The Baja Extreme 2016

DAY 7:
It is a paved road trip all the way from Bahia Concepcion to Punta Abreojos, then a fast off pavement run to Bahia Asuncion (except for the final few paved miles on the Asuncion highway).

While Hurricane Newton did make a mess in Santa Rosalia, the town was quick to clean up the mess seen in the YouTube videos during the hurricane we had seen. Hwy. 1 had a couple of washouts, but nothing that was a problem for anyone or any semi on the highway.

We got gas in Mulegé and San Ignacio on our way to Bahia Asuncion and got no sense that the gas pumps were rigged.

The 'paved' road into Punta Abreojos was in awful condition with miles and miles of deep pot holes to dodge. It made the Cataviña to L.A. Bay junction stretch of Hwy. 1 seem great as it had only a few holes by comparison.

The La Bocana salt flat road was dry and fast and the graded road from La Bocana to Asuncion was in great shape. We took the fork through San Hipolito and Punta Prieta.

This was Sept. 15, and Mexican Independence Day celebrations begin that evening... we were in for a treat, including fireworks at Bahia Asuncion. Thank you, Shari for showing off your town, it was a special treat for all of us that night!

 

Awesome trip report David, I still need to plan a trip down there.

 

DAY 8:

Just a fun day hanging with Shari at Bahia Asuncion, Playa Loma, and San Roque... Pat and I went looking for sharks teeth in the fossil beds, no luck finding any, however. A great evening of eating fresh sashimi at La Bufadora Inn. I did go to the gas station to top off my tank. 525 pesos for 37.5 liters meant I got 16.3 mpg since San Ignacio.

Day 9:

We leave Bahia Asuncion, the pavement out to Vizcaino on Hwy. 1 is great. We have no immigration check at the Eagle Monument (state border, near Guerrero Negro), just a stop at the office for the big stop sign... but nobody is there or comes out. We take a couple of photos of the 140 ft. tall eagle and head north, setting our clock back one hour as we are back in Pacific Time Zone.

About 22 miles north of the border/ eagle is Villa Jesus María (only the sign now calls it Valle Jesus María) and we stop to fill the gas tanks. It is 10:40am (PDT) and my Tacoma needs 30 liters for 420 pesos for the 140.3 miles from Bahia Asuncion @ 17.8 mpg.

The only other details beyond what was in the trip report for this day is that the road to Las Pintas (and Punta San Carlos) at Km. 80 is a fast graded for the 17.6 miles to the Las Pintas side road... then it is 7 miles to the site... and the miles are all very silty (dusty), unlike my last time in here in 2010. We arrive at 5:30pm with enough light to explore some of the lower part of Las Pintas.

A great evening campfire, no wind, no bugs, and Jesse idea of Dutch oven pizza is a winner!

DAY 10:

We drive out to the highway and arrive in El Rosario, take a quick look at the first Dominican founded California mission there (1774) and go to the Baja Cactus Pemex gas station to fill up.
252 miles driven since Villa Jesus Maria (includes Las Pintas 50 mile side trip), uses 51 liters for 713 pesos which works out to 18.7 mpg.

We take the 3 mile side trip to see La Lobera (Km. 47+), the sea lion crater. The road is in bad shape, very dusty, not maintained since the seafood culture operation closed up two years ago.

See the trip report for more details of the day.

Day 11:

A long drive to the border at Tecate from San Quintin. A couple of unpaved detours as they are widening Hwy. 1 near Santo Tomás and Hwy. 3 south of Tecate.

Top off with some good Mexican gas at Tecate found my Tacoma getting 18.4 mpg on the 247 mile drive from El Rosario (includes side trips to La Lobera and Ron's oyster farm near San Quintin). Gas is a bit cheaper along the border, working out to $2.75/ gallon vs. $2.97 for the rest of Baja.

The border line wait was from 1:30 to 2:10 pm Monday afternoon.

Have a great adventure when you decide to have a Baja Extreme trip! Do contact me if I can be of any service to you: info@vivabaja.com

See more Baja trips and other travel and historic details on my web site: www.vivabaja.com and if you want to know about the discovery of and Spanish occupation of California (called Antigua or Baja California after 1769) using the mission program, get my new book at a book dealer or the publisher directly at www.oldmissions.com
THANK YOU!

When the others process their photos and more videos, I will be sharing them here with you.

Once again, here are Ham's two videos (set to music) filmed during our Baja Extreme Tour 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWGzW4bR9Q

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zb6u8vpbriklc5x/missionsbaja.mov?dl=0

 

@Camby
Seen your post about Baja, thought you might like this!
Welcome to T.World

 

@TXpro4X4 Thanks guy! Love this site!

 

Need more Baja in you life?

Get a Baja fix at www.vivabaja.com

Let's Go Places... south of the border!

 

When the other members of The Baja Extreme produce more videos and photos, I will add them! I am looking for some shots of my Tacoma in action!

 

China's Taco Stand, Bahia de los Angeles...

Pat took this photo when we were getting tacos and birria at China's ("chee-nah") last month.



This is between the Las Hamacas restaurant and Liz Beth's market and Internet/ phone store... both included in the photo, above.

 

Here is a new article I wrote about the two days we were exploring the other side of Bahia Concepcion, published by Baja Bound:
https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/bahia_concepcion.php

 

Thank you. If anyone wants to see Baja either from my co-pilot seat or follow me with their own 4×4 Tacomas on camping adventure (motels for non-campers), just pm or email me!

 

Here is my passenger's next video, of us 4 Toyotas out on Punta Concepcion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlGjIqNFVRk

Here is his first video of our tour (Part 1). Part 2 is not yet done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP8cR3TC3rM

 

Awesome pictures guys. Seems like you had a lot of fun out there! When is the next trip scheduled?

 

When will you be ready?

 

I am interested

 

PM me if you want to discuss details. I am on a Baja working trip next week, but 2017 has many possibilities. Until then, maybe order a copy of my book to enrich your knowledge of the Spanish missions? Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, DiscoverBaja.com, and the publisher with free shipping: www.oldmissions.com
Thank you for your interest, Viva Baja!

 

IVAN STEWART

I found Ivan (in Baja) last week! Gave him a copy of my book in appreciation for the time we visited over lunch...

 

Nice!

 

Baja just keeps on giving and giving... and I can't get enough!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWGzW4bR9Q

 

....thought his wife murdered him in the early 90's