Pacific trail

The next day we continued to travel up the Pacific Coast. It was great seeing this coastline again after so many years.

The riding was what we had come to expect - washboard, sand, some low hills. Lots of great ocean views. Looking back, I appreciate that this is pretty much world class terrain.

Can't remember, but I think at this point I was riding without a clutch again. Went down on the left side and snapped the lever! Brian tried concoting a baling wire solution that was about 10% effective. :) I'll put up a pic of that in a post that I'm planning called "What could happen?".

Take the picture above and stretch it out for hours and hours. This is what I bought the bike for; this is what I rode in the sand for. This is what I drove coast to coast for. Can't wait to do it again.

End with a sunset.

The Pacific Coast

The next day we turned north. Loreto was as far south as I was going to get; Charlie and Brian had been to La Paz. That's the bad news. The good news was that we had several days of great riding ahead of us on the Pacific Coast. I'd spent a fair amount of time surfing North Baja when I was in college, so I knew what lay ahead. It did not disappoint.

So, it was back up Highway 1.

There were numerous washouts north of Loreto as well, but they were all passable. Apparently this guy got stalled in the vado during the rain and eventually was pushed sideways and the over on his side.

At least this time it wasn't raining and we could see the views we missed coming down. It's really a shame, because South Baja has some great camping, fishing, snorkeling. If I didn't camp here back in the late 70's, I camped in some spots just like it.

Just north of Santa Rosalia we followed the signs to the Tres Virgenes volcanoes ecological preserve. They've done a beautiful job setting up a couple of cabins and a restaurant here. I'd love to go back and hike the area. Plenty of road to explore on a bike as well.

Eventually we got north of Guerro Negro and took the first dirt road out to the Pacific. The first view of the ocean is always a rush.

We didn't travel very far up the coast that night and camped a point that was probably Bahia Blanco. There were some surfers there. In the morning they were catching some fun little right handers.

Here's the campsite.

Loreto

The next two days were basically a total washout due to Hurricane Paul. We didn't realize we were riding directly into the path of a hurricane until it was too late. We just thought it was a Pacific storm that would move north while we moved south.

When we left Yuma, I decided against bringing rain gear. I know first hand what it's like to ride in hard rain for an extended period of time. It's not great. But you gotta draw the line somewhere when you're packing gear. So I left it behind. So it rained real hard and I got real wet. It was one of those really, really annoying rains that first fogs up your helmet, and then starts leaking though the visor. Fills up your boots. Soaks you to the skin. Can't see a mf thing.

Well, I could see the water coming down the side of hills. Waterfalls in the desert.

What ended up happening was the roads started flooding. The vados were washing out. We reached a point about 11km south of Loreto where a bunch of cars were stopped in front of a washed out vado. It was probably 20 yards across. I decided to watch Brian cross. He did pretty well until just as he was reaching the other side, he hit a big hole. The front end vanished and then came up high and over (Just like in the commercials). I was not anxious to pit the mule against the tide. I decided to wade it first, which is what you're supposed to do. As the water rushed over the top of my boots, big rocks started slamming in to my feet. A tree floated by. Forget it, not doing it.

We talked it over a few minutes. The water receded a bit, and then started rising. Brian figured he couldn't make it safely back. I wasn't going to cross. So we agreed to meet back at the same spot the next day. Brian and Charlie headed to Ciudad Insurgentes (and further in to the path of the storm); I backtracked to Loreto.

Of course, by this point the washed out vados were even more washed out. It's a funny feeling when you drive your mule into rushing water and he starts to loose his footing. You start going sideways, like when you lock up your rear brake. But in this case, you're cranking the gas.

Anyway, it was dark and raining when I pulled in to Loreto. The streets were flooded. But there was a hotel open. Only thing was, I had given Charlie and Brian my wallet. And my cell phone. And all my dry clothes.

Luckily, I had stashed some cash in my toolcase under the seat in case we were robbed. And I have my credit card number memorized. Thankfully, the staff at the Santa Fe accepted the number and gave me a room. I felt bad sloshing through the lobby, but they were very gracious and never said a thing. Acted as if it was routine. Bless them.

I spent the rest of the day wearing a tee shirt I bought in the hotel store, my gel shorts and some very fashionable flip flops. The hotel had a couple of internet PCs, so I was able to make email contact with Viv, who was in contact with Charlie by Sat Phone. Everyone was very concerned that I would be stuck without my wallet, but once they realized I was safe in a hotel the whole thing just became humorous.

