travel more with his family.
Drove down to Las Animas for a night, beautiful weather, and then along the coast of Bahia San Rafael. Caught 6 corvina (kept three for eating) at my
favorite little rocky outcrop, and got to San Francisquita that evening. The road is in fine shape with a few rugged spots going over the last pass
into the San Francisquita road junctions. The little shack where the road comes to the beach along San Rafael, has a new sign - Campo something, for
a new camp spot. No army checkpoints anymore along here. Stayed two nights at the poor old rundown (and it really is!) place on the white sand
beach. No palapas left at all, bathrooms are way down by the four cabanas they rent. Wind blew both nights so hard I thought our pop up camper was
going to blow apart. Caught a nice hog fish and hogged it down that night. This poor place is looking really sad.
Went back to Bahia de Los Angeles for two nights - great weather. Visited with Mauro and Patty in their new place up on the hill. Left mid morning
on the 13th, got to San Quintin mid afternoon. The campground across from the Old Mill is closed, but Don Eddy uses several little walled in paddocks
for camping - $15 with electricity! Ate at his restaurant and thought it was pretty darn good, with strong drinks. Never saw such nice mid-January
weather in San Quintin!! Wednesday morning, left for north and cut over to Tecate, crossed the border with a 30 minute wait (and they always pull us
aside for secondary!), camped near Salton Sea that night. Tanned, bloated on fish, and planning our next trip back!
A couple of things along the way:
A ton of highway construction going on in Baja. several places along Highway 1 between Catavina and El Rosario have been repaved and even have a
wide, lined off shoulder! From Ensenada to Tecate, the first several miles are well under way of becoming 4 lane.
Everywhere we stayed and latched up with old acquaintances - from Campo Beluga at Gonzaga Bay, Bahia de Los Angeles, Don Eddy's - everyone is crying
the depression blues. Things are really hurting as there were far fewer Americans or Canadians than I had ever seen. So, if you love Baja, you owe
it to their economy to take a trip down there soon!
All in all it was a fantastic trip. I plan on retiring from the Geography faculty at Humboldt State this May and we are going to spend a lot of other
times of the year in Baja! I can't wait!!!!
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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Nice report! We're headed down to camp at San Rafael in April and this makes just a little more excited. Thanks.
zac
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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Thank you for the report. Congrats on your up and coming retirement. I hope may comes along quickly for you. Things down there are changing fast. It
will be nice for you to be able to get down there more often, for longer periods of time.
Good on you for thinking of Coco's cats.
P<*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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Edguero
Nomad
Posts: 112
Registered: 6-13-2006
Location: O\'side/Punta Final
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Heading to Punta Final Friday 1/23........I'll check on the cats and leave some water for them again.
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Humboldt Chris and Robin, Yea!! That's a neat stretch of road.
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Great report, thanks. Sad that SF is in such shape.
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