Baja Trip (1 Viewer)

[LostAfrican]

I was going to post this in the "what did you do with your..." thread, but I think its too long with too many pix.

Baja Trip!

We recently got back from a 2 week road trip around the Sea of Cortez and Baja. While we did camp and take a ton of gear with us, and there were some trails and dirt roads….it would be a stretch to call it overlanding. We spent most nights in hotels and focused a lot on beaches….

Departed Phoenix to Nogales, Hermosillo and then Guaymas/San Carlos. Spent a week on the beach and diving in San Carlos. This is an annual extended family vacation spot….but then the real adventure started.

Instead of driving home back the way we came, we took the ferry across of the Sea of Cortez from Guaymas to Santa Rosalia

Its not a big boat….but we rented 2 of the three available cabins for our troop of 6…(yes, 6!)

 

[LostAfrican]

Cabins...

It was an 8.5 hour trip across the Sea of Cortez from Guaymas to Santa Rosalia. Departed in the evening and arrived early in the morning in Santa Rosalia:

Drove off the ferry, looked around town a bit (an old French mining town) and then turned left towards Loreto and La Paz.

Stopped for breakfast on the beach…

 

[LostAfrican]

Loreto

La Paz board walk/malcion

South of La Paz

And then further south, we left the road and discovered paradise…..

 

[LostAfrican]

After that, we headed inland and discovered an oasis….on the way to a water fall where we camped for the night… Oasis could be Egypt!

This section reminded me a lot of Africa..

Camp spot in the mountains where it was cooler.

 

[LostAfrican]

Waterfall and swimming

Then south to Cabo San Jose and Cabo San Lucas…didn’t stay long there, though we did take a boat out to the arch etc. We made the turn and headed north to Todos Santos….where we found some great beaches…

Having made the turn, we are now heading North and retraced our steps in some places….but this gave us the opportunity to stop at some other beaches we hadn’t previously. There were some pretty risqué beach practices….

Must give a nod to the practicality of the tail gate on the LC100….vital!

Crossed into Baja del Norte

 

[LostAfrican]

Visited some Sea Lions in a collapsed cave in the Sand Stone. Pretty sketchy place and trail to get there!

Some beautiful farms in NW Baja….

And then for the full experience…Ensanada and Tijuana.
Parts of Ensenada felt like San Diego! Mind you, parts of Cabo San Jose and Lucas felt like Santa Barbara (probably why we didn’t linger long there).

Crossed the border in Tijuana and then booked it along the ‘8 to home.


It was epic…but long! I purposely did not plan the route or investigate too much before hand…pretty much only the ferry schedule and the overall loop. The rest “we played by ear”. We took time to investigate side routes and hidden beaches etc. It was mostly a scouting trip for next time.


Key learnings….

The Baja is huge! It took a lot longer to get down and back up than I anticipated….it was a 2500 mile round trip.

For me the south is much nicer from a beach perspective. It’s just a huge drive to get down there!

It’s also diverse. Some parts felt like Africa and Egypt (as I know it) others felt like wild coast Australia (as I imagine it).

We found some great hotels…even ones with 3 queen beds in a room. Cheap too…


The cruiser was perfect…no issues at all. We made full use of the extended tanks/range though… We did not take a fridge, just a cooler, though it would have been better. 2 adults and 4 boys is the limit space wise…the Gamiviti roof rack was essential…but I think next time I want a trailer too – though parking in towns and at some hotels would have been more difficult.

A great trip, even if it was long. Boys were amazing and all had a good time.

 

[Hank Tank]

Man!

Thank you for sharing. Hope to do something similar with my clan one day. I recently had a friend who traveled to the northern Baja in his 100 series. Similarly, they hit a lot of hotels since it was pretty hot. But he, and his 9 yr old son, got the opportunity to swing with Whale Sharks. Just epic. Thanks again for sharing.

Hank

 

[jclarke450]

Awesome trip! The kids are getting so big! Keep an eye open for a trip where we may all be able to meetup.

 

[Arizona Jeff]

What a great trip! Did you feel safe while traveling? I'd be nervous without a convoy of cruisers! Thanks for sharing

 

[LostAfrican]

You know we did feel safe. Even parking the cruiser with all the stuff on top while we went to lunch or overnight in hotel parking - was always fine. Little more cautious in some places of course. The people were always great and so helpful. Told us about cool spots to check out and restaurant and hotel tips.

A lot of the time/most of it really, when we were off road, we were by ourselves which was great but probably reckless too, considering my youngest passenger was 17 months old!?

@jclarke450 - that would be cool! Georgia right!? I met a budy at Guadalupe NP earlier this year. Super nice. Conveniently half way to Austin. I would love to go to the Blue Ridge area. Maybe we could meet in Co too? None of those are half way tho.

 

[LostAfrican]

You know we did feel safe. Even parking the cruiser with all the stuff on top while we went to lunch or overnight in hotel parking - was always fine. Little more cautious in some places of course. The people were always great and so helpful. Told us about cool spots to check out and restaurant and hotel tips.

A lot of the time/most of it really, when we were off road, we were by ourselves which was great but probably reckless too, considering my youngest passenger was 17 months old!?

@jclarke450 - that would be cool! Georgia right!? I met a budy at Guadalupe NP earlier this year. Super nice. Conveniently half way to Austin. I would love to go to the Blue Ridge area. Maybe we could meet in Co too? Not really half way tho!!!

 

[Chrismanjs]

This is a bucket list trip for me! Thanks for sharing and hope to have pictures of my own one day.