A Few Gaspipe Days of Baja Norte....

I rolled out of my sleeping bag at dawn to catch a pic of the sunrise - but it was overcast and rather bland.



They can't all be perfect. So I got back into the sleeping bag for another half hour, and thought about the ride north. It's always a bummer turning and heading north for home, but it has to be done. And we need to blow through a lot of miles today. Ideally, we'd make San Felipe tonight.



We both suited up, got some coffee, paid our extensive bar tab We said our goodbyes to the staff and cshel, and left before breakfast could be served.



An early morning flat worked the chill off, and we ripped up towards Playa San Rafael. The KTM's Leo Vince silencer echoing across the early morning desert.



Somewhere down there, we'll turn off and take the old road to Bahia de Los Angeles. This route takes us inland a few miles from the beach at San Rafael on the other side of the Sierra Alambrado in the Valle la Bocana.



We'll get some breakfast in BoLA.....getting hungry already...

Awesome ride. Thanks for taking us along.

I have daughters looking over my shoulder, tell me you came back and fed the cat.

Gaspipe,
Thanks for the awesome ride report, I just got back from just about the same ride. The weather was awesome though. Your lucky there was any beer left at Alfonsinas, we did our best to rid that place of ice cold beverages.



We stayed in San Francisquito and I talked with Howard (renting the second house to the south for the last 30 years) who had just signed a new lease with the new owner. He said that the new owner seemed like a really nice guy, and was told that the plan was to keep it the same. He said that they will start doing some general maintainance, painting, roof repair,but build nothing new. They also talked about some solar panels for electricity.




We called them Dr. Suess trees because we are not all learned like the Master Gaspipe



I fed the cats on the 14th (all the tuna I had) on my way to


This trip was possible because of your past RR Gaspipe, I thank you.


My friends toast you too:

What a great picture ...it's 0 degrees out right now so that warm weather sure looks good....

Thanks Gaspipe!

Enjoyable as always!

We veered off the main road, a took the two track that was once used as the 1000 course. It's not too well traveled, but fun.





Another yet another flat, we rejoined the main road, and really hauled butt to make up lost time.



Despite our tire repairs, we'd still make it to BoLA in two hours. we could see it from here....





After picking up a few more patches at the refracciones, we got breakfast. I didn't figure we'd need to stop for anything again until Alfonsinas.....where we'd pick up fuel for 'Chollo's Honda. Because the sun was setting before 1700, we needed to keep a good pace going, or we'd be riding the Puertecitos road in the dark again

I got another load of premium gas in BoLA, and we headed up the boring paved road. We didn't have the time to run the sand roads again. The dreary monotony of the pavement soon wore my patience thin, and rather than riding out to the BoLA intersection, we took the Yubay wash sand cutoff near rancho El Desengano and plopped ourselves onto the pavement at San Ysidro.

As I began the drone up MX1 to Chapala, the Calamajue Wash road came into view. Screw the schedule, we're going down the wash to Coco's...



Seems that everytime I ride this road, it's different, and this time would be no exception.



I told 'Chollo there "...might be some sand whoops..." which was met with a somewhat sour look.

Boojum trees everywhere!



And we started up the Calamajue - and were greated with a few miles of sand whoops

About six or seven miles down the wash, there's an intersection on the edge of a bluff. I like to stop there because it gives an excellent view of the area. Plus poor ol' 'Chollo was struggling in the whoops with a sticky throttle cable.



I don't ever recall having whoops on the south end of the Wash Road, but they were fun, and warmed me up nicely.



In that image above, looking southeast, the left fork is the Calamajue Wash road (back to MX1). The right leg takes you back to MX1, and almost directly across the highway is the entrance to the Satan's A**hole road down to the Pacific Coast at Bahia Blanca.



If you look closely (in this poorly zoomed pic), you can see the SA road climbing up the hillside...



Off in the distance, I could hear 'Chollo's bike.



Closer!



Musing at what beautiful weather we were having, we took off again into the top of the Canyon...



More in a little while...

Excellent!And what did you find in the canyon?

As we descended into the canyon, I was amazed how unbelievable sandy, soft and chewed up it was - the sand ruts were deep and damned difficult to ride.





I wasn't willing to drop the pressure in my tires due to the patches on the tubes, so that made it even more of a PITA. It was so soft that I really couldn't get up on top of the sand until about third gear...



Yee-ha!

I wondered how the heck this got so beat up - the 1000 didn't come down this far this year, AFAIK.

And the wet sections were the deepest I'd ever seen also....but despite that, it's always stunning to see all this color.



Until you hit fourth gear, it was hard to ride this - so soft, that when you stopped, you'd sink halfway to your axles.



The first mentionable water crossing we came to from the south end was more than waist deep where the road crossed it. We worked our way around in the mud to get to a spot that was only nearly airbox deep, and covered the bikes with algae.

The road in the wetter areas (near the El Toro mine) was mostly in a different spot than the last time I came through.



The going was much slower than I thought we'd be able to do, and my hopes of making San Felipe were beginning to fade.



Man, a lot of tire traffic came through here recently.



I finally made it to the north end of the wash near the ruins of the old mission. It was here that I was a sign in Spanish. There must have been a race through here recently - and that would explain why is was so chewed up...!



Somewhere up the wash, 'Chollo was still motoring through with his XR. Until I saw him, I'd stay put. I have the only spare tube we have between us, and I've used it so many times by now that I'm wearing it like a bandolier for easy access.



'After a little bit, I can see 'Chollo's headlight, and I take off to ride the whoops that generally live on the north end. Only there were none! It was smooth and very fast all the way out to the Calamajue Beach Road junction.



Once again, the Calamajue Wash was different than the last time I rode it!

This looks like a nice place to ride to someday.

Agree on the deep water crossings



And the tough riding in the deap sand :

Hey Gaspipe,

Any theories on the inordinate number of flats on this trip? Did you do something to piss off the moto-gods?

N

It seems as if Master Bruce enjoys ripping tires off with his teeth to change flats. He reminds me of the guy from Panama that broke the record # of coconuts peeled with his mouth.


Bruce. Ride on!

I do - and I'll go over it in the end of the report. It'll give a fella something to think about.

I'm going to work on finishing it up tonight.

Thanks to all for the compliments - glad that there's some enjoyment factor in it.

Bruce.... want to go to the Sierra Madres Oriental next Monday? We'll load you up on our trailer and ride you down to the border... Camping and stuff.....