Wyoming to Panama and back in a UZJ100. (1 Viewer)

[SNLC]

I took this trip almost a year ago but I was sitting here drinking my coffee and looking at the pics and figured I would share the trip with you folks.

There is a lot of backstory to this trip but to save you the boredom and me the typing I will just do a quick summary on that. This trip was my third drive to Panama and back. The previous two times I did it in a 2004 Tacoma that was heavily built up. This time I did it in my 2000 UZJ100. This first trip down and back in 2009/10 was one hell of an adventure. I did it mostly solo and without any GPS. It was five months and 15,000 miles down and back and I hit every country between the USA and Panama. The second trip down I bee-lined it for Panama where I had a house rented for three months. That was in the winter of 2010/11. That was a great trip also but completely different from the first. Fast forward 5yrs to 2016 and I am burnt out on everyday life, one I had been living for 20yrs. I was also going to be losing the place I had lived the last 14yrs. So I decided screw it, time for a life change. I sold everything I owned, closed down my business I had ran for 18yrs and built up the 100-series.

Here is the build thread on the 100-series.

The Millennium Mall Crawler

A couple of years prior to 2016 I had taken a quick 3-week road trip down to the tip of Baja and back. On that trip I met this guy and his dad who were kayaking the length of Baja. They were a father & son pair from Guanajuato in mainland Mexico. The young guy was in his early 20's, we only hung out one day but we hit it off pretty good. We stayed in touch after that. As my plans began to develop I hit the the young guy up to join me, his name is Roy Morrill. He said hell ya and we made plans to meet up in Baja.

Since I now had a date set to meet Roy it was time to get moving. Once the truck build was done I headed to Oregon to see family and friends and then went down to California for more of the same. I also stopped in to Valley Hybrids and finished off some work to the truck. I headed for Baja after this and crossed into Mexico early one morning and then met Roy at the airport in Mexicali. Off we went!

Ya we had a lot of crap stacked on and stuffed into the Cruiser! Roy is an outdoor adventurists and I am the same so we had a lot of gear to do everything from rock climbing to white water kayaking to sea kayaking to spear fishing to surfing and more plus we planned to camp for as much of the trip as possible.

It was good to be back in Baja! I had not been down in three years and was craving a nice long stint across the peninsula.

I will continue the thread more as I have time. I will try and let the pictures do as much of the talking as I can.

Cheers

 

[cmck]

More Cow Bell!

 

[SNLC]

We hit up San Felipe first for some tacos and a couple beers and a shot of mezcal.

We then headed down to a wash I know of south of Puertecitos which is good for a first night camp in Baja. We spent our first night just hanging out around the fire and getting to know each other better. We also talked a lot about what to do here in Baja and where we might go.

On day two we headed to Bay of LA. We had some TRAK sea kayaks with us and the islands off the coast of Bay of LA is outstanding for kayaking and camping. So our plan was to get some of that in. Before Bay of LA is a large dry lake bed. You can drive out across it to some remote camping north of Bay of LA. So we headed out across the lake bed.

There had been some rain recently and it was getting late. Once out on the lake bed we decided to not go for the remote camping because it was getting late and chances were high we would encounter some mud that could very well get us stuck. Plus the wind was kicking up a lot and there is no shelter where we were headed. So we bagged this plan and headed to Bay of LA.

We got to Bay of LA and went to Daggetts to camp about an hour before dark.


Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I forgot that we stopped at Coco's on the way to Bay of LA.

Camping at Daggets.

First set up of the new TRAK kayaks.

Roy is a very experienced kayak'er. As mentioned in the first post, I met him when he was on a trip with his father paddling the length of the Baja peninsula. We were both excited to get the the boats on the water.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

A little more back story.....

We had secured a few sponsors for the trip leading up to leaving. These being,

TRAK Kayaks
Stohlquist Water Wear
Adventure Medical Kits
Cruiser Brothers - Terrain Tamer & Harrop
Seeker Fishing Rods
XS Power Batteries

These sponsors had provided us with gear at discount prices or on the house! Our plan had been to drive to Tierra Del Fuego (TDF) at the tip of South America and the end of the PanAm Highway. Along the way we had planned to make some money to support the trip. Our ideas for that were to offer guided trips as well as use our gear to promote the trip and hopefully generate some cash via social media. We had no time frame for this trip, we could take three years to do it if we wanted. We had big ideas and big dreams.

Myself, I came with a limited amount of cash, it was not enough to support us for the entire trip. FYI, these drives to TDF have been fairly well documented by others with cost and so forth. Minimum $30k to do the trip over the course of a year. Roy also was limited on cash so we knew if we were going to make it we had to generate money on the road.

