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LukeJobbins
Nomad
Posts: 196
Registered: 3-11-2014
Location: Lemoore, Ca
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San Quintin to bola to 7 sisters then north
Spent 3 days getting to BOLA including a day in Sierra Pedro de Martir to see the snow in baja. Then 8 or 9 days in BOLA camping a little north of la
gringa. The weather was insane for January until the last day. Can't speak of south of la gringa but where I camped it was essentially windless for a
week. No wind and cold water made for the clearest water I've seen in the bay. About 40' of visibility for snorkeling but it killed the shore fishing
bite. I barely scraped enough fish for dinners.
Then drove over to Santa rosaliita to drive north through the seven sisters. I had no knowledge of the area or gps. Just a couple pictures of maps on
my iPad. I just kept hearing it's super easy to follow the main road to the points. Wrong! For anyone that says it's easy they either have a gps or
previous knowledge of the area. Everywhere I hit was completely by mistake and pure luck. I hit Marrion where campers showed me how to get to the main
road. That was easy straight through cardon. After that I somehow took a wrong turn after checking a point for surf. Couldn't find the main road and
stumbled on a few campers just south of punta Blanca who were super amazed I took the road I did all the way to them. They said that no one finds
where they were camped. I then hit punta Blanca and surfed micro perfect waves then moved on. I found the main road for a few minutes until I found
out the giant dry lake bed is not dry. 4 hours of digging and using wood and towels left from the last people to get stuck it was now dark and I found
a fish camp just north of the lake bed. The fishermen laughed at me for 10 minutes straight when they saw my car and me completely covered in mud. I
was going to camp there with them but they convinced me it was super easy to find San Jose de la piedra then the road to catavina. Well with no
knowledge of the area and in the dark I took the road they told me to take from their camp and they said 30 minutes to San Jose de la piedra. At 1am I
stumbled across a major looking fork in the road I was on with a building so I stopped in the middle of the road thinking I could block whatever cars
drive through and I could ask for directions. By 11am no cars had come through so I flipped a coin to decide which direction to take the road and
started driving. After 10 minutes I stumbled upon a ranch where the guy told me I was 100 yards off the main road to catavina and 20 min to catavina.
If I took the road the other way when I started I would have ran out of gas somewhere around the beach. I bought enough gas at catavina to hit el
Rosario and then camped punta baja and spent 2 days there catching surf perch and croaker hoping waves would show up.
Now I'm north bound in San Quintin hoping the rest of the trip is exciting but not stuck in the mud exciting.
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LukeJobbins
Nomad
Posts: 196
Registered: 3-11-2014
Location: Lemoore, Ca
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I forgot to mention that with all the rain the hills east of San Jose de la piedra and west of catavina are beautiful. It is super green and full of
life all over.
And I would attach pictures but it says they exceed the size limit.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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Someday I can show you the ropes. Sounds like your adventure was funner tho.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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Luke on the left. My son behind the lens last June in BdeLA.
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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First rule when traveling in the desert or Baja and you are not sure where to go is to always take the most traveled road.
Second rule is to take a map, almanac or similar docs.
Third rule is take extra gas, water, ice, and beer, not necessarily in that order.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18380
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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Quote: Originally posted by TMW  | First rule when traveling in the desert or Baja and you are not sure where to go is to always take the most traveled road.
Second rule is to take a map, almanac or similar docs.
Third rule is take extra gas, water, ice, and beer, not necessarily in that order. |
What's the 5th rule?
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9010
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by TMW | First rule when traveling in the desert or Baja and you are not sure where to go is to always take the most traveled road.
Second rule is to take a map, almanac or similar docs.
Third rule is take extra gas, water, ice, and beer, not necessarily in that order. |
What's the 5th rule?
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The 5th rule?
Dont follow any chivos.
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BigBearRider
Super Nomad
Posts: 1299
Registered: 4-30-2015
Location: Big Bear, Punta Chivato, and Cabo
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Mood: 
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Great story! Not surprised the lake bed was not dry, given all the rain. Interesting that BOLA was calm, with no wind.
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Don Jorge
Senior Nomad
Posts: 647
Registered: 8-29-2003
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To the OP of this thread: Welcome and thanks for posting. Brought back some memories. You have had a Baja Baptism. No exploration of that area is
fully experienced, enjoyed, earned and rewarded without the intro to salitre, the salt slicked mud flats.
Is not the 5th rule to post no pictures showing identifiable land mass, including but perhaps not limited to surfing and fishing pictures?
