FuzzyNugs 0 Posted October 3, 2013 2 weeks later and we're already back in Puerto Nuevo for lobsters. The plan: lobsters, Coyote Cal's, Mike's, and back to Tecate in 3 days. I'm planning to move back to VA in a month or so and this would be my last trip south...for now. The crew from left to right: Aram, Big Todd, Arnie, Little Big Todd, and myself. It was a short jaunt down to lunch and I had the special: 2 smaller lobsters for $23. When in Mexico.. Day 1 was to be pretty easy being mostly highway. What we didn't expect was to have an entire lane of traffic closed off for a bicycle race. We "shared" the lane when possible and saved some time. We finally hit dirt after cutting towards the coast at Santo Tomas. Aram testing his rear brake I came around the corner in the top left of this picture to find this scene Blinded by my dust, Todd and then Aram both laid the bikes down trying to stop. Fortunately no one hit anything. It was only then that these yahoos decided to go put up some sort of warning marker on the hill. Apparently the Norra 500 was taking place today and this Canadian driver bit it on the corner chasing 1st place. Instant fire, no other racers stopped to help and they had been there since the morning working on the recovery effort. Looks to be a total loss, but no injuries to the racers fortunately. We watched for about 20 minutes as they tried to pull it onto the trailer using tow straps and pickup trucks from different directions. It wasn't moving quickly so we got back on the bikes. Todd, I think you can still go deeper..more throttle! After playing on the beach for a bit, we pulled into Coyote Cal's for a great night of beer, tequila, Thai curry lingcod(Thanks to Rick the owner), and some Trivial Pursuit. Following breakfast and coffee, we hit the road as it was to be a long day with over 100 miles of dirt. Big Todd knew of a long stretch of beach with some caves so that was to be our first stop. But not before showing them the beach jump Goofyfooter and I had discovered on another trip. 3 foot ditch to avoid climbing up to a farm road. Rolling along This steep drop into an arroyo claimed both Todds as victims. One at the top and the other at the bottom. Once we made it to the beach, it was 60mph right along the water's edge. A first for me and a very cool experience. Towards the end of the beach there are 2-3 caves with this one making a perfect motorcycle garage. The BMW GS800: Ride through knee high sand while chasing birds one handed! 2 sides of the same coin. Todd didn't join us on the beach as he tweaked his thumb coming down a previous hill. On our way back to regroup, I saw some birds running for the water and decided to chase them, not really paying attention which way the tide was moving. I was soon cresting water over the bow in a frantic attempt to stay upright and get back to the beach. I made it. DR650: an ocean going vessel. Continuing south, I made a few adventurous turns that had us criss-crossing farms and cows to get back on our GPS tracks. Not a big deal as a wrong turn is quickly met with another dirt road to get back on target. We gassed up in Camalu and using my terrible Spanish skills I deciphered that tacos were to the north and on the left. Found it. Must have been at least 10 taco places :lol:/> From here, we had a short stretch of pavement to get to Melling Ranch. None of us had been here so we wanted to check it out and ask about trail conditions to Mike's. The proprietor was very nice and fetched us a round of Tecate while showing us the place a bit. They have a 10-12 man house that can be rented for $300. Would make for an awesome big group spot. They had a pool, fire pits, dining hall etc. He gave us some directions and said we should be good. It's a well traveled road. It went from a nice trail, to some single track, to boulder field crossings and finally the trail just ended in a creekbed....hmm. Arnie decided to go just a little further to check it out. Barely made it up, only to return saying that the road got worse and then disappeared just ahead. We went back and regrouped with the others at the last turn. From here, we didn't know where the trail would go, but it was our only option and had race markers so it must go somewhere. Not 100 yards into this new trail and I dropped into a silty truck rut. I still don't know quite what happened, but my front tire pulled to the middle and when corrected it caught the outside lip of the trail. The front of the bike nosed up in a wheelie and then slammed down hard on the right side berm. I got lucky with no injuries other than a backroll into the dirt and some confusion as to how I just pulled that spectacular off. I bent my oil cooler guard back halfway so I guess it did the job and broke an auxiliary light mount. Here are the GoPro stills.. Wheel in the air.. Going down please. Time to let go. Legs up. Ah yes, there's the ground. How did this get up here? Now up until this point, the trail wasn't really difficult, just a few technical sections through the rocks. Soon though, as we got closer to Mike's, the rutted out, boulder climbs started. The first of many.. One or two wasn't bad, but they were plentiful and once the big bike's start to go down late in the day...it