San Luis Obispo to La Paz (Baja Sur) - March 2024

Very cool write up! Me and the taco have been down some of those same roads on a NorCal to La Paz trip! Brought back memories.

 

I am headed into the wetness...

This washboard section + the rain 'forced' higher speeds necessary. I probably would not have gone as fast as I did if it was not for the conditions and wanting to get to 'solid' ground. - Speed felt sketchy only because I was completely unfamiliar with the road. But once up to speed... the Taco simply 'floats' on these road conditions making it quite fun.

I am comfortable going at speed - although my speed racer days are well in the past. I have driven lots of washboards and all kinds of off-road miles in my day in many well-set up vehicles. I am impressed by the taco's capability stock and by the OEM suspension. With the right setup of PSI and speed, the washboard handily disappears.

I give some deserved Kudos to the OEM Fox suspension. It does does quite a good job - and it is specially good for being an OEM factory set-up. It gives a plush ride on road, but remains capable in varying conditions. On AND off-road.

Rain comes and goes. I really want to be out of this area now... In sandy segments, the rain is nicely absorbed - for now. In salt flat sections, it starts to accumulate and create a muddy silt layer.



A sign of hope. I've never been happier to see any signage as I was at the moment I spotted this handwritten note!


I had seen no signage since leaving San Juanico - and that was not at all relevant to my route.
I saw the boats at El Datil with the hailing port labeled confirming the location (And El Datil was actually present on my GPS.) but until this sign, there had been absolutely nothing...

Of course, neither the legitimacy, nor accuracy of this 'note' were certain, but I was not going to let that spoil my joy in finding it.
Onwards.

I am headed back to San Ignacio, and I am looking forward to having another great stay there. but I need to get out of this first!


I reach a section where water accumulates in salty - partially crystalized salt puddles. Some of this water is current rainfall, but judging by the volumes, some of this water is likely from previous precipitation.

This whole area is barely a few feet above sea level. A good storm offshore with a handful of feet of storm surge would cause this vast expanse of flat low-lying land to be flooded.



I've been traveling up the coast which runs in a Northwesterly direction. I reach the point where the road turns North East due to the large Laguna de San Ignacio (San Ignacio Lagoon) a large but shallow body of water. The road turns this direction heading inland and towards pavement). I am almost out of this!

I go slower than I would like in this flat section in order to keep the mud splatter at a minimum... this is not the most entertaining section. It sees traffic to the lagoon and is in significantly worse condition that the wilder track. Regardless of where I travel, I always prefer wild to 'a little' civilization...

There are whale watching excursions etc. which are based out of the lagoon. There is not much infrastructure - or anything else, but there is a bit of traffic on this road for this reason. Not today, however. Likely due to the weather.

The road is very flat, very wide, very rough, completely straight, and loooong.

There is a second road that runs parallel to it. It likely started as a wild track by those trying to avoid the rough original road. I switch back and forth looking for the best road surface, but it is pointless. It is all pretty bad now.

Everything surrounding is flat and I cannot see far due to the clouds and precipitation. This, and the long day, make this section feel interminable...




I finally reach the pavement. Not a moment too soon! It is pouring now. I take advantage of some of the deep puddles on the road to splash mud off.




I stop during a rainbreak and use my pressurized tank to wash any mud off the undercarriage. It is not too bad, but since I am at it, I might as well rinse as much as possible. I manage to get things quite clean and use most of my water in the process. Additional undercarriage rinsing will happen as I drive down the road as the rain becomes quite heavy later on, and there are some creek crossings and deep puddles along the road.

After taking the opportunity for a quick snack, I am on the road again. I am hoping to make it to San Ignacio before nightfall. This should be easily accomplished. It is darker than is should be outside due to the heavy cloud cover, but it is relatively early still.



The rain continues and its intensity increases as I get closer to town. A few miles from town, I see a broken down car just past a flooded area. Two youngish girls (in their 20s?) are in the car. They somewhat nervously say that they are ok and insist that they don't need any help. I notice they have their phones in hand and they say someone is on their way to help them. I keep going.

I make it into town and see that some of the streets are quite flooded from the heavy precipitation. I am bummed because the camp where I plan to stay is likely a muddy mess. I start thinking about alternatives.

This is a holiday weekend and there are quite a few people in town. It is apparent that the festival at the center square has been disrupted by the rainstorm. Vendors around the square are packing-up and people are on their way out of town.

