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.

2 hours from tucson

Junction, tx

quick pit stop. Should be in tucson tomorrow.

Pete's house

Spent a couple days visiting with Pete and Gayle.

Nate's men are keeping him busy. Melanie can do Algebra!