3 weeks exploring Baja...

LilKJ

Adventurer
Just got back from my first trip south of the border... it was absolutely amazing... Stay tuned for the report... maybe I can motivate some others to go have some fun.:sombrero:
 

LilKJ

Adventurer
OK here goes.... official trip report :5SHOTS:

Day 1-3

I finished a 48 hour shift and headed straight home at 8am to finish packing the Jeep with our goodies, say our goodbye's, and hit the road to Calexico... (with a brief stop in AZ to camp)

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We met up with our travel companions in Calexico and picked up some last minute things at Walmart... we were hitting the border early the next morning at the main Mexicali crossing.

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The border area is quite the shady place... some form of loud alarm was blaring when we got there and many broken down vehicles sat around... as I would imagine they had been for some time...

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After bouncing around between various offices, paying some money, and getting some stamps... we got the green light and were across the border in 5 minutes or so. Onward to San Felipe!! We didn't spend any more time than we had to in Mexicali.

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Seems safe...
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We made it!!
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We decided to stay at Pete's camp and almost had the place to ourselves...
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San Felipe is quite the beach-combers paradise....
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LilKJ

Adventurer
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But I had more important fish to fry... and put into tacos.... and eat
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And the other essentials...
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Everyone called it a night early... we had big plans for the next day...
 

LilKJ

Adventurer
Day 4

So we're in Baja now... time to get down to business.... we headed south on Mex 5 out of San Felipe. Our destination for the day was Papa Fernandez in Gonzaga. We had heard that the road was bad... haha

Fueling up in San Felipe...
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And south we go... into the unknown ;)
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The new highway was gorgeous and smooth... complete with one of the 3 pull offs we saw the whole trip.
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...then came the first of my troubles for the trip... Nicole told me we lost something off of the trailer and I looked in the mirror just in time to see my 20# propane cylinder about 8 feet off the ground tumbling down the road. I pulled over to see exactly what had happened and saw this slight trail behind me.... uh oh...
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The ratchet strap had somehow loosened and the propane cylinder jumped out while crossing one particularly steep "vado". Once that happened, the straps went slack and the diesel cans dragged on the highway. I was spilling diesel out of 2 holes worn into the bottom of the containers.
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I decided to dump out our 2 water cans and pour the diesel into the water containers... I'll go without spare water before I let 10 gallons of diesel go into the ground. I don't need that kind of juju hanging over me this early in the trip... a quick inspection of the propane cylinder showed no dents, no leaks... those things are stout!

Back on the road... our first wild burros...
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We drove through Puertocitos and the road instantly took a turn for the worse...
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We aired down and headed off into the rocks and washboard... pictures cannot convey how washboarded this road was...
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LilKJ

Adventurer
I also lost a Yakima tower on the road... they weren't up to the task of holding the rooftop tent... sadly, this quick fix held better than the rest of the towers.
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Problems with my trailer persisted and we soon ran out of daylight... you need a FULL day to run that road... then things took another turn... someone posing as police tried to stop us on the road. Three vehicles: one mid 90's Chevy PU, one S10 Blazer, and an older Toyota PU blocked the road and turned on red flashing lights on their dashes. I promptly went off the road and drove around them... they chose not to follow us and I don't know what they wanted...

We finally arrived at Papa Fernandez and set our camp in the dark... I was eager to see just where we were when the sun came up :)
 

CanuckMariner/Nomad

Love having fun 😊 in the 🌞 by the ⛵ and the ⏳
Looking forward to hearing and seeing the rest of your story. Glad your border crossing at Mexicali went so smooth and so quick. I usually stay to the smaller towns like Tecate, et al. Much faster and easier but you lucked out!:costumed-smiley-007

Be interested to hear if you had any run ins with anyone re guns, or police etc. as the media has painted a pretty bad picture of the border area.:sombrero:
 

LilKJ

Adventurer
Days 5 and 6- Gonzaga Bay

After a great dinner and good night's sleep... I woke up to see exactly where I was. Wow...
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In contrast to the tidal flats of San Felipe, Gonzaga is full of rocky tide pools to explore. All of them are full of hermit crabs, starfish, and sea slugs. This guy was grouchy:
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This was the only time on the entire trip that we were somewhere COMPLETELY silent. I only heard the pangas go out at around 0500 and come back around 2000. Someone said they got into a school of tuna somewhere off of one the islands in Gonzaga Bay.

I was more interested in some chorizo eggs to get my day started though.
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The family that runs this campground and community are some great people... they will open the kitchen for you whenever you like and make some of the best homemade food we had the entire time. I didn't cook once while we were there... the food was too good.

I had to stay there for 2 days in order to make some trailer repairs on the beach... hmmmm.... doesn't look so good.... one hub got replaced and several broken bolts and brackets got repaired. An Icelandic couple (travelling with their 10 dogs!) who shared the beach with us saved the day when they let me use their generator to run a sawzall and electric drill. One of the residents of Papa Fernandez also offered his power tools and welder if needed... people here are some of the most generous I've met.

FYI: the threads that make up duct tape work wonderfully as loctite!
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The trailer got fixed... time to kick back...
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My dinner on the second night...
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...and this is Foxie... the friendliest of the Icelandic Dogs she came to visit us a lot...
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Time to get some sleep and hit the road!!
 

LilKJ

Adventurer
Day 7- Coco's Corner and Mex 1 to Guerrero Negro

We left Papa Fernandez early in the morning and took off into the dirt down Mex 5.
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Stopped by the Alfonsina's area to check things out.
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On the way to Coco's Corner I finally got to do something I've always wanted to do.... drive the Baja 1000 race course....
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We spent about an hour talking with Coco and having a Coke... then he had to get back to getting his can decorations ready for the race. This AMC Eagle of his is awesome...
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The lounge...
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Speaks for itself...
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Then we signed the guestbook and hit the road...
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Some nice scenery on the way to Chapala from Coco's...
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LilKJ

Adventurer
We finally arrived at Guerrero Negro after a long day of driving and arrived at Mario's Campground... it was packed... ;)
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The food there costs a little more... but is delicious... I gave the seafood soup a go... and tried a margarita or two
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Cabrito

I come in Peace
Great writeup so far. :sombrero:

I really need to get back to Baja sometime. It's been way too long.

I can't wait to see the rest of your report.

Thanks!
 

Dennis David

Observer
I am enjoying your adventure but it sounds like you left parts from here to Mexico.:) Did you not do a shakedown run first?

I'm planning on driving down to Costa Rica and since I don't have your mechanical ability I plan to take several shakedown runs first.
 

LilKJ

Adventurer
I am enjoying your adventure but it sounds like you left parts from here to Mexico.:) Did you not do a shakedown run first?

I'm planning on driving down to Costa Rica and since I don't have your mechanical ability I plan to take several shakedown runs first.

Oh I did lots of testing with the gear all through Moab, Ouray, Canyonlands, and everywhere in between. There just isn't a way to test for the kinds of conditions you'll experience... as long as you plan for EVERYTHING to go wrong, you should be fine:ylsmoke:
 

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