wears on you. That and Todd's GPS seemed to constantly hover at 6 mile's from Mike's. It's as if we were circling the damn place. Then Aram had a slow leak on the GS800, but he figured best to push on since we were so close. Arnie was up front and stopped short of what looked to be a ski hill of a drop. He wasn't sure he'd make it back out if he had to turn around so best to wait for the group. All together, we started down the mountain and it was bumpy too, but downhill so not nearly as tough. Finally, we had Mike's in view, reassuring that soon enough we'd be off this nightmare trail. We knew Simpson trail was to be avoided, but I'm sure we all had suspicion's as to whether we were on it by accident at some point. Doubtful, but still suspicious. Tire changing fun at Mike's. Todd had his own bike issues to work on, but I'll let him fill that in. Three other guys showed up doing almost the reverse of our trip route. They mentioned stopping at Casa Verde on the way down for lunch and recommended it. It's on the trail that connects Compadre to Laguna Hanson. The bar was closed as it was Sunday, but they still had cold Pacifico for us and a delicious steak ranchero. For the final day, we took the "easy" way out of Mike's that dumps you onto Hwy 3 south of Valle T. It was a fun little route and soon enough we hit Compadre trail. Knocked that out and then for the finale back to Tecate Arnie sourced some new dirt tracks for us. This proved to be a fun trail as well with a few tight switchback hill climbs before dumping us just south of Tecate. Highly recommended for future Baja travelers who don't like that slog on Hwy 2 out to RSV. Finish it off with some local carnitas tacos and call it a trip. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Crusty Posted October 3, 2013 Nice! That's exactly what it's like!! Some of the worlds best adventure is only 2 hours South. Can't wait till my one week trip South next month Too bad so many are SCARED of Baja. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TrophyHunter 15 Posted October 3, 2013 Great write up Kris. Sorry to hear you're leaving but more territory to explore back there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Todd Whiteside 0 Posted October 3, 2013 Great ride report Fuzzy! I'll fill in a few other pics and tidbits along the way. Turns out we may be Baja addicts... or Lobster addicts (maybe both) Made our way down the coast to Puerto Nuevo but what we didn't know was that Saturday was the big Rosarito to Ensenada bike ride (race?, rally?) so traffic was a bit of a challenge all the way down through Ensenada Luckily Arnie found us a policia escort for a bit ADV'ing is apparently popular in rural MX. The crew fueling up (with Dos XX of course) Finally made it to dirt south of Ensenada Romp on the beach Made it Cals... and Arnie found the bar within minutes. Nice sunset Back on the trail the next morning So somehow I found myself in the lead early on and came to a tricky downhill (to me at least) where between looking at the GPS, and trying to figure out whether I was going left, right or straight at the bottom my ensuing technique... well... sucked. Front end washout and 2 really sore thumbs the result. My dad was right, I can't walk and chew gum at the same time no more leading for me. Took it easy after the dirt nap and watched the boys making some high speed beach passes Water break at a nice spot After a quick stop at Melling Ranch And confirming El Coyote was "no problem" for our bikes we hit the trail. Fun for awhile... Then the REAL fun set in.. boulder crossings.. As Fuzzy mentioned I started having a weird issue with bike at the worst time... the bike would cut out and often stall when going thru whooped out or steep, bumpy uphill sections of the trail. of which, unfotunately there were many. I was thinking stuck float or clogged jet in the carb... made for a long 3+ miles of the remainder of the trail to Mikes and...several of these.. Turns out on a simple tipover in one of the boulder crossings I managed to bend the tab on the kickstand up above the footpeg so my heel was pressing the kickstand down. Throw in a good whoop or uphill bump the kickstand kill switch would trigger and the bike would die... needless to say it was no fun. I was out of gas (as was my camera) by the time we got to Mike's so that's all the pics that I got. Managed to get the kickstand re-bent and completed the ride on Sunday with two really sore thumbs. Great ride and good times had once again! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris in Wildomar 0 Posted October 3, 2013 Great write up and pictures! I am not surprised that Arnie found the bar in minutes...I count on him for that special talent Sorry I missed it. I was in Rosarito Beach with the better half that weekend I too cant wait for our 7 days later this month!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Afry 1 Posted October 3, 2013 Always a great time when Big Todd and Aram come down from the OC to ride the good stuff! A good group of capable riders and machines makes for the best trips to Baja. As Todd said the Baja addiction is here to stay. The trail from Meilings to Mike's was an adventure and no permanent marks were left on bikes or bodies. Soooo many more trails to learn - can't wait. Shipwreck? Me find a bar? or liquor store? Makes me want to run.... ....and jump! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mtnmanseth 0 Posted October 3, 2013 Whoa!!!! Great trip and write ups, fellas! Love the GoPro stills of your down, Kris. Glad no injuries, let's ride again before your move... Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Goofy Footer 539 Posted October 3, 2013 Those are cool caves. Rick at Coyote Cals knows of some others on the bluffs that you climb into. How far south were the ones you went to? Did you see the blowhole Kato found? Man, seeing your pics gets me excited to just get down there and just go exploring for a day or two instead of trying to blast miles to the next night's camp. Kato and I came north hugging the coast from Shipwrecks to Coyote Cals a few months back. No gps, no idea where we were other than to keep the coast on your left! It was some of the most fun riding I've done. Was the trail paved up to Melling Ranch? Also, for the Compadre to Tecate route, did you hit Highway 3 right at a Pemex Station? If so, I've heard of that trail and need to find that too! Good work guys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Afry 1 Posted October 3, 2013 Was the trail paved up to Melling Ranch? Also, for the Compadre to Tecate route, did you hit Highway 3 right at a Pemex Station? If so, I've heard of that trail and need to find that too! The middle part of the trail to Melling is paved. There is a trail to the south that is all dirt to explore another day. You turn left just after the military checkpoint on Compadre (before RSV) start here: http://goo.gl/maps/Bvvz9 end here: http://goo.gl/maps/xjDQT to take you to Tecate. 20 mles of dirt and 8 miles of Hwy 3 to Tecate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Goofy Footer 539 Posted October 3, 2013 Was the trail paved up to Melling Ranch? Also, for the Compadre to Tecate route, did you hit Highway 3 right at a Pemex Station? If so, I've heard of that trail and need to find that too! The middle part of the trail to Melling is paved. There is a trail to the south that is all dirt to explore another day. You turn left just after the military checkpoint on Compadre (before RSV) start here: http://goo.gl/maps/Bvvz9 end here: http://goo.gl/maps/xjDQT to take you to Tecate. 20 mles of dirt and 8 miles of Hwy 3 to Tecate. Thanks for the waypoints. The start looks like it's at the bottom of the hill (the first real elevation change you get if heading south). I need to check it at home but if it is the turn off I'm thinking of, it can also take you to RSV. I believe I've heard to this as being called the "school boy" or "school house" trail (if I recall correctly?). ps there was a military checkpoint on Compadre? Do any Baja vets know if that is new - I've never seen one there before? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Afry 1 Posted October 3, 2013 It does have a turn off to the north that bends around to RSV. The school boy might be referring to the HUGE drug rehab for kids building built but never opened? The checkpoint has been there at least since 12/12 but rarely open. It's at the next intersection just south of this turn off, they have multiple stacks of tires in the dirt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slagnado 0 Posted October 4, 2013 Awesome ride report and photos!! Bummed I missed it. When is the next one? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robertaccio 406 Posted October 4, 2013 great write up and fotos... from Crusty- "Too bad so many are SCARED of Baja." too bad nah, I think its fairly good this way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkug 146 Posted October 4, 2013 Good job guys . I am definitely leaning to the smaller bikes. I rode my 800 the opposite way from Mikes to Melling once ( with Help ). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
husq-a-daygo 0 Posted October 7, 2013 Man you took a lot of photos. Must of had to ride the whole time thinking about photo op's. Thanks that's cool for us. Stoked hopefully I can join up with you guys for a future trip or two... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KTMrad 508 Posted October 7, 2013 You know how to take good action & trip photos ! And great write-up too....really enjoyed it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fudgypup 4 Posted October 14, 2013 I heard that back way into Mike's is pretty tough; not big bike friendly. Now I know for sure! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firematt 0 Posted October 15, 2013 Great write -up guys glad your home safe! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buster714 0 Posted October 16, 2013 HEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL YEAH Good ride fellas. Sorry, no time for a report but here are some shots... Didn't quite make it home without one more flat. Glad I bought that trail stand the week before the trip! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FuzzyNugs 0 Posted October 16, 2013 Thanks for sharing the extra pics. The one with the soda makes me want to go back most for those pork tacos. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
