Some Moto Mutz went to Baja the last two weeks of 2004. Here is what Paul S. had to say about the trip.
Editors note: Paul discreetly leaves names out when reporting potentially embarrassing stuff. Since a lot of that stuff is about me, I just left the report as is.
Deep sand, mud (in the desert!), crashes, running out of gas,
broken foot pegs, leaking gas tanks, broken spokes, steep rocky
climbs, washboard roads, all day rainstorms, curvy paved roads,
push starting bikes, what a vacation!
Six of us left Minneapolis on December 18 in a luxurious
motorhome pulling a stock (as in horse) trailer with our
motorcycles. We were a pretty diverse group, a couple of guys in
their 60’s, one 50, one mid-forties, one mid-thirties and a
17 year old. We brought along three Kawasaki KLR 650’s, two
Yamaha XT 600’s and a Suzuki DR 350.
John, Photo by PJ, Marty(driving), Paul and Jake Photo by Charlie
We left Minneapolis about 7:00 AM Saturday and pulled into El
Centro, California about 2:00 PM on Sunday. El Centro is about 10
miles North of the Mexican border town of Mexicali and is where
we had made arrangements to park the motorhome and trailer while
we were gone riding.
We unloaded our bikes from the trailer, geared up, loaded our
luggage on the bikes, and headed for the border. We went through
Immigration and they held onto our passports (or birth
certificates) while we walked across the street to the bank to
pay the fee. We tried to buy Mexican insurance for our bikes, but
the only agency we could find open didn’t sell policies for
motorcycles. By this time it was getting dark so we found a cheap
hotel in Mexicali and settled down for the night. At this time of
year it gets dark about 4:30 PM, so we had fairly short riding
days. Monday morning we crossed back over the border to Calexico,
California to buy Mexican insurance for the bikes.
We re-crossed the border and headed South on the straight, flat,
boring paved road to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of
California), and continued down the paved road toward
Puertocitos. The pavement deteriorated about 15 miles North of
Puertocitos. Big chunks of asphalt were gone, lots of potholes.
It was rougher than most of the dirt roads we’d see later. I
bottomed my suspension more than once, even though I have
replaced my stock fork and shock springs with heavier aftermarket
springs.
Marty can fix anything. He
particularly enjoys verbal assistance. Photo by John
The road actually improved in Puertocitos after it became a dirt
road. It was still rough, with plenty of rocks. One of the
KLR’s sheared off the footpeg bolts on this stretch, but
luckily we were able to remove the sheared off bolts and simply
replace them.
Typical scenic Baja road. Photo by PJ
We pulled into Punta Bufeo to spend the night. This is a pretty
remote place. They start the generator about a half hour after
dark and shut it off just after 8:00. Fairly basic rooms, but it
has hot water. We were the only guests. For supper, we asked what
she had: Fish tacos, so that’s what everyone had. They were
pretty good, and breakfast was a combo Mexican plate.
The gas station at Bahia de Los Angeles. Photo by John
John poses in part of the cactus forest. Photo by John
We continued down the road until we got back to the pavement at
Chappala and took the paved road to Bahia de los Angeles. Back on
the dirt road again and we spent the night in a palapa on the
beach at San Francisquito. The palapas didn’t have doors or
windows, just tarPhoto by Paul to cover the openings. We slept on
army cots with a thin mattress. It was $20 for a cot in a palapa,
$5 to camp on the beach. They had an open air group bathroom and
shower. Again, we were the only guests, it really is a pretty
spot. It was kind of expensive for the lodging and the meal, but
it is the only place in the area.
Jake washes off some of the dust in the Sea of Cortez. Photo by PJ
Marty, Jake and Photo by PJ slept on the beach. Because the sun is up, so is Marty. Photo by Charlie
The sunrise was so beautiful that the photographer didn't notice the wash on the line. Photo by Charlie
Our palapa at San Francisquito. Photo by Charlie
In the morning, we headed out early on the dirt road planning to
have breakfast in El Arco. Along the way, one of the guys
discovered that he left his Camelbak behind. He turned around to
get it, and we planned to meet him in El Arco. We did manage to
find gas in El Arco, but it’s a tiny pueblo and doesn’t
have a restaurant. We ended up waiting over 2 hours for the guy
who went back. He took a wrong turn, toured the mission and
crashed on the way. We had originally planned to take old Highway
18 west out of El Arco to the paved road, but our map showed a
shortcut almost due south. We were told it was a good road, so we
took off. Big mistake, miles and miles of deep sand through the
desert with big cactus all around. I wiped out twice in the deep
sand trying to keep my speed up, I finally slowed down to first
gear and just plowed my way through. After waiting for 15 minutes
or so for another buddy behind me to show up, I turned around and
went back to look for him. By the time I found him, he was
standing up next to his downed bike. He had been trapped under it
for about 20 minutes and had just struggled out from under it. I
helped him pick up his bike and after a short rest, I headed back
out through the deep sand for the third time!
