Baja San Felipe Trip

[Tree 0]

The ride was awesome.

Day 1-It started out late as just past Jamul I find out Tim one of the guys with me forgot to take his helmet out of his truck at my house. So i pull over and unhook his trailer so that we can make better time back tracking for his lid. on the way back I call Robert from Veys (he's coming on the ride also) and he says he'll get the trailer and tow it to the border so that saved some time. We depart only a 1/2 hour late from our 7:00am original start time. Line-up was myself, Javi, John79, James, Steve, Matt, Robert, Tim, and Mike (on Bikes) and Scott and Dennis (in the Jeep). Crossing the border Mike gets stopped by the border guard to look in his pack which seemed to be a recurring theme at the check points. We went through Compadre Trail and all the way to Tres Hermanos as a pretty tight group with no problems. Then the fun started, Robert took the way and was leading even though I had the GPS with the tracks. He was going down a trail that I hadn't put on the route but it had tracks and I figured it was going the same way. Eventually it lead us to a dead end where we had to turn back around and follow my original route but not before a few spills by some in the group. A couple guys were getting a little beat and tired so we let them catch their breath before heading the way I planned. The route I gps'd was pretty good with some challenges but nothing over the top. We did hit a hail storm comming out to the highway that stung a bit but everyone seemed to enjoy a little change in the weather to cool us back down. We hit Independencia to fuel up the bikes and bodies. After some beers and Tacos we discussed how we were going to get into Mikes. After calling the main road the wuss route everyone decided to stay together and take the side route in from Valle Trinidad. Now that trail was a true adventure. It took us 4 hour to go about 45 miles. At one point I think we spent 90 mins on 5 miles of track. There was carnage everywhere. I was beat as one hill climb I lost momentum on my way up as Steve had to turn around and head down but I didn't notice till I was already committed. After stalling out and falling over I was still able to start my bike and bull dog it up that section but a little further up being in poor riding position from the bull dogging I hit a rock that sent the bike over the edge. Not far but still enough to tire me out trying to get it out and up the rest of the hill. What made things worse was my bike stopped wanting to start with my e-start so now I had to kick it over the rest of the time we stopped. It didn't want to start the first kick either. More obsticles littered the path going forward and people were really tired but we were commited from a gas and time stand point to continue forward. Robert had a pretty high speed get-off as he encountered a gap in the trail about four feet wide but he and bike were fine. We had a nice stream crossing that was a pretty fun to watch everyone get through. There were also a number of rock gardens that had to be traversed. One in particular that I crashed in took out my hand guard, banged my elbow, knee and dislocated my middile finger. I remember thinking on the way down this is going to hurt and seeing my hand hit the rock and my finger bend to to right at about 45 degrees. I just reached down and pulled it back in place immediatly the crawled to the side. Robert stopped and picked up my bike. After doing a body check I realized I wasn't to badly hurt so we got back on the bikes and headed out as the sun was starting to set. The rest of the way was pretty flawless for me and I ended up getting to Mikes shortly after dark (7:30pm). John, Javi, and the jeep (The last of the group) pulled in about an hour later. Everone was beat. The dinner and beers at Mikes were great and everyone had a story to share. It was tough but that's the ones you always remember and share with your friends.

Day 2- Everyone got up pretty early to check the bikes out and have a great breakfast. The road out was fine. We all gassed up in San Metias. the jeep had broke a shock so they had to take the main roads from there on out and two of the bikes decide to follow him. The rest of us took the dirt route and actually beat them to the hotel. It was a very fun but minimally challenging route which everyone seemed to enjoy after what we went through the day before. We got to the hotel and regrouped after checking in and showers for a little SF night life. It was crowded and the town was jumping.

Day 3- alot of people were in recovery mode from the night before. Robert decide to head back home via the highway. Me and Javi decide to go to puertocitos but ended up only going half way as we were getting a little bored with the highway so we cut over and rode the beach for a while then headed back to the hotel. Matt and Steve went to take a little spin but Matt ended up towing Steve back as his bike had died. It would idle but die when you tried to give it gas (good sign) so after checking through the list of possibillities we finally found the problem. The clip had come off the needle. After some work trying to fish it out and finding a bolt that dropped around the engine case somewhere it was finally put back together and running like a champ again. Dinner and a few beers were all that was had as the town is pretty much shut down on a Sunday night.

Day 4- Everyone was up early from a good night sleep. John, James, and Matt seemed to be fighting a stomach bug though. The jeep took the main roads home. The bikes took the dirt to the 3 and back to compadre trail. We were back at the border around 1:45pm and everyone was happy to be back home all in one piece and glad they had finally experience an epic baja trip with plenty of stories to share.

Javi and a couple other guys took all the picture so those will follow.

