Baja - ride report to Cabo...and back!

[CockyRooster]

I decide to roll out and spend the last night close to the airport in San Jose Del Cabo after some coffee and a bagel at a cafe behind this tree. They have to paint the bottom of the trees with this white stuff to protect it from bugs, but it doesn't mean that it can't be fun.

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I say bye to one of my new friends. Most birds fly South for the winter, but others prefer to sail down.

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I load up and cruise off on my final jaunt South. It's only 120mi. ride today which feels like a run to the grocery store relatively, and with a tightened chain and winding mountain roads I have a fantastic ride. Fellow drivers on the road will give you signals of when it's safe to pass and are very supportive of motorcycle riders in general. That took some getting used to. It was a welcomed strangeness not to be treated like a leper because I ride.

I used to surf down here starting some 10 years ago and loved the desolation and remoteness of the adventure, but as I roll to my destination I notice that progress(?) has advanced in rapid fashion. I plan to spend the night at a B&B that was about 5 miles up a dirt trail, and the only people that knew about where other surfers and adventurers alike. As you can see my trail had been paved, and homes are sprouting up everywhere.

[/IMG]You can still see some of the old path at the top of the picture.

Here's my crazy little B&B. Notice the ocean on the right side of the picture. We used to be able to sit having meals and drinks watching the sea, but the new neighbors put up that cinder block wall.

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They cook up incredible, absolutely incredible meals here, and the most potent margaritas I've ever had Dennis and Judy built this place out of love, and treat you as royalty, and a friend.

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And they have their priorities straight!

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[CockyRooster]

So after a little lamenting and feeling sorry for myself that my little slice of paradise has been compromised I check in and unload. My little hut hasn't changed a bit though.

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Sometimes you just have to spell it out.

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I clean up a bit and head down to the beach to watch the whales.

Some people just never know when to leave.

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I'm just sittin on the beach and this little babe struts up.

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"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up,"

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And we have a nice roll in the sand together.

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Before she's off with nary a good-bye.

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Look in the upper right hand corner and you can see a whale spouting. They where that close to the beach! In the couple of hours that I hung out on the beach I saw maybe 15-20 whales cruising by, and sometimes a young one would jump out and do a little whirl in the air. Amazing, simply amazing to watch and be a part of.

 

[CockyRooster]

Looking North.

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Looking South.

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I walk down the beach into some new terrain.

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¡Bájese de mi playa usted gringo!

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Some of the "progress" going on. Beautiful architecture, but the tall walls, and the American get the f*** off my lawn attitude is running rampant dilluting the good will spirit of Baja that I had come to know.

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There were a lot of fun ideas being built.

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And some buildings were just a bit Hollywood. Nice, but a bit of a pimple on the frogs butt for the beach.

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Regardless of my resistance to the transformation of Baja into the new Palm Springs or Beverly Hills the beauty of the place is unbelievable. The temperature is low 70s in the morning, and a nice mid to upper 80s during the day. The air is so clean, and after an excellent quiet night's rest I enjoy some huge buttermilk pancakes w/sausages (refreshing to have familiar American food from time to time) and take my coffee out to the beach and watch the whales swim by before heading off to meet up with cuteness.

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[ILOAD2]

You know whats funny.....

Your REAL adventure to the freakin' tip of BAJA-

I feel like you do just making the trek to Thunderhill track day alone

When your born and raised in Santa Cruz-I guess the world even 200 miles away seems adventurous and kinda scarry..

Thumbs up to your spirit of adventure.

 

[CockyRooster]

A big metal lizard trying to make his gettaway.

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I load up and hit the road. This use to be my old trail that was once preferred to travel by Jeep or buggy.

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Check out was at 10am, and check in at the hotel isn't until 1pm and I'm only 40min. away. So now that I'm practically at my destination I loosen up and hit some of the trails for fun. WOOOOOooooooooHOOOOoooooo.........

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This is the first time that I've got to really ride the little mule in the dirt. At first I was trying to ride it like a motocross bike by keeping my weight on top, but it was awkward, ungainly, and stubborn. So I tried riding it more like a superbike and pushed on the inner bar, leaned of and inside, and gassed it to steer with the rear and things started to pick up. With full baggage and only 33hp it took some planning going into the corners to get the rear to swing out, but it still became great fun.

Checkin' out one of the old surf sites.

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Before making my way to the hotel.