Charlie gasses up in El Arco. Photo by John
By the time we caught up with the others in Vizcainio, the taco
stand that they had eaten at had closed. We had originally
planned to go up to San Fransico De La Sierra, it was supposed to
be a fun road, but we had lost too much time and wanted to get to
a bigger town with restaurants and phones, so we bypassed the
sidetrip and stayed on the paved road to Santa Rosalia where we
stayed the night. There were some fun curvy roads leading into
Santa Rosalia. The hotel we stayed at didn’t have hot water,
but I took a shower anyway. It sure feels good to wash all the
dust off after a long day on dirt roads. Like they say about sled
dogs, unless you’re the lead dog, the view never changes!
We headed south the next morning on the paved road until we
turned west on dirt road loop out to the Mision Guadalupe, then
south and back to Mulege. There isn’t a building at the
Mision Guadalupe any more, just a nice grove of palm trees. This
was the most fun road of the trip so far. Steep rocky ascents,
lots of switchbacks, dry river crossings. Nice scenery besides
the cactus and desert we’d seen just about everywhere else.
It reminded us of the riding we’ve done in the Copper Canyon
on the mainland in Mexico.
Jake looks like he's happy to be in Baja. They let us park our bikes in the hotel courtyard. Photo by PJ
Mulege is a nice town. We stayed at the Hotel Hacienda and they
let us pull our motorcycles right into the courtyard in front of
our rooms. We ended up staying in Mulege for three days. The
second day we rode out with Kurt Grife from California who had
given us lots of good advice for our trip. He was staying at a
friend’s house just south of town. We rode around the end of
the Bahia Concepcion through some really fun curvy paved roads
and then back on dirt roads south along the beach to the pueblo
of San Nicolas. We thought this was a fitting destination for
Christmas Eve. After this, most of the guys headed back to Mulege
to watch the Vikings / Packers football game on the big screen TV
in the bar owned by a couple from Wisconsin! Charlie and I
figured we could watch a football game any Sunday in Minnesota,
but this might be one of our last chances to ride motorcycles
until spring, so we decided to ride the dirt road along the far
side of the Bahia Concepcion. It was a fun road to ride, but
mostly flat. After about 20 miles of the same thing, we turned
around and rode back to Mulege.
Kurt led us to this scenic spot in San Sebastion. Photo by Charlie
In Baja it's either desert, beach or jungle. Photo by PJ
The Road to Somewhere. Photo by PJ
PJ, Paul, Jake, Charlie and Marty in San Nicolas. Photo by John
Our third day in Mulege, we rode the same dirt loop from Mulege
to the Mision Guadalupe, but backwards from the first time.
Again, a really fun ride, and the paved road into and out of
Mulege is very entertaining, too. It was a nice way to spend
Christmas day.
The next morning, four of us left Mulege and headed south to the
dirt road to San Isidro. A couple of the guys wanted a break from
riding dirt roads, they stayed in Mulege another day. One went
spearfishing while snorkeling and the other went deep sea
fishing. We took the road to San Isidro, turned to San Jose de
Comondu and on to Mision San Francisco Javier. These were very
rough roads. Lots of big rocks and miles and miles of washboard.
On an otherwise perfectly good road, the washboard slows the
bikes down to 45 or 50 mph, but the cars crawl along at 10 or 15
mph! Mision San Francisco Javier was a beautiful oasis with some
water and lots of palm trees. We rode over to Loreto to spend the
night.
PJ always found the scenic spots. Photo by PJ
John always caught the big fish. Photo by John
We found a little shade in Comundu. Photo by Charlie
Mision Javier Photo by Paul
We found a hotel room with four beds for only 280 pesos,
that’s only about $6.30 each! And, it had hot water and was
a decent place. Loreto was almost completely closed down on
Sunday evening, we had to look around for an open restaurant.