The next day was actually pretty boring. The rain stopped that night and the water started to recede. I checked out of the Santa Fe and tried to drive down to the spot were we got separated, but the police wouldn't let anyone pass. The road took a massive beating. Charlie and Brian tried to get back to Loreto, only to get stopped here.

The roads were like this basically from Santa Rosalia south to Insurgentes. Trucks were lined up, unable to turn around and waiting to cross.

With nothing else to do, I basically hung out on the streets of Loreto in my riding gear (which had dried out
overnight) , chatting up the other gringos. Everyone was stuck and wondering when the roads would open. Yup, I was getting some looks from the locals. But everyone was friendly. One guy I talked to gave me a tip about a cheap hotel, so around dinner time I checked in to the El Dorado. I figured I would then get some dinner and check my email.

It's amazing how much heavy equipment showed up and started right to work. By the end of the day, they had started to close the gap on this washout.

Charlie and Brian got the go ahead to cross once they'd filled it in. What looked like it may take several days to fix was done by nightfall.

Unfortunately, Brian and Charlie had no way of letting me know they would be in Loreto that night. They stopped at the Santa Fe, but of course I wasn't there. I was wandering down the main street, looking for some dinner. But instead, I see a very familiar white Land Cruiser with all kinds of flammable liquids stacked on top.

"Yo".

They didn't hear me. "Yo!".

On they went. "YO!!!".

Red tail lights. Charlie's head pops out the passenger windows. Holy sh*. Make that two rooms at the El Dorado.

:)

Mulege

The road out of San Francisquito is marked as graded, which it is. But there are long sections of deep sand. At that point, I was still having quite a bit of trouble with deep sand. I could get through relatively short stretches by cranking up the speed a bit and holding on. As the sections get longer, the front wheel starts to dig in and before you know it the bike has jumped to the other side of the road, or worse is riding up and over the shoulder. In New Jersey, this means trees.  (I have a great picture of tree trunk embedded in the bash plate from one of those). In Baja, this means cactus. While I do have a high tolerance for pain, I take no real pleasure from it. So I much prefer not to have cactus embedded in the bash plate, or any parts of my anatomy.

Fortunately, I was following Brian in the Land Cruiser and the road was well rutted. I held my breath and steered my way through the ruts for what seemed like a LONG time. I think I went down once, maybe twice. Not bad, considering. 

At this point, I had my tires at something like 19 in front and 22 in back. On the way North a couple of days later aired them down to 12 and 14. At those pressures, the bike handled much better in sand. Still exciting, but a bit less so.

Eventually, we climbed out of the sand and in to some hills, making it to El Arco. From El Arco, the road really is graded and speeds of 40+ were possible. We made it back to Highway and pavement by lunch.

From here, Mex 1 goes past the Tres Virgenes (photos of that on the way back) and in to Santa Rosalia which has some really hairy switchbacks. No, there are no guard rails. Yes, there are road side crosses. It's not the most scenic, but you do tend to pay attention.

We continued on to Mulege for gas and tortillas...

And then started looking for a place to stop for the night. The clouds were getting pretty thick by this point, and a light rain had started. We opted for a cheap cabana. It had a working shower and toilet! Hoo booy! The shower was a pipe coming out of the wall (but the water was clear and cold). The toilet flushed!

The rain was on and off and we didn't really think much of it (until the next day).  

Used baling wire for this field repair :). Otherwise, the mule was in good shape. Didn't realize until I got back to Arizona that I once had a mud guard. Obviously extraneous!

San Francisquito

The drive to San Francisquito started well enough as we rode through the spectacular Valle Las Flores. It was lush and green from all the rain, and while the road was rocky it was pretty fun. I shot some video; here's a link.

(add youtube link)

We stopped for lunch at another deserted beach called San Rafael. Charlie and I dove on a small reef which held small lobsters. 

An hour or so after lunch and many miles from anywhere, we came across a guy walking along the side of the road. He was Mexican and indicated that his car was stuck in a wash further down the road. He said he would appreciate any help getting it unstuck, but did not want ride back to the car with us; he just kept walking the other way.

Several kilometers later, we came across a silver Audi sedan stuck in the bottom of an arroyo. I was pretty apprehensive that it was a set up and that as soon as we stopped we were going to be visited by some folks we really didn't want to meet. I kept going and waited at the top of the arroyo while Brain winched the vehicle out. One person did show up, accepted some water from us and watched the vehicle get unstuck.