For Baja we had planned at least a month and we were only in the first week. Back to the story....


At Bay of LA the wind was blowing good since day 1. We were waiting for it to die down so we could get a ride out to the islands with the TRAKs and enough gear to stay out there for maybe 5-days. We planned to camp around the islands out of the kayaks, fish and explore. Daggett said it was to dangerous to ferry us out there with this wind so we waited.

We had a trainer kite along with us, for kitesurfing. It is a big one and has tons of power, can easily lift you off the ground in strong winds. We played with it here at Daggetts waiting for the wind to die down.

We also had lot's of new camera gear, a Phantom 4 drone, an Osmo on a gimbal and more so we played with that stuff too. The Osmo takes very cool 180 or 360* pictures but it took a little playing with it to get it down.

Early morning at Daggetts.

Turns out Roy and myself both like to play chess so we had some fun doing this as well.

After 5-days here waiting for the wind to die down and the weather reports saying it would be another 5-days of wind we decided to move on. We set off for Mulege. Northern Baja can be cool/cold in the winter and the wind can be relentless as well. I was craving warmer more pleasant weather.


Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We got into Mulege in the evening and went for dinner. That was where we met these two bikers, they were friendly guys and we drank a few beers with them after dinner.

"Butch"

"Doc"

It was getting late so they invited us to come camp on their property on the south end of town. We went for it.

The next day we spent some time in town, I sim-carded my cell phone, we checked emails and I sent out my new number to people. I got a call not long after from TRAK Kayaks, they want to know if we can put together a bunch of video over the next month for an upcoming promotional video. Of course we can!

So, with this new mission, we set off down to Playa Santispac just south of Mulege. It is a pretty touristy camping area but it is right on a very beautiful beach with lot's of opportunity to play with our gear.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We planned to stay here at Santispac for awhile since we needed some time in the boats and wanted to play with other gear. We got here in the afternoon, set up camp and just chilled out around the fire that night drinking beers and BS'ing.

We put the drone in the air for the first time in Mexico here at Playa Santispac.

I was still learning to fly it since I had only had it a few months and only flew it a few times back in Wyoming.

Camp

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Day two at Santispac we set up the kayaks and put them on the water. I have paddled these boats a little before but it had been awhile and Roy had not been in one yet. So we kept it mellow.

That afternoon we decided to take a bigger paddle out to one of the islands.

Feeling better in the boats and it being nice and glassy out here, we decided to paddle out farther to one more island before heading back to camp. This was a bad call on our part!


Cheers

 

[SNLC]

The bad call we made was to paddle out to the other island so late in the day and unprepared. We were at the island with the yellow arrow above it, it was calm, warm and mellow. So we set off across the channel shown by the red arrow to the island with the green arrow above it. The wind picked up super fast as we were crossing the channel. The current through the channel was stronger than we expected.

We get to the island and the wind has picked up enough that there are now white caps. The wind was blowing from the right of the picture off the mountains and out across the channel. So when we crossed it was at our backs. We get to the island and quickly decide to turn around and head back rather than land. As we are turning around I get side swiped by a fairly large white cap and go over. I was unable to get back in the boat, the water was also damn cold. We quickly get the boat and myself to shore on the island.

The GoPro battery had died at the previous island so no pictures of this adventure follow.

I was cold and the wind made it worse. Roy jumped right on gathering wood for a fire while I hugged a large rock that was warm from the sun and out of the wind. We were severely lacking in gear having only planned on a short paddle. All we really had was one of our Adventure Medical Kit's survival kits. Roy built a fire and I began to warm up. The wind was cranking good now and the sun was setting. We had to make a choice, go for it now or stay the night here. Looking out across the channel the white caps were blowing a bit sideways across the channel. I knew we risked getting side swiped again and it is a longer paddle to the peninsula than it looks. I made the decision to stay out the night here, I was pretty sure it would be flat and glassy in the morning. Roy agreed. He grabbed the fishing kit out of our survival kit and tried to catch diner. No luck though. We stocked up enough wood and settled in for the night. It was a beautiful night. We used the flotation bags inside the kayaks for sleeping bags but the rocks and shells we were laying on meant we got little sleep, plus we kept the fire going all night.

At first light I get up and take a look across the channel. It is as flat as glass and so we jump in the boats and paddle for the truck and camp. We must have both drank nearly a gallon of water as soon as we hit camp, we had only taken a liter each with us the afternoon before when we set out. Breakfast came next.