Disappointed, I think that a hotel stay is likely the best course. - I head to the hotel for a look. It is still pouring. Of course, due to the planned events in town, and the rain, there are no vacancies.

It is still raining quite hard. The forecast has rain continuing...

I am hungry and I do not look forward to a wet dinner at camp wherever I find a dry spot. San Ignacio offers very good food and I decide to take advantage of it. I park at the square and go to check-out one of the restaurants. It is packed. No one is sitting outside, of course. I check out another little restaurant - and a nice table is available by the window facing the square. I settle in...

I have a great dinner as I check out alternatives up the road (not many to be found at least on-line,). I have to figure out my next move. I do not want to spend the night in the cab, but I may have to... maybe it is dry further North.

I take my time with dinner - even chatting it up with the folks at my neighbouring table when they ask about my plans.

By the time dinner is done, I see that there is a break in the clouds. Some bright sky is showing. It had been quite dark previously due to the clouds, but now it is a bit lighter. I estimate sunset is maybe in some 30 - 40 minutes.

All I need is a dry window to set-up camp. Really, once my tent is set-up it can pour rain all it wants...

I settle-up, and rush over to the campground which is only a couple of blocks away from the square. Access paths are, as expected; a big muddy puddle. I find a grassy spot that is above the water level - and likely to stay that way. This is great as it will keep me off the mud!

I take the spot and start setting up my tent without checking-in as I normally would. (My goal is to achieve a dry tent before rain starts again!).
Sure enough, the lady in charge eventually comes over and we chat and settle accounts in no time.

It does not take me long to get the tent set-up and put all my things inside, including my book and maps for planning and entertainment in case the rain starts again as I may be in for a long tent stay since it is still relatively early. I am eager to plan the coming days' travel, and can certainly read happily for a few hours in my cozy tent, so I do not mind! - It is good to have this relaxing time.

I complete my set-up and the rain is still threatening, but there is none at the moment. I tempt the rain by taking advantage of the opportunity and go jump in the shower.

I duck-in for the night, all clean, tummy full, and I am still all dry. I play with the maps and do my planning and get to the reading. - I am sure my reading time did not last nearly as long as I believed it would...

The day is over. it was a busy day, but it seems I lucked out.


A bright (long-ish exposure) picture. It was quite dark by then. The glow from my Cap lights and tent lights (only dangling roughly before I ducked inside) shows quite brightly.

 

Adding your spots to my list

 

Cool. Glad it is of use.

Happy to respond to your (or anyone's) any questions that come up on the above, or for prep. purposes.

Cheers!

 

Love the trip report. Doing a solo trip goes against #4 of my rule book: "always have a trail buddy". The read restored my love of Baja and inspired me to for sure plan a trip in November or Spring Break '25. I'm still not sure about solo though.

 

I do not disagree with rule #4 generally. I went back & forth... Only because it was Baja and my last visit was decades before. Said that, I've traveled alone in much sketchier places!

As my departure date approached, I was going from being excited about the solo trip (- Man, I needed that!), but sometimes I was a bit nervous about it. Not so much about the solo part - but mostly about the driving distance, having to maintain schedule with my family's travels and simply being 'gone' and somewhat hard to reach for that time.
- When the date came, I was all gung ho and my worries had disappeared.

As far as the distance; in the end, I would have happily gone a few days more!

I had a couple of mates who were to come along for the initial portion of the trip - the first 2-3 days. One dropped out weeks before. The other only a couple of days before due to issues with his business preventing him from leaving right then.

It was all good in the end... BUT All is good - until something goes sideways - right?

 

I guess we do more off-road so yeah rule #4. I need to get to San Francisquito (south of BofLA) during the thousand this year but I'm not wanting to make the off-road portion alone.

 

You stuck in the mud in Baja? The end of the trip just stopped

I can send help

 

Sigh...
I have a post or two to make it to the end, sadly...

I got a bit tied-up - But I won't deny that I have also been procrastinating on the write-up on the final legs on the return. For some reason, the last bits have been worse that an 8th grade essay asignment!

I'll get to it this week!

 

I know I am late to this thread, but this was an awesome report. Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks!
A couple more to get to the end of the trip...

I had written a portion of the next leg and was about to load pictures - then I lost my draft! This compounded my delay...

Just like when on the trip... I guess I do not want to reach the end - again!