The road got much worse the further we went. It became hilly, and the road was pretty damaged, presumably by rain. I was not at all sure I could get the bike over some boulders and across some very sketchy sections of road, but I figured it was time to find out what it and I could do. Brian was having an equally challenging time with the somewhat top heavy Land Cruiser. 

In all the excitement, we only go this picture, which was by no means the worse section.

In the end, we made it over every obstacle. The bike now has a name. It will be henceforward referred to as The Mule.

:)

San Francisquito itself is an amazingly beautiful beach. At one point in the 60s and 70s it was popular with pilots who flew in and out. There is a small restaurant and a couple of cabanas, but it is in pretty poor repair. Apparently the fishing and diving are first class.

Note the gathering clouds. Unbeknowst to us, this was the beginnings of Hurricane Paul. That story will be covered in the next entry.

LA Bay

After Coco's, we stopped for lunch at a beach called Punta Ballena. On the beach we found these whale head bones. While there were several house lining the beach, we were the only ones there.

Here's the view North.

And South.

Eventually we rejoined the highway and camped at Bahia Los Angeles (LA Bay) which is directly accessible by highway. There is a good gringo contingent. Despite the development of an area that was almost uninhabited when I last visited it 30 years ago, we were able to find good beach camping.

Going South from LA Bay the next day (Sunday, October 14th) the road turns to dirt again. The ride from LA Bay to San Francisquito got very interesting and deserves it's own post.

A few photos from down south

Lots to do today now that I'm back in the U.S. In the meantime, here are a couple photos from the first three days (all on the east coast of Baja). Some of the real fun began south of Coco's corner, but I'll cover that in a later post :)

This is the Laguna Salada (dry lake) in extreme north Baja. We didn't drive across it, just stopped to have a look. 

A view of the Cortez from the highway. The scenery here rivals the Oahu west coast.

A very sparsely populated beach where we stopped for lunch. Those are whale head bones. 

This is good road. Gotta love washboard and rocks!

Made it to Coco's! 

More to come, but I've got to get started sorting and cleaning gear and doing some maintenance on the mule...

Back to the US today

Here's a couple of pics from the end of the last trail we rode.

More to come in the next couple of days.

New Mexico

Just finished 5 days motorcycle camping mostly in New Mexico. Started out on Saturday from Tucson, heading east on Redington Road. Shot a couple of videos that I've uploaded to youtube.

Redington rd part 1

Redington Rd part 2

After that I visited Dad's cabins on Mt Graham (pic to be uploaded) and then crossed the border in to New Mexico, where I spent most of the next four days in and around Gila National Forest, crossing and recrossing the continental divide.

Here's the sign marking the start of the Continental Divide Trail I rode on Saturday.  I would say it was a perfect 10 in terms of trail difficulty, scenery and weather. It just could not have been better. This sign was accurate by the way. It is at least 120 miles to any kinds of services. 

The first part of the trail looks like this.

Here are a couple of videos.

Continental Divide part 1

Continental Divide part 2

The trail winds up and down and in and out the mountatins. The scenery is spectacular and impossible for me to capture with my limited photography skills. This image should give you an idea. It was taken shortly before the descent into Black Canyon.

Later in the afternoon I came across this view. Those are cattle in the distance, and a small lake behind them. 

Unfortunately my phone (also camera) was not charging well while I was riding. So I don't have many more pics. Here's an early morning picture of one of the more memorable places I camped. It was in the high plains outside the town of Reserve, NM. There were cattle in the area, the occasional mooing adding some real wild west ambience. At night, the coyotes and mexican wolves were calling. Something big and hooved walked right through my camp early in the morning. Elk?

sd

Martha and Scott's place

Here are a few pics of Martha and Scott's new house. It is gorgeous.

The front door.

View from the front door.

Kitchen.

Patio and pool.

Tucson

Spent the day visiting with Martha and Scott. Emma was off from school today and came over as well. We went swimming!

Here's a picture of Dad at his house this morning.

We had dinner last night at Charlie and Vivian's. Here are a few pictures from the gathering. Unfortunately I did not do a great job taking pictures, but something is better than nothing I guess. Apologies to anyone who doesn't like their photo.

Yes, the only one I managed to get of Yvonne, Martha and Scott. Sorry Yvonne.

Charlie looks a little like the guy on pawn stars in this one, don't you think?

Turns out Emma likes folding money and cold hard cash.

I guess Vivian just couldn't resist.