Roy and myself both knew we screwed up going for the island unprepared and late in the day. However, we survived it alright and now had much more confidence in each other. I am a strong believer in the "buddy system" for all outdoor activities, even off-roading. I now felt I could really count on this guy if needed.

Ya never know what can happen and in Baja, the wind can pick up fast. We took this as a good lesson and put our A game on from here on out.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We camped here at Santispac for about 5-days. We played in the kayaks more, went hiking in the hills around the area, fished and played with the kite. We also flew the drone a bunch so most of what I have from here is video.

It is a touristy spot like I say but nice too.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

From here we moved south to Loreto. I have some friends south of Loreto right by a nice beach. It is much less touristy than Santispac and we were ready for some of that. So we headed down to see if my friends were here in Baja and camp on the beach near their place.


Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Turns out my friends are not in Baja right now so we just go down to the beach and set up camp.

This is a good location for kayaking, fishing and filming for TRAK. So we plan to stay here awhile.

We hang out with our neighbors, some folks from Northern California down here on a kayak fishing trip. We demo a TRAK to one of the guys.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We camped here for 10-days. It is a favorite spot of mine in Baja. We hiked, fished, 4wd'ed the wash near here, kayaked and even did a bit of spear fishing. We also did a ton of filming here for TRAK and the trip in general. Every night we had a big fire, sat around under the stars drinking beers with our feet in the sand while we listened to the ocean and talked. Good times!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

It is warm here.

We drink cheap tequila

and eat well...

Relax around the fire every night.

Roy spears a Trigger fish one day so we make ceviche.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Wheeling up the wash.

We had wanted to backpack up into the mountains here but the plan had been t leave the truck and gear at my friends place. Since they were not here and the gate was locked down we bagged that plan not wanting to just leave the truck unprotected. Great place though, love this spot in Baja.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

From here we decided to head up to Scorpion Bay. We camped the first night here in town above the surf break but there was a ton of red tide washed up and the whole town reeked bad like rotting fish. So we headed north along the coast the second day.

We camped here north of Scorpion Bay for a few days. We wheeled it up the beach to get here but on the way back drove through the desert.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We were going to hang out in the Scorpion Bay area more but the red tide washed up was just to much. It was the worst I have ever seen and smelled awful. Also since we had entered Baja we had camped every night. We had taken some solar showers but we both kind of needing a hotel. So we headed down to Todo Santos and got one for the night.

We took it easy around Todo Santos the next day. Roy had worked here before so we stopped off around town and saw some people he knows. Late in the day we headed down to Cerritos to see another Roy, Roy Olea of the Olea surf family in Baja Sur. I had met him in 2009 on my first trip south so wanted to stop by and say hello. We had a few beers with him and then went up to Pescadero and partied with some Mexican surfers before calling it a night and camping in the wash.

The next day we went down to Cabo to wash the truck, re-stock on supplies and decide our next destination. Roy had worked in Cancun as a bartender before and he got a msg from a girl he met there. She was working on a private yatch and it was docked in Cabo. So off we went to meet here and do the Cabo tourist party thing!

We also met up with Kepa, a friend of Roy's from Guanajuato who was in town for work. We all camped that night on this beach. Can you spot the HZJ78 pop-top Troopy in the background!?

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

After a day and night in Cabo partying we had both had enough of the tourist thing and both wanted to go back into the wilderness. So we grabbed some supplies and headed for some hot springs north of Cabo in the mountains, it is just outside a village called Agua Caliente. Here we planned to camp for at least a few days, I think we were here four or five days. We spent our time hiking up the absolutely fantastic canyon and chilling in the hot springs as well as lounging around camp.

The second day here we hiked maybe five or six miles up the canyon bouldering much of it as we went. We got so far up we decided to not risk injury by down climbing a lot of the boulders we had climbed up so we opted to navigate around the canyon up on the ridge-line and back to camp. It was one of the best days in Baja and a fantastic hike.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

We were going to go back up the canyon the next day for an overnight backpacking trip but we had hiked so much the day before we both were sore. So we just chilled and relaxed the next day and bagged on that plan. Fantastic spot and one of my favorites in Baja!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

From here we decided to head for Cabo Pulmo on the East Cape so we headed back down to San Jose del Cabo and up the East Cape Road to Cabo Pulmo. This was actually where I first met Roy.

It is a great spot and we camped here for about five days. We kayaked, played with the drone a lot, went snorkeling, 4wheeled up a mountain and just hung out. It is a popular area and hard to find a secluded camp unless you know where to look!

Anybody following along!?


Cheers