In any case; I am now picking it up.


-------------------------------------------------
I had another great night in San Ignacio. The night seemed to last only a few minutes. I was dry for most of the night except for the occasional drizzle. Morning came with very heavy cloud cover - but no rain. The tent and the rest of the gear were dry for the most part. I took it easy, had b-fast, and packed up camp at a leisurely pace.

The clouds above started stirring ominously and this made me pick-up the pace. It was a good read since as I rushed to put the last bits into the back the skies just opened-up. Water came down by the bushel... the drops were not drops - they were fistfuls!

I got caught by a handful of these drops, but I made it into the cab while still reasonably dry. The drops seemed to shake the Taco just sitting in place. I was surprised to see some bits of hail coming down with the massive drops. I dreaded bigger hail, but there was fortunately none of that.

When I arrived the previous night, I swung by the local gas station intending to fuel-up - but found it sold out. I was comfortable that I would make the next town, but running with low fuel is always a concern in Baja. One station's lack of fuel puts additional demand on the stations closest to it, so they sell out like dominoes at close to the same time. - Ask me how I know...

I still had a couple of gallons left in my fuel container, and and a fairly 'safe' amount in the tank, so I was on my way.

As I drove out of town, I noticed that the gas station was again in business! A fuel delivery must have come sometime during the night. I filled-up, and I was on my way.

The scenery is beautiful after a nice downpour. The massive drops wash off the dust off of everything. The rocks get brighter, the plants get greener and the air gets cleaner.



The clouds start clearing as I drive away from town. There are still plenty of them - which is a contrast from the summer months when you have bright blue sky, and not a single cloud to be seen anywhere...



The scenery is beautiful - but it pays to look close by - there are many little spring flowers adding a bit of color.



It has not been cold (maybe high 60s - low 70s), but the day is getting a bit warmer as the sun breaks through. The plants are loving it. I take a bunch of 'greenery' pictures along the road and along some dirt tracks. It is the greenest time of year and it make for a beautiful sight.

The further North I get, the more spectacular the show of clouds becomes. Big puffy clouds with deeply blue sky in between.




These big guys are spectacular. I had to stop and take some pictures...



They are massive.



And well secured! They are not going anywhere!

 

The drive North has plenty of sights and goes by quickly. Cool temps and a clear day made for a great drive. I did get rain sprinkles off & on...Some were pretty big drops, but there were blue skies visible at most times - and rainbows.

At one point, I could see that the weather front coming would be more challenging. Dark clouds started joining forces and they were winning the battle against the blue skies.


Morning rush hour traffic was brutal!




The downpour was heavy - but I avoided that one...
These clouds were some of the fastest I have ever seen....



Oncoming traffic from the holidaymakers...


Some spots were perfect for a night's camp...


Sometimes I just had to slow down to take a picture. I had to make a point of making sure there was no traffic around me when doing so.



Having the roads to yourself for such long stretches makes it easy to assume that you are by yourself all the time. This makes drivers on these roads quite unpredictable...


Lots to explore!


North is that way...

 

Later on, the skies were really moving... The downpours became more frequent and I believe I saw a handful of microbursts in action. The water came down almost all at once! It was very impressive.


I was caught off guard during some of these severe downpours as there were rocks loosened at road cuts. The mud flowed, loosening and moving rocks down the face of the cuts while water poured and visibility was very difficult. This caused rocks and even larger boulders to be washed onto the road.





I had to steer around quite a bit of debris on the road on several occasions. One of these boulders dropped from the side and it was still in motion as I drove past in one of the sections similar to the place pictured below! That would have made a good video - if I had had a passenger. to take the video! (it was pouring at the time, and it was hard to see.)

I did catch a pic on my way out of this very rocky segment.


The light had a wonderful character and I caught some nice images at the time.


The sun breaking through the dark clouds made for great contrast in the scenery.


I get the urge to drive up into the hills, set-up camp and stay there for a few days... I was initially disappointed when potential travel companions dropped out of the trip... - But I also looked forward to some time spent solo traveling AND camping.
I was needing this very thing!!


The rain came down so hard at times that I could barely see 10 feet in front of me at times. I just slowed to a crawl and enjoyed the scenery as I sloshed through the mass of water flowing on the road during the downpour. These conditions only lasted a minute or two each time, and then I'd be moving normally on very clean and moist roads.
I was focusing on driving and looking around while getting drenched. I was not fiddling with the phone...


