A Group Motorcycle Trip Down the Baja Peninsula

Photos

Sometime in April of 1996 Jim and I decided to ride down the Baja Peninsula. We told a few friends and they decided to join us. So, for the next few months I spent a lot of time searching the Internet, making reservations for 12 people, and putting a trip log together for each person. The following are some of our observations and experiences.

On January 12, 1997 we all met in Chula Vista, California. There we exchanged our money, checked our vehicles once again and generally got to know one another as we were going to be spending the next 12 days together.

Early on the morning of the 13^th we crossed the border and got on the cuota (toll road) to Ensenada. It had started raining the night before and continued intermittently throughout the entire first day. But that did not dampen our spirits as we had long anticipated this trip.

At Ensenada the cuota ends and we continued on Highway 1. Now the Baja Peninsula is a place like none other that I have experienced. We drove through the Sierra San Miguel mountains, ate at funky little restaurants and experienced some really rough surfaces in Baja California Norte.

At our first hotel (we hoteled it all the way) the manager asked me if I would like to put our vehicles in a room as it was raining! Can you just imagine 11 vehicles in one room! Oh, did I mention that we were on motorcycles? There were 11 of us (7 ladies and 4 guys) each riding our own motorcycle, with George driving a pickup and pulling a trailer in case of a breakdown. A work room was opened and we crammed and stuffed all the motorcycles into it.

On down the peninsula we rode, passing through boulder fields, cardon and cirio cactus fields, long stretches of flat farm land and desert, and curvy mountain roads. A lot of curvy mountain roads! The further south the better the road surfaces seemed to get.

At Guerrero Negro on the second day we passed the Eagle Monument, which sits on the 28^th Parallel. Here we changed our watches back to mountain time. Hotels we stayed at were located on beaches, in a date palm oasis or in cities. Small towns offered great restaurants, bakeries, taco stands and a touch of history. In Santa Rosalia sits the Eiffel church, built in pieces by Eiffel, of tower fame, for the World's Fair and then dismantled and shipped to Santa Rosalia. School children stopped their field trip to pose by our motorcycles for photos.

South of Loreto we rode through the Sierra de la Gigantas with beautiful vistas, nice curves and fairly good road surfaces. In Mexico, whether on the mainland or on the peninsula, it is very dangerous to ride at night for many reasons, animals on the road, poor road markings and even cars without headlights! So we made sure our days were planned to get in early.

A night was spent in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. The original capital was Loreto, but after a devastating hurricane in 1829 it was moved to La Paz. There are many good eating establishments there, a cyber cafe (for all of us who just had to check our e-mail at home!) and the malecon for watching the sunset over the bay.

Three days were spent in Cabo San Lucas allowing time off the bikes for sun and fun! Friday was great, Saturday it rained most of the day and Sunday was again sunny. But it does not have to be sunny to have a good time. Some of us shopped, one gal rented an ATV, a couple of the girls hiked to the lighthouse collecting shells and bamboo along the way and some just laid in the sun, when it peeked through the clouds. In the evening Jim and I and another couple took a sunset cruise around the Arch seeing sea lions and an absolutely marvelous sunset!

Then it was time to head north again. With a shortcut through Todos Santos we saved about 40 miles before rejoining Highway 1 and heading for Loreto.

The run from Loreto to Guerrero Negro was made in record time so that we could sign up for a whale watching tour for the following morning. This, I feel, was the highlight of my trip.

At 7:30AM we met at the tour company, took a van with eight other people through the salt mines with our guide explaining the procedure by which they pipe water into shallow ponds. The water takes about 4 months to evaporate and then the remaining salt is moved into huge piles, loaded onto barges and sent to an island 12 miles off the coast, there to be loaded on ships from all over the world.

At the docks we got into a 20' panga (rowboat with an outboard), put on life jackets and headed out into the lagoon. It wasn't long before we spotted water spouts on the horizon and then started hearing loud swishing noises nearby. We were surrounded by whales! One of the 20-ton mammals cruised under our little boat, nudged it, moved it around very gently and then passed on by! It was awe inspiring to see so many great mammals in their own environment and to be able to be so close by and observe them. This was by far the best bargain on the Baja at $35 each which included a lunch and a 3-hour tour.

On the next to the last day of this adventure we headed back to Ensenada with a stop at La Bufadora on the way. Our hotel in Ensenada was Americanized and although very nice, I prefer the hotels with tile floors, inside courtyards and a more Mexican flavor to them. We shopped, went to the docks and fish markets and generally bemoaned the end of a really nice trip, for the next morning we would be headed for the border and our various routes home. Deciding to ride to the border together we took Highway 3 out of Ensenada through wine country, rolling hills, orange orchards and mountains. The exit at Tecate was less crowded then Tijuana and took very little time to cross.

Another successful motorcycle trip south of the border! This was the 7^th such trip I had organized and taken (although the other six were using a tour company specializing in motorcycle trips). Most of these trips were all women riders and a couple were mixed, but all have been fun, interesting and definitely a riding challenge. Would I do it again? You bet!

If you ride a motorcycle, have an interest in seeing a different country and experiencing their culture, but don't know where to stay or exactly how to go about planning such a trip, e-mail me at:

ckelly@n-jcenter.com

and I will happy to put your trip together for you. If you are the type of person who is willing to travel alone or in your own small group I can make the reservations, provide you with a trip log, suggest Mexican insurance companies that I have used and generally provide information. If you only want to travel with a leader or tour company, I know there are several out there and perhaps that is a way for you to go.