One of the better unpaved roads in Baja. Photo by PJ
We left Loreto in the morning and headed back the way we came in.
This is about the most southery point we reached in Baja, and it
was time to start heading back north. We rode back on the bad
road through Comondu and San Isidro. It was on this stretch that
a big rock broke off my right footpeg. I had mounted an
aftermarket centerstand on my bike and I think the rock hit the
centerstand, and took out the footpeg mounting bolts. We tried
stopping at a junkyard (Yonke) to get some replacement bolts, but
there were no threads left to screw new bolts into. We tried
jamming bigger bolts in there, but they wouldn’t hold. We
couldn’t find anyone with a drill and tap, so I settled on
having a guy in La Purisma weld my footpeg back on. I guess I
won’t be removing my centerstand!
Hmmm.............Photo by PJ
If it isn't scenic, PJ will make it so. Photo by PJ
Luckily, we had planned a short day, and we rode up to San
Juanico on Scorpion Bay on the Pacific Ocean. Again, we stayed in
palapas on the beach. They had nice facilities. We hung out with
the surfers. That night, one of the other KLR’s sprung a
leak in the gas tank, by the welded bracket back by the seat. He
tried to epoxy it over, but it continued to slowly leak the rest
of the trip. Our other two buddies caught up to us here from
Mulege. I aPhoto by Charlieidentally left my bungie cords laying
on my luggage rack before we rode to the restaurant, and
didn’t miss them until the next morning when I was packing
to go. I was able to borrow a couple of bungies from my buddies,
and tied my sleeping bag on with my clothesline rope.
Our palappa in San Juanico actually had screens and doors, not that we needed them. Photo by Charlie
Morning over Bahia San Juanico. Photo by Paul
We were a lively group at breakfast....well Jake was alert anyway. Photo by PJ
The next morning we headed out after breakfast for the salt flats
close to the beach on the Pacific. Flat smooth roads across the
salt flats interspersed with riding up and over some sand dunes.
We did run into some deep sand, and after we got off the main
road, we ran into some mud. Eventually, we got back to the main
road, and went through miles and miles of washboard road. That
really shakes the bikes up! I had brought along some aspirin, and
by the end of the trip, the pills had almost turned to dust.
Jake waits impatiently while Charlie looks for shallow water. Photo by PJ
Looking for a track in the salt flats north of San Juanico. Photo by Charlie
Sandy road north of San Juanico. Photo by PJ
Did we mention that the road was rough? Photo by John
We had lunch in San Ignacio. That is a really pretty little town.
We hit the paved highway again, and headed north. We spent the
night in Vizcainio, and I was able to buy new bungie cords at the
auto parts store in town.
Yet another tank patching session. Photo by PJ by PJ
Charlie thinks a little epoxy right there will do the trick, Jake is dubious. Photo by John
The next morning, my bike didn’t want to start. I tried
jumping it, but that didn’t work either. Finally, we got it
started by push starting.it. I think my battery was slowly dying,
probably from the washboard roads. Push starting became a regular
habit every morning for the rest of the trip, thanks for the
help, guys!
We planned to put in over 300 miles this day, mostly on the paved
roads. After riding about 20 miles, it started to rain.
We’re in the middle of the desert, and we got rained on all
day. We had originally planned to take a side trip on dirt roads
out of Rosarito over to the Mision San Borja and back up to
Highway 12, but we decided against it after seeing the condition
of the road shoulders and some of the parking lots. Lots and lots
of mud.
So, we stayed on the pavement all day. It got pretty cold in the
higher elevations near Chappala. We stopped in this lonely little
taqueria along the highway for lunch. Those of us who ordered
quesadillas had a nice meal, but the two who ordered burritos
couldn’t eat them. They said the meat tasted bad. This was
the only bad food we had on the whole trip.
We continued riding in the rain all the way to San Quintin where
we stayed the night. The map showed a gas station in Catavina,
but we didn’t see a station in town. We ended up riding 220
miles from Guerrero Negro to El Rosario without seeing a gas
station. One guy did buy some gas from a guy with a pickup truck
with a drum of gas in the back, and another found some gas at a
llanteria (tire shop). Two guys ran out of gas. One was very
lucky to get free gas from a very nice attorney from Tijuana who
rode by on his Honda Shadow with a couple of gas cans tied to the
back. The other made it to within about 10 miles of El Rosario
before he ran out. We rode back to him after we gassed up and
rescued him. It sure is nice to have that big 6 gallon tank on
the KLR!