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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sandpoint
Junior Nomad
Posts: 44
Registered: 10-30-2013
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Thanks for the info. I'm headed to those areas the last week of February, but starting from North of El Faro San Jose and out via the paved road from
PSR. I'll be detouring around the "dry" lake beds for sure.
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LukeJobbins
Nomad
Posts: 196
Registered: 3-11-2014
Location: Lemoore, Ca
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I feel like I know most of northern baja but I always avoided that area for fear of driving hours and still surfing with crowds.
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DanO
Super Nomad
Posts: 1923
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
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The fifth rule is never put your hand where you can't see it.
\"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.\" -- Frank Zappa
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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With all this rain I bet the silt beds will be memorable!
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mickeykreg
Junior Nomad
Posts: 33
Registered: 11-17-2005
Location: Salt Lake City
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Rad!!! Thanks for the read.
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bajaandy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 769
Registered: 2-7-2004
Location: North County
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Mood: Adventurous
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Well done. There is nothing better than to GO and explore!
subvert the dominant paradigm
"If you travel with a man, you must either fall out with him or make him your good friend."
JBL Noel
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Dang, I loved your report! Glad you got out of the tar pits OK.
Sometimes my GPS wants to get me in trouble, but this time it would have helped. Great report!!!
"When you catch a fish, you open the door of happiness."
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pappy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 679
Registered: 12-10-2003
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Bola 7 sisters
What kind of vehicle? You said car..... pretty rad if you did that in a little Kia or something although one year out there minor rain year- a guy
came in driving an import of some sort that was a lowered street racer couldn't believe he made it as far Ashe did without losing the oil pan, or
worse....
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BooJumMan
Senior Nomad
Posts: 897
Registered: 8-11-2007
Location: San Diego
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Pappy, funny you say that... Right about 2km from where I ran into you a guy in a Volvo station wagon was stranded after punching a hole through his
oil pan. That was about 2 years ago.
In that pre-Google Earth and social media epoch, The Code was adhered to. It was based on a simple verity: if a locale had been transformational for
you, and you had put the hard yards in to get there and to learn it, to know it, why in god�s name would you broadcast the news, thus ruining the
future experience not only for yourself, but for future adventurers?
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BajaNaranja
Nomad
Posts: 156
Registered: 9-10-2006
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Maybe 8-10 years ago, we came across five proto-hipsters who had been posted up in the area for a week or so, and were attempting to head home. One of
them had borrowed his overly-trusting sister's new VW Beetle for their trip. Somehow, the driver managed to punch a hole in the oil pan on a rock.
What was incredible was that they'd managed to do this on the GRADED road, at a slightly uneven section, which was so obvious to see in full daylight.
Definitely the fact that there was five of them in the little car, plus their gear, meant that the car was riding very low to the ground.
Felt bad for them on one hand, but on the other they were shockingly ill-prepared for Baja.
Luckily for us, they had already found and hired a local to bring a trailer to them, and to tow them to GN for repairs. As we tried to help push the
Beetle onto the trailer, the front of the car was scraping on the trailer ramp, which led to some verbal drama.
Still, as we drove on, we tried not to chuckle too much for fear of attracting comeuppance from Murphy's Law / Karma.
[Edited on 1-23-2017 by BajaNaranja]
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18380
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: Originally posted by BajaNaranja | Maybe 8-10 years ago, we came across five proto-hipsters who had been posted up in the area for a week or so, and were attempting to head home. One of
them had borrowed his overly-trusting sister's new VW Beetle for their trip. Somehow, the driver managed to punch a hole in the oil pan on a rock.
What was incredible was that they'd managed to do this on the GRADED road, at a slightly uneven section, which was so obvious to see in full daylight.
Definitely the fact that there was five of them in the little car, plus their gear, meant that the car was riding very low to the ground.
Felt bad for them on one hand, but on the other they were shockingly ill-prepared for Baja.
Luckily for us, they had already found and hired a local to bring a trailer to them, and to tow them to GN for repairs. As we tried to help push the
Beetle onto the trailer, the front of the car was scraping on the trailer ramp, which led to some verbal drama.
Still, as we drove on, we tried not to chuckle too much for fear of attracting comeuppance from Murphy's Law / Karma.
[Edited on 1-23-2017 by BajaNaranja] |
I am much fonder of the adventurous spirit that takes an econo car offroad than the bragadocious additude of people driving poser lifted trucks.
I applaud all youth that have the adventurous spirit to do the things that old people say they shouldnt do!
I hope i die before i get old!
[Edited on 1-23-2017 by mtgoat666]
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