Builds LX450: Baja surf trip build

[bajaphile]

The 5 comes out at Laguna Chapala and is a good 150 miles south of El Rosario. Kinda a long backtrack, but whatever... That stretch is beautiful though... and very windy, twisty and slow going. If you can, try to travel that area on a Sunday. Way less semi trucks to deal with. I personally would not camp at Punta Baja/El Rosario area. You were planning on going to San Carlos anyways, right? Way nicer there IMO.

Gonzaga and the bay will be windy this time of year but I usually head down there in the spring to avoid crowds. There are several areas to camp there. Papa Fernadez is northern most area, but I prefer Rancho Grande or El Sacraficio. Alfonsinas is an OK place to get a meal and a beer...and pretty picturesque.

I'll answer other questions via PM if you have specific.

 

[DanMedeiros]

Back from Baja! What an awesome adventure. Seems like the last tiny bit of the wild west that is left. Drove further south then we originally imagined and then came back north on the coast roads. Probably did just over 300 miles on dirt. At one time we where about 90 miles (not as a crow flies) from highway 1.

Pretty stoked on how my truck did. The alucab, fridge, custom rear bumper and all the camping stuff made life pretty plush! I never needed to hit the center diff lock button. Tires and clearance where enough. Though I did sometimes use low range to help with step hill sections. Only one bit of trail damage. I broke every single exhaust hanger! Had to wire it up with some bailing wire.

I'm hooked! Will be going down for years to come

 

[DanMedeiros]

Photo of our truck all clean at a friends house in San Diego before heading for the border

 

[DanMedeiros]

@Tominhull searching for waves

 

[DanMedeiros]

Camped out in the desert. Coldtecates from the ARB fridge kept spirits up

 

[DanMedeiros]

Aftermath of the trip...Went about 10 days without a shower though was in the ocean everyday. Truck came back a bit dirtier and with a few exhaust rattles. Though my wife and her two sisters hoped in it the moment i got home and took the truck to tahoe. They got some funny looks from the bros at the resort!

 

[DanMedeiros]

More photos to follow. @Tominhull has all the good ones he took with a real camera

 

[baldilocks]

Looks and sounds like a blast! I want to do this but my wie keeps saying it isn't safe. I disagree because I read stories like yours. What says you?

 

[DanMedeiros]

Looks and sounds like a blast! I want to do this but my age keeps saying it isn't safe. I disagree because I read stories like yours. What says you?

It was super mellow. With a tiny bit of common sense its completely safe. Basically the advice I was given was to camp in an established secured campground everywhere north of El Rosario/Mama espanosas. We made it that far south in one day and found plenty of camping with zero people for miles. Many military checkpoints along highway one. Was never hassled. Though in recent weeks one of these checkpoints had near catkin had been shot up by some banditos... Consider it part of the charm of heading to the "Frontier"

 

[baldilocks]

Did you ever camp outside of an established campground?

 

[DanMedeiros]

Did you ever camp outside of an established campground?

Yes, Every night that we where south of Mama Espanosas. One night on the way home we decided we stunk and splurged on a surf hostel with hot showers. That was the only night we didn't just set up camp in the desert

 

[surfpig]

... Though my wife and her two sisters hoped in it the moment i got home and took the truck to tahoe. They got some funny looks from the bros at the resort!

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They must have not gone to Kirkwood.

 

[DanMedeiros]

Stole @Tominhull 's facebook photos of the trip to post here.

 

[DanMedeiros]

One of the best days of the trip was when we convinced these really cool but total noobs to follow us offroad to an amazing camping spot. They where ripping surfers but needed help figuring out a jerry can.... They win the award for biggest badasses of the trip. I have never seen a rav4 all twisted up with two tires in the air before! Proof that our truck are overbuilt and not wait to get out their on the trail. Although I do enjoy the feeling of having, "reserve capacity" in my rig

 

[DanMedeiros]

They must have not gone to Kirkwood.

Your are correct! Went to heavenly. Her sisters where first day skiers

 

[DanMedeiros]

More desert stuff

 

[DanMedeiros]

Even managed to make some locally sourced fish tacos!

 

[DanMedeiros]

Photo of our camp for four nights.Pretty epic spot with great waves

 

[DanMedeiros]

Also managed to get a kite in. I was kinda shocked how kooky the crowd was here. people seemed amazed that we just rolled up and wanted to kite

 

[surfpig]

Your are correct! Went to heavenly. Her sisters where first day skiers

There's a fair number of folks that stay a few nights...

Anyway, great thread. We spent a week in Baja last January. Time for more...

For winter break in college we would book a round trip flight to "somewhere in Mexico". Whatever happened in that month was completely random. SAN Blas, puerto Escondido... back when I was a decent bodysurfer it was pretty sweet.