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[GALO M1]

Great read in what it sounds was an awesome ride but more important it took an impeccable will to conquered it alone, what a warrior!!

Would you do it again?

 

[CockyRooster]

Great read in what it sounds was an awesome ride but more important it took an impeccable will to conquered it alone, what a warrior!!

Would you do it again?

Absolutely


I roll into San Jose Del Cabo and check into the hotel. That was quite hilarious as I pulled up on my ratty and noisy mule still wearing the same clothes that I've worn for 1600 miles. I was immediately greeted at the curb by a concerned manager,

"May I help you, Sir."
"Yes, I have reservations here."
"Are you sure, Sir?"
"Yes."
"At this hotel?"
"Yes."
"Let me help you to the check in desk."

I was missing some good ol' snobbery. I check in, and store my bags as it's to early to claim the room, and meander about the hotel a bit before renting a car and picking up cuteness.

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I take a quick trip further down the beach looking down to the Zippers surf spot. A little flat but it will pick up later

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And make my way back past the smaller swimming pool.

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Back towards the lobby.

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So lookin' forward to a good swim! Perhaps I will shower first.

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[CockyRooster]

I'm at the end of my downward journey, and can't go much further without a jet-ski. But that will still happen

My travels South of the border thus far,

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And the final stretch.

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As you can see San Jose is almost parallel with Cabo San Lucas, but just slightly higher. When the whales migrate they hug the tip of the peninsula working their way up into the Sea of Cortez, and provides us with a great viewing of their of their travels. I've loved my trip so much that I think that I'm becoming part whale (at least the migrating part.)

I love San Jose Del Cabo, but not so much Cabo San Lucas because the little town still holds much of it's old world charm. Some of that is slipping away to development and WallMarts, but it is still one of my favorite places in the world.

 

[Kfxrider90]

Thats awesome.I't one of the trips i've always wanted to do also. BTw I satayed at the pismo beach hotel.pretty nice.

 

[CockyRooster]

I sort out a rental car that the hotel offers and pick up my Babe from the airport, and for some reason she seems surprised that I'm alive. We stop of at Mega Mart on the way back and grab all sorts of fresh bread, water, some glue to hold my boot together, and of course, tequila

We settle in and she gives me my Valentine's present - a chain. It was exactly what I asked for.. After some getting reaquainted we head out to the pool for some relaxation.

Life from Sweetness's point of view.

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Having turned in the rental car we grab a taxi and go into town for some dinner. This actually the crepes place that we will visit in the mornings.

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Ahh...here's our place!

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With quite an impressive wine collection.

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And after a wonderful evening we enjoy the morning sunrise.

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[CockyRooster]

Occasionally the morning sky would hold a little haze before quickly burning off.

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The fishing boats doing their thing. Hey...nice waves forming some good surf.

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So we enjoy a little more time by the poolside. I in particular enjoy a sweet nap!

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Before we return to the room for an afternoon snack. And another nap. The Esterlina wines migrated down South with cuteness. They''re a fantastic wine made by great people and well worth the trouble to carry.

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Corona has nothing on us!

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And after another nice nap we head back to town for dinner. This was some wild prep for the banana flambe.

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Zoiks!

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I don't even know if you can do this in the states.

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[CockyRooster]

***Insert photo of girlfriend in bikini here***

Sorry folks. No photos of the gf allowed, so we will have to continue on with our imaginations. So we hang out at the hotel for a few more days and take the little mule for day trips around local trails and up the coast. It was such an incredible blast to be able to share the experience with someone. Dual sport bikes have their own charm, that's for sure.

The small towns can have difficult parking situations, and you've got to love the options and flexibility a motorcycle offers.

We had an absolute blast but then it's time to say our goodbyes. I shoot her a wave as I follow her in the taxi to the airport. In our haste to make it to the airport (no one really wanted to leave the hotel so we lolligagged to the last minute) I didn't take the time to arrange my bags very well and just tossed on the back pack to deal with later rather than stuff it into the Givi case.

Here you can clearly see why she nicknamed the bike Mosquito.

We say our goodbyes and I wait to watch the airplane take off. No fire balls in the sky.

In a way the adventure part of my adventure is now just beginning. Now I don't have a schedule to occupy my attention, or any destination in particular to drive my ambition. My only objective is to roam around southern Baja aimlessly.