[ShocknAwe 0]

sounds like an epic Baja trip

[John 79 1]

It was an excellent ride. First day was VERY tough, but there were no serious crashes, no bike problems we couldn't handle, and no law problems, on that side anyway

Crossing the border, Mike was the only one to get stopped, in the background.

Wildflowers at Tres Hermanos. There was excellent scenery for the whole trip.

This was the wrong way Duane was talking about. It started out in a really deep sand wash that turned into a flowing stream. It was a tough crawl with very big boulders to navigate, I though we were on an endurocross course or something. More than one bike lost radiator fins as there were many dumped bikes. This pic does it no justice at all.

The clouds and hail chased us through the mountains till we finally hit sunshine

High Tech Gas Station

We stopped to have some tacos at a local "restaurant" and discuss the wuss vs. non-wuss route. The tecates and egos sealed our fate.

This was the deep rut our fearless leader Robert came across at high speed. He tried to jump it and mostly made it, casing the skid plate on the other side. No injuries, dodged a bullet. As we continued, obstacles like this became more frequent and it took longer and longer for the group to proceed.

This was a very steep, rocky, rutted hillclimb and was typical of the obstacles we were facing. Everyone was tired, thirsty, and ready to get to the rancho. I heard some choice phrases, like " I DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!! (shouted at bike), "I cannot afford any more crashes," and "This is horrible, who picked this route?"

We finally get to a spot where the going gets a little easier, and come to a T in the trail. I let everyone else go ahead to direct Javi and the Jeep on which way to go. I finally find the jeep, they're stuck. We unstuck them and continue riding.The sun is setting, I'm out of water, and I have no idea how much gas I have left. Time to dig deep and complete the mission.

The sun is completely gone, I've been riding for 13 hours, and I am mentally and physically beat. I'm riding in the dark through uphill rock gardens, and we're considering spending the night on the trail. I find the strength to keep going, and seeing the lights of the rancho were sure a sight for some sore eyes! You can see how dark it is out, I took this pic just one minute after parking my bike.

Stay tuned for episode 2.

[javi 0]

lol i just saw those pictures and makes me want to take ibuprofen again nice job John....

[cmayer31 3]

Sounds like an awesome adventure! I love the Lucas advertisement at the fancy Gasolina stop.

[hobiee 28]

Nice, I gotta get there soon....

[2Wheels 0]

I definitely would have been too much of a wuss for that ride.

I guess in hindsight it's enjoyable.

[Tree 0]

I definitely would have been too much of a wuss for that ride.

I guess in hindsight it's enjoyable.

You would have made it just fine. maybe a little tired and sore but you'd have made it. We had two guys with us that didn't ride much, Mike on a crf450 and Johns brother James on an xr400 They both we sore and tired but they managed all obstacles and had a sence of satisfaction when it was all over.

[2Wheels 0]

I was pretty sore after riding to Cantamar and back the weekend before SF -- and that was only 60 miles off pavement. I didn't even want to think about getting on a bike the day after that so that's what convinced me not to go on a three day ride.

I had knee surgery a little over a year ago and I was off the bike until last January. I'm slowly starting to ride more and getting back into shape. (In shape is relative. I mean in shape for an old guy.)

[John 79 1]

had a sense of satisfaction when it was all over.

Heck yeah, that was about the best day riding I've ever had. Twelve ball-busting hours of just pure riding. It was tough at the time but I'm already scheming on how we could do that trail again earlier in the day, or stay over at Mikes and do it from there...

I slept like a rock that night. Breakfast at Mike's the next morning

It was a crisp morning at Mike's.

Filling up on gas at San Matias. Must be Factory KTM gas, never seen it so orange before...

We took a quick break on our way to San Felipe, it was an easy ride compared to the day before. Sea of Cortes in the background.

We arrive at the hotel around noon, time to explore the town.

Beer and fish tacos, what a great combo.

Panorama of the whole town

After a few rounds of beer and tequila, everybody's having a great time!

Not so energetic the next day though...

[John 79 1]

On our layover day none of us were too jazzed on riding immediately, so we walked across town to a place called Ruben's that I used to camp at with my folks. They served delicious rum drinks called coco-locos, served in a coconut. The place was long gone, but the sign was still there.

Taking a hike to sweat the booze out..

Matt and Steve decided to take a ride outside town but ran into problems. KTM towing a Honda. (Disclaimer: root cause analysis pointed towards faulty aftermarket part)

It took eight pro mechanics two hours to determine the clip on the main needle had fallen off. Got it back on there, and she ran like a champ all the way home.

Best Bachelor party I've ever had!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for a case of Montezuma's revenge suffered by my brother and I. We narrowed it down to an 8 pack of pacifico cans, won't be trying those again.

Good Times!