I did go off on a few dirt tracks. There was lots of water coming down, but the desert soil remained mostly thirsty and did not saturate - at least not at that point. It remained pretty solid for the most part. There were some large puddles - but even the puddles remained solid so I had no issues with traction. If it was not raining I would have likely ventured off on a track I had my eye on... That will have to be next time!


Most of my adventures in Baja have been in seasons having hot (beach) weather... Later in the spring or early fall. I've visited also a few times in the summer (ugh). I'm not a fan of high temperatures in general. In the Sea of Cortez, the water can be uncomfortably warm in the warmer seasons... I like these temperatures much better!

The sun lights-up some lightly colored rocky hills. The hills in the background remain in the darkness of the cloud shadow. The foreground looks very bright.


I was caught in rainstorms associated with a hurricane while traveling in Baja by surprise s long time ago. (This was well before smartphones... ) I had never seen this sort of desert rain in prior visits. - I am enjoying this desert rain quite a bit.


This road looks like it leads to nowhere good! I do like the color contrasts.


The sheets of water coming down from the clouds were impressive. You could basically see the moment when the 'taps' opened-up. Then the sheets came down... Tons of water all at once!
You can sort of see this in this picture:


The hills are getting a nice soaking


The air was as clear as I've ever seen it. It seemed like you could see forever. I made it to the coast and the colors remained impressive.

This volcanic rock area gave a dark contrast.


Some very fast moving clouds.


I am making (too) good progress... Getting further and further north - and closer to the end...

But I do have a ways to go. I start thinking about my camping situation for the night. I really wanted to return to my secret spot at Punta Final for one more spectacular night of wild camping bliss... But I am getting close, and it is still very wet out...

I do not want to get much further north - that is where the people are!

One drenching of this caliber while at camp will have me swimming inside my tent!

The further North I get, the less practical it will be to wild-camp.
And I do not want to stay in a hotel...

 

I drive past the turnoff for Punta Final. I do this hesitantly as I was looking forward to using my secret spot and spending a great night there. But it is still raining and it does not look like it will let-up sufficiently for me to set up a dry camp. It has been raining pretty consistently and the ground is very wet with lots of puddles. It is not looking good.

I keep driving knowing that I want to stop well before San Felipe. In another couple of hours I find myself in warm & sunny weather. Everything is dry around here. I head towards the beach in the hope of finding a secluded spot, but I am not hopeful as the area is now pretty developed. I am pointed to a few camp spots by the locals, but none are inspiring.

I stop at a roadside store and I ask the lady about a suitable spot to camp. She suggests a campground about 5 km away. Disappointed, I head there. I am not expecting to be thrilled...

It turns out to be a developed campground. I am dreading crowds and a noisy night, but instead, I am surprised that there are only a few people there during this holiday season. The spring breakers should be all over these parts by now.

I drive to the far-end of the camp and find it desolate (Yay!). I head towards the beach to take in the sights before setting-up camp...
I choose a spot very close to the beach.

The sunset does not disappoint. I am looking East over the Gulf of California so the Sun is setting behind me.




Then I get another surprise: - All I can think is how much better it would have been to catch this at Punta Final... But, oh well!




I set up camp at a leisurely pace. Fix some dinner and get ready for the night. The skies are once again amazing... I will miss this.

I scratch my head wondering how I did not get more time to just hang out during the trip. I should have made camp earlier a day or two more to just sit & relax. Maybe take time for a dip in the ocean... My scheduled allowed for this - But then, I always managed to find distractions that took-up the slack!

I take time to take in the night sky. It is a spectacular sight with so little light pollution.



I am at the point of wrapping this trip-up... It is a bit sad. I feel Tierra del Fuego calling - now THAT would be a road trip. But then again, I've always wanted to sail down there! Decisions, Decisions!



I am no longer heading North. The road takes me West to the Pacific Coast and towards the US.


It was not long ago that I was on the other side of these mountains on a trip to the San Pedro Martir Observatory.



I am feeling like the urban environment is right around the corner... But there are still some nice empty spaces to explore.



I reach Valle de La Trinidad and the great farmlands there.




I will end with a shot of some grape vines.
I would reach Ensenada in some 90 minutes - where I'll consider myself back in the urban environment.




It was nice while it lasted! - I must do this again soon!

The End.