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geoffff
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February Baja Adventure (2014)
Here's a write-up of a 2+ weeks adventure to Cabo & back I had in February: Baja 2014
Highlights include tracking down some new (to me) rock art (including the El Progreso Pictographs, Santa Gertrudis Cave Paintings, the Sad Coyote
pictograph, and the Bahia Burro petroglyphs), some new spots (Bah�a Guadalupe, La Casona at Prosperidad, Bah�a Tortugas).
      
I also visited some old favorites, including Sand Island, Valle de los Cirios, Bah�a San Rafael, Mission Santa Gertrudis, Malarrimo Beach, the
whales of Laguna San Ignacio, San Juanico, Bahia Concepcion, the peninsula north of La Paz, and a tour of the Cabo coast.
         
Lowlights include an getting myself stuck, an engine fire, and a tire delamination:
  
Overall, I come away with a sense of change -- of the impermanence of Baja California as I like to think of it.
I see more pavement, more houses, more security guards, and more �No Trespassing� signs. I see �Public Access� signs � little delineated
slivers of beach among private property were the public can still get to the shore. This is especially the case from La Paz south to Cabo. I suspect
I will never want to visit that area again. If I want �Public Access� beach zones, I can experience them right here at home.
The reason I drive 2 � days from my home in Seattle to the Mexico border is to experience places where I can feel like I have the world to myself
� where I can go anywhere, camp anywhere, and hardly see another person. The Highway 5 pavement south from San Felipe is almost completed, and with
it the feel of the north gulf is changed forever. Well, perhaps not � if for some reason finances change and the money dries up someday, the
pavement will be left to rot and crumble away � like the old Puertecitos road I experienced in 2005.
Anyway, enough whining. There are still some remote beaches without paved access roads � and hopefully there will always be. Besides, I had a
fantastic trip!
-- Geoff
[Edited on 4-25-2019 by geoffff]
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willardguy
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hey i notice in the stuck photo you're using one of those get yourself unstuck traction boards. did it do the trick? how did the sportmobile catch
fire? great report!
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Pacifico
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Awesome trip and adventure! U2U sent.
"Plan your life as if you are going to live forever. Live your life as if you are going to die tomorrow." - Carlos Fiesta
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blackwolfmt
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Location: On The Beach With A Blackwolf
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Mood: dreamin of Riden out a hurricane in Baja
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great report looks like you had a great time, dang battery cable was keepin you on your toes
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geoffff
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| Quote: | Originally posted by willardguy
hey i notice in the stuck photo you're using one of those get yourself unstuck traction boards. did it do the trick? |
Yeah, the MaxTrax. My first time using them! Two MaxTrax helped, but still weren't quite enough with my rear axle down in the muck. Four would have
been ideal.
I did end up using the MaxTrax again later in my trip in a similar situation -- but before I got my rear axle sunk down so far, and the 2 MaxTrax
under my front wheels did get me out that time.
| Quote: | | Originally posted by willardguyhow did the sportmobile catch fire? great report! |
I've got more on my website about the fire, etc: http://octopup.org/baja2014/san-rafael#fire
-- Geoff
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David K
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Incredible... 5 gold stars! Thank you Geoff!
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David K
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PS... do a search here on Nomad about the peril of Boca Grande mud pit. Barry A is just one Nomad with a horror story.
The mines in the hills near where you camped (north, off the San Francisquito road)... Do you know what they are or if there was activity going on?
There was a helicopter flying around the region with a huge metal detector below it, a few years ago.
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Bwana_John
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| Quote: |
how did the sportmobile catch fire?
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A big red cable from the engine battery heading towards the back of the van was getting P-nched by the heavy house battery, which had somehow
bounced up and out of its holding pan.
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Cause Sportsmobile does not think it necessary to tie down the huge coach battery 
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DosMars
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Thanks for the additional pics Geoff! You didn't mention you hit Bahia Guadelupe. We're heading there in mid April to pick up my buddy Mark. Check
out his Salsipuedes Canyon report, he should have some amazing pictures up when he gets back to a computer...
[Edited on 3-30-2014 by DosMars]
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geoffff
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
The mines in the hills near where you camped (north, off the San Francisquito road)... Do you know what they are or if there was activity going on?
There was a helicopter flying around the region with a huge metal detector below it, a few years ago. |
No, I've never seen signs of recent mining activity in that area. The roads still showed very little evidence of use.
The helicopter with the giant metal detector -- I took photos of that in 2009!
-- Geoff
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geoffff
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
PS... do a search here on Nomad about the peril of Boca Grande mud pit. Barry A is just one Nomad with a horror story. |
Looks like this post has the Barry A and Pappy Jon stories on getting stuck there at Boca Grande:
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=16243
Thanks for sharing!
I'm pretty sure I would have freaked out if I even suspected the tide might come in through those rocks and flood the playa.
-- Geoff
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oladulce
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Beautiful photos and great presentation on your website geoffff. Thought I'd found my favorite photo and then you'd top it with an even better one!
The shot of the night stars and the aerial photos especially!
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TMW
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Excellent, great pictures. Long trip from Seattle. Thanks
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renebruz
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Geoff, great trip report, It's sad to hear about the beaches around La Paz, I was just down in Nov toward Loretto and had a blast, found some nice
beaches with nobody around, doing same trip this Nov for the Baja 1000 again, and was hoping to find some nice stuff that way... I also flew a multi
rotor, except I built mine not as easy to fly as those Phantoms, but very good way of seeing things you wouldn't normally see I fly a vtail simple
copter www.flickr.com/photos/renebruce/sets/72157637362034815/ will show ya a few shots I got... now I'm off to China next week to finalize some stuff
on multirotos as I have one now that flys 45min it's a hex copter... anyhow great great stuff !!! Enjoyed your site !!! O try the Cooper Discovery
tires, I bought 3 sets of them BFG as the kelly awr safari didn't come 17" and after 3 sets of them bfg and only getting 30k per I'm over it, my lil
subie I just got some gener grabbers and they seam to be sweet, they are 60k warranty, the truck tires I got are 50k in snow them bfg were horrible
compare to them kellys.....
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geoffff
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Thanks, everyone!
Yeah, the DJI Phantom is amazingly easy to fly. I only get 7 minute flights, but that's all I need.
General Grabbers are the tires I'm currently thinking of getting as replacements. They seem to be good BFG T/A KO clones.
-- Geoff
[Edited on 3-31-2014 by geoffff]
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geoffff
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| Quote: | | Originally posted by oladulceThe shot of the night stars and the aerial photos especially! |
That night shot with all the stars visible was a bit of a trick -- I set the camera up for a 30 second exposure, with all the van lights off. Then
while the photo was being exposed, I went into the van and flipped all the lights on & off for just an instant.
And this is the aerial gear I'm using: DJI Phantom with FatShark goggles.
-- Geoff
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wilderone
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WHAT AWESOME PHOTOS
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Ateo
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Almost missed the report. Wow. Love those aerial shots in the El Datil area.
You are the man extricating yourself from the mud.
What a great Baja experience.
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David K
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Having that helicopter with a camera is sure cool... How long do the batteries last before recharging?
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geoffff
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I only get about 6 minutes carrying the camera payload. But I have lots of batteries and keep them all charged.
I can fly it about a mile away and back in this time.
-- Geoff
[Edited on 4-1-2014 by geoffff]
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