Baja Recon

Hey all! I recently came back from an epic six day road trip to Baja. It was my first time driving the Taco down there and i'll start off by saying it handled like a damn champ.

Some quick specs:
2015 TRD Sport 4WD with 65K~ miles,
Toytech OME - 886 front coilovers,
Stock rear,
Falken Wildpeak at3w 265-70-17

The plan:
6/16/21 San Diego --> Mulege
6/17/21 Mulege --> Loreto
6/19/21 Loreto --> Bahia De Los Angeles
6/21/21 Bahia De Los Angeles --> San Diego



I didn't take any camping gear with me on this trip, 100% hotels/air bnbs. Since it was my first time and my friends first time going south of Bahia de LA we wanted to recon the trails and beaches. After this trip, I can say next time I head down it will be 75% camping and 25% hotels, plenty of safe spots you can camp at for cheap and feel safe.

DAY 1
We left San Diego around 5:30 AM, East bound on the 8 to cross through Mexicali. We wanted to enjoy the scenic views along the Sea of Cortez vs the Pacific side. Crossing through Mexicali was pretty simple taking the MX 5 South, we were in San Felipe for some tacos before 12pm. San Felipe was going to be the last "big town" for a while so we made sure to top off our tanks here. We found a Chevron and I was able to use a credit card to fill up. For the remainder of the trip I was able to use my Amazon Prime Credit Card at gas stations which was great because there are no foreign transaction fees, I get a favorable conversion rate, I figured I could contact my bank for any possible fraudulent charges and I was able to save my pesos for food, beer and other small purchases (although I have heard that in more rural areas using your credit card depends on if they have internet connection that day, so I made sure to have enough pesos just in case).

We soon found our selves driving along a very well maintained and newish freeway with the beautiful blues and greens of the Bay of Cortez on our left and some pretty amazing and massive Saguaro Cacti on our right. We had to pull over at El Huerfanito to enjoy the view and of course to take pictures of the trucks!



We continued on south passing multiple beach camps, amazing scenery and listening to our previously downloaded road trip playlist (cell reception is pretty sporadic and rarely available on these long highways). My buddy and I were able to communicate through CB radios which helped with the long drive.

We eventually made it to Jesus Maria, which wasn't even really a town but just a Pemex Gas Station and a couple of restaurants. We topped of our tanks again here and hit the head before crossing to Baja California Sur. Once you get to the state line you lose and hour (kinda weird but I guess because the geographic shape of Baja is kind of at angle so mountain time was the new norm). There is a person who is asking for donations, I later found out they spray the underside of the vehicle with pesticides to prevent any invasive insects or other stowaways from entering the state. We gave the man 20 pesos (1 USD) and were on our way. Once you cross the state line, we passed Guerrero Negro on the right and thus began the most grueling and boring part of the entire trip. The road heading west to east felt long because its was pretty straight, kinda ugly, not much to see and by this point the afternoon sun had just warn me down.



We passed San Ignacio knowing we were going to stop by on the way back and because we wanted to get to our destination before dark. Cows are a huge danger on this very narrow road at night and can easily cause a major accident if drivers are driving fast and not paying attention. Finally reaching the bay side again was a sight for sore eyes after a 3 hour rough stretch.

We passed through Santa Rosalia and made it to Mulege right at sun down. Cracked open a Tecate Roja and just took in the warm air after the longest road trip I had ever done, ~ 13 hours of driving (my GF did help with the last 5 hours which was nice). We stayed at Hotel Mulege, a nice and simple spot with its own parking lot for the trucks, a clean room, a clean bathroom, WIFI and AC all for $40 a night! Mostly everything in the town was closed at this point, which was kinda sad because had I been looking forward having a pint at Mulege Brewing Co. (hey im from San Diego, craft beer capital of the world, I try to enjoy a good craft beer where ever I can find one ).

 

Stay tuned for more, in the meantime if anyone has any recommendations for how to post a video so that you can see it with out having to use a magnifying glass that would be great.

 

More more!! Loreto and Mulege are my favorite towns on the peninsula. Have spent a ton of time in Loreto.

 

DAY 2

After a good nights sleep we did a bit of driving around Mulege. The town it self is pretty small, it was cool driving around seeing the little shops and the way of life. It was clear how little the people who live there need to live their lives, a humbling experience. We made our way along the water edge on the north side of the river.

We made our way to Mision de Mulege for a bit, great view






After checking out all the great views in the area we made our way to the town center for breakfast, there were a couple of restaurants and food stands. Meals in Baja definitely taste home made, chilaquiles with eggs and beans!



One of my most anticipated spots of the trip, PLAYA SANTISPAC. A 20 min drive from town, this was my favorite place of the trip, could've easily spent days here. Make sure to get there before 10pm because they close the gates. The cost to enter is 200 pesos ($10 USD) and you can spend the night (although I did not ask if it costs an additional 200 pesos for every night, I would assume so). An additional 100 pesos ($5 USD) if you want to stay in a palapa, these are first come first served. What a sight...