We did cross one “vado” or dip in the road that had
running water about a foot deep in it.
How did that clothespin get there? Photo by PJ
After bump starting my bike again the next morning, we headed
north on the pavement once again. We turned east at San Telmo de
Abajo to head toward Mike’s Sky Ranch. Mike’s is a
famous hangout for dirt bikers and people who run the Baja 1000
(the Baja Mil), so we wanted to see it. The road out of San Telmo
was paved and very entertaining for about 15 miles. Lots of
elevation changes and switchbacks. Lots of fun. Then he road
turned to dirt and when we turned off for Mike’s it
deteriorated quickly. This was easily the most difficult and
challenging road of the trip. There was quite a bit of mud, some
deep sand, and a very steep uphill with lots and lots of big
rocks. It was quite a workout. At least one of the guys wiped out
on that stretch.
We got to Mike’s around lunch time and hoped to have lunch
there, but they only serve breakfast and supper, so after hanging
around for awhile, we decided to head back out. My bike
didn’t want to start, so I decided to let it roll down this
steep hill and pop the clutch. I hit a huge washed out ravine
that twisted my front wheel and I went down hard. I wasn’t
hurt badly, and my bike didn’t get anything worse than some
additional scratches, but it just scooped up the dirt! Dirt was
packed into everything, the skidplate, and around the motor. The
worst thing of course was the fact that I did it in front of an
audience! Luckily there was enough hill left for me to bump start
it, and we headed out. The road going north from Mike’s is a
much better road, but it had a lot of deep mud.
The entrance to Mikes Sky Ranch. Photo by John
Inside Mikes Sky Ranch. The guys in the real dirt gear had XR's and WR's. Photo by John
We got back out to the pavement, stopped for lunch, and rode up
to Ensenada for the night. We had to cross another wide river
right in town about a foot deep. We had noticed that the entire
desert had turned green overnight and even saw some yellow
flowers. The traffic in Ensenada was really heavy. The paved road
into Ensenada from the south is very nice, lots of curves, but
also has heavy truck traffic.
Friday morning, our last day in Mexico. We headed out of Ensenada
the way we came in, back to Ojos Negros. We planned to take the
dirt road out of Ojos Negros through the Constitucion National
Park and up to Rumorosa. But, we got on the wrong road and went
due north up to El Hongo instead. We were at a pretty high
elevation, riding in the clouds and mist. It was a wet, cold
ride. I have been riding fairly conservatively since my bike
wouldn’t start at Mike’s yesterday. I know that if I
crash and kill the bike on the these dirt backroads, I won’t
get it restarted! We finally made it to a nice warm restaurant in
El Hongo for lunch. After lunch, I put on my electric vest, but I
don’t quite dare to turn it on because of my battery. We
rode through thick fog on the way to Rumorosa. We had to pay a
toll in Rumorosa, but then the road starts descending. In about
10 miles, we lost almost 4000 feet of altitude and it became warm
and sunny! What a road! Switchback after switchback, what fun!
We rode back into Mexicali and crossed the border through US
Customs. My rear tire had torn my license plate right off on the
rough roads bottoming out, so I’d been carrying it in my
tankbag. At the border, as I pulled up to the officer, I reached
in and handed him my plate. He laughed at that.
We stopped into a car wash in Calexico to try to wash some of the
mud, dust, dirt and salt flats off of our bikes before we headed
home to below zero temperatures. We loaded up the bikes, hopped
in the RV, and drove straight through to Minneapolis. We left
California on Friday afternoon and pulled into Minneapolis at
6:00 AM Sunday morning after driving through a snow and ice storm
for the last few hundred miles.
I put about 2100 miles on my motorcycle, and we put about 4000
miles on the RV. My bike needs a little work, now. A new battery,
rewire the rear turn signals, drill out the foot peg bolts for
beefier ones, reattach the license plate. All in all, a great
trip. Bottom line, all six of us made it back with all six
motorcycles under (mostly) their own power.
Last revised: 4/12/05