 

[CockyRooster]

I had decided to go up to the hot springs at Agua Caliente and camp for a few nights. I glanced at it in my tour book and considered it, but did not make up my mind until Gary at the motorcycle shop in La Paz told me to check it out.

There are two ways to get there from the main road. A southern access, and a northern access, so naturally coming from the south I take the lower one short of Santiago. Conveniently there is a Pemex station right before heading off of the main road and I fill up. The attendant ask me where I was going, but as a lone rider in a foreign country I never tell anybody where I'm going to be for any given amount of time. He pressed a little harder so I just told him Santiago. At the end of the fill-up he just looked away and didn't give me any change back. For my dozens of fill-ups at gas stations along my trip he was the only person who was a bit of a jerk. Everybody else had been very gracious and genuine.

Gassed up and rolling now. The main highway is incredibly well marked for hazards and kept in good condition. Off the highway however, the story changes some. I get distracted by the strap on my backpack thwapping me in the face from behind. Without knowing what it was at first, I scout the road ahead, and glance in the mirror to see what was hitting me. When I focused forward again, I cross over a crest in the road, and the patch of concrete that I saw ahead was more of a....ramp! Traveling at about 50mph +/- I could not stop so what does a good BARFer do? Gas it!

My god I think I crapped right before take-off

From the bottom side.

But the fully loaded, softly sprung, under powered sofa flew flat and far with a cushy landing In all of my days racing motocross never has a bike flown so true and stable. The bike's behavior was relatively unknown up to this point, but it's on now! Yeeeehaaaaa!

After being happy to be alive a travel the road marked on the map and it turns into more of a dirt road, then a single track, then a goat trail, until finally I'm riding through someones back yard, straddling the bike down a sandy drop-off between some cows pissed off and frightened by the blubbering exhaust. It was a commitment because there was no way of returning back up this same path and a new exit must be found. I check my map after passing the Brahmas and it seems that I'm on track, if there was a track. But eventually I make it to the gate of the hot springs some 30 miles from the highway, or civilization.

Some property for sale if anyone is interested.

And this will be my bath tub after setting up camp. The little pool sectioned off on the right, and you can see the hot water pissing out of the rock on the right.

 

[CockyRooster]

Camp is set up.

The path within the campground.

Some of the wild foliage.

The fanciest outhouse I've ever found.

I went walking at night to use the above "facility" and this little critter snuck up on me and scared the bejeebus out of me as it was a moonless, pitch black night and I was the only person within 20mi. that I knew of.

Some more photos of the bathtub that I enjoyed in the morning. I had the entire canyon to myself with nary another human in eyesight or earshot. I jumped from the hot part to the cold a few times and then just melted in the warm water. The solitude, and little sweat lodge type of program had my body and mind feeling like eleventy billion bucks. Aaaaahhhhh.......

I was planning on staying two nights, but I feel so good and I'd like to spare some of my limited camping food for later so I load up and head out to my next stop that will entail 40mi. of mountain crossings to get to - Todos Santos.

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
�this could be heaven or this could be hell�
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here"

 

[CockyRooster]

My road on the way out. Unable to return through the way I came in due to drop off cliffs, pissed off bulls, and wary farmers I take the northern route out through Santiago. And this is what it looks like for 20+mi. with a turn every so often and awesome jumps made of culverts and ramps.

They don't bury their culverts very deep and pretty much just lay them across the road and pile dirt over the top of them. I was able to maintain about a 50mph average flying over the jumps, and the little mule never tilted or missed a beat. It was sooooooooooooooooo fun!!!arty. The tires were more street oriented so it took a lot of finesse on the front end with very little input at the bars, and sliding the rear to turn. A challenge with heavy gear and no power, but that's part of the fun, right?.

I make it to Santiago and give thanks for the hospitality...

...before I head over the mountain pass to the Pacific side.

 

[wally]

I was just in todos during the end of january, can't wait to see your pics. Great thread, looks like an awesome adventure.

 

[wally]

2x post

 

[CockyRooster]

I was just in todos during the end of january, can't wait to see your pics. Great thread, looks like an awesome adventure.

Ride or fly?

 

[wally]

fly
inspired by your trip though, and will likely ride next time.

 

[CockyRooster]

I've been trying to load some of the best pictures yet from Photo Bucket over the last few days, but only one or two will load, if any. I've tried logging out and logging in both BARF and PB with no luck. Any suggestions out there?