Baja in January

Hi, I'm Dave from GripTwister Tours, and I believe we have exactly what you are looking for. It is an 1,100 mile, do-it-yourself tour for dual-sport motorcycles. It makes a grand loop of northern Baja, and is doable in the time period you are talking about. Along with detailed descriptions of each section of the route, the accompanying full-color book has info on most of the lodging options (including prices and contact info) and also contains a huge index of the best places to camp out along the route on a dual-sport bike. The book also contains a wealth of information specific to adventure riding in Baja, gathered over many years. This spiral bound, waterproof book is sized to easily fit in your hydration pack or tank bag.

It comes with a CD-ROM containing the GPS routes, waypoints and tracks that make-up the tour and detailed instructions on how to get the most out of it. We are also the creators of the popular Olympic Mountains Loop GPS Tour that has become quite popular with local and visiting riders to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The Baja California Loop GPS Tour was the second of our annually updated GPS dual-sport tours, and was first introduced in early 2011.

Whether you plan to motel it every night, camp every night, or a combination of the two, you'll have everything you need to confidently navigate yourself to -and through- some seriously remote and fun-to-ride places in Baja.

Also, we let you know where and what the "hard" sections are, and give recommendations for alternate paths if feel you or your machine aren't up to the challenge, or you just need a place to make up some time.

The 2012 edition is what we are currently shipping. This version was updated last November (2013), requiring very little revision other than a few notes included with the 2012 version. We will be updating it again in a few months for a larger revision that will be the new 2015 edition. For now, tropical storm Odile caused some local flooding of arroyos at the very southern end of the loop a couple of months ago, and we have not completely checked all of this section yet. If you don't wish to be the first to report on the condition of this section, rest assured you will receive the information you need to get you around it easily.

If you have any questions about this tour, I'm happy to answer them here or you may contact me directly. The link to our website is in my signature line below.

BajaDave

Pricey!

Was the route you are describing affected by the hurricanes? I'd hate to lay out the dough only to discover its outdated.

You know the old saying, "you get what you pay for". The majority of the feedback we receive from customers of our GPS tours goes something like "Wow, you've put a lot of work into this. It's way more than I was expecting or even hoping to receive."

The hurricane