You've heard the phrase "photos don't do this place justice," well this does not apply here. We met a local from Mulege who rides his bike on the narrow freeway to this beach to sell fresh fruit every day, waking up at 5 am to cut fruit and make the 13.5 mile journey to sell his fruit. We gladly purchased a bowl. There are also a couple of restaurants here incase you didn't pack food. Look forward to coming back here ASAP.

After a solid beach day, we packed up our stuff and continued on to Loreto, about 1.5 hours away.

Checked in to the AirBnB and checked a spot my friend had heard about for some good fishing. About 30 mins south we found Puerto Escondido, a huge yacht bay. Sure enough when we got to the spot there were plenty of locals in search of some tasty dinner.





Another great sunset, I had no luck, but my buddy caught a decent sized pargo(red snapper) and we cooked it up that night at the AirBnB with just some salt, pepper and butter. Turned out great!

*edited, when in Baja the days can get a little blurry added a fishing spot to the end of our day that I had thought was on day 3*

 

Loved them both! No where else in the world like them.

 

I'm so jealous! Did you have any fishy moments ?

 

I'm pretty sure my grandpa knocked over a candle that had been lit at that mission for a long time. Hope you had fun, excited to see more!

 

Sure did, a bit in Loreto, but some big boys in BDLA. The fishing is insane there!

 

DAY 3

Loreto was the furthest south we went. Cool town, more people and buildings here compared to Mulege. The mission was undergoing some rehab work so we couldn't go in. We walked around the town center, more people at night for sure after it had cooled down.



Did some driving on the beach to see if we could find any good shore fishing spots, didnt find any but spent an hour just watching enjoying the view with a cold one.



Did a little bit more exploring of the town and checked out another fishing spot. This one was called Juncalito, 25.832346573543663, -111.31788508991046.
Cool little easy trail. Great views! Again no luck for me.







Only spent a couple of hours here because it was really hot with no shade. Only one of us had a catch but couldn't beat the views. Went back to Loreto afterwards, took a quick nap and headed towards the town square again for some dinner. We ate El Zopilote Brewing Co. they had some good brews and good pizza.

 

Very nice to know -- will have to add to the playlist. Thanks!

When zooming up or down the peninsula, we usually stop on the beach a few miles farther south at Ligüí just to stare at the islands, aquí: 25.744684692158163, -111.26026255712212

 

DAY 4

We started making our way back up on day 4, picked up some quick bean burritos to eat on the road. First stop, Playa el Requeson. Sweet spot with a calm bay on both sides. Spent a few minutes here, another great beach in Baja.




Next up Santa Rosalia. This is an old mining town, uniquely known for having French style architecture. Years ago, the president of Mexico allowed a French firm to mine the natural resources of the area in exchange for building infrastructure and buildings in the area. The result, a colorful, out of place but cool town that looks like somewhere not in Baja.





The church in town was designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. Yup that guy, Eiffel Tower guy! The church is still in use today, a quinceanera on this specific day.



An other really cool place you can find here is this bakery, established in 1901 and known as being the oldest operating bakery in Mexico. I was able to take a peak inside and saw the original ovens used. Normally they allow tours but because of covid this was not an option. O well next time. Didn't take to many pictures at this town, but I cant wait to go back and explore more.

Next up San Ignacio. Another small town centered around a beautiful mission. Nice place to stay if your running out of daylight, can easily spend a few hours here exploring the town and mission.



We had a long stretch back north to get to Bahia de Los Angeles, getting our hour back for switching timezones was nice. Made it BDLA around 4, we found out Camp Jagers decided to not honor our reservations for two rooms and were only offering us one (not cool, we had reserved months in advance). Luckily we were able to stay at a cool casita at Ricardo's Diving Tours, clean; AC, good wifi, private parking and you get your own casita for $60, not bad at all.



Hanging out with some of the locals.

Finished the night with some beers and fish and shrimp tacos at China's Place right off the main road! So Good!

DAY 5

FISHING!!! We figured we'd save BDLA for our last full day so that we could bring back the fresh catch to freeze at home. Waking up at 5 AM never felt so good.





Ended up being a great day out on the water! Finally caught something. One Grooper, three Yellowtail.



My girlfriend caught this bad ass looking Sheep-head (heard they're great for fish tacos or ceviche). And 3 yellows!




Had the cooler filled by noon! The captain took us to this cool little bay and cut us up some fresh sashimi! Easily the best seafood and freshest seafood i've ever had! I jumped into the water, although there were a bunch of sting rays in the water which made it a little difficult to relax so I only lasted a few minutes, making sure to shuffle the feet.




Life is good when your cooler looks like this:


What a day for the books....

 

Nice! will def have to check out this spot! Looks great!

 

Thank you for sharing your trip... Looks like you got the 'Baja bug' and will need to go back for treatments! LOL
The new Baja Atlas from Benchmark Maps can be a nice tool to plan trips with, it was just published this year and it has all the latest road details as of this past April (including Coco's new Corner location)!
Use my website for trip planning as well: www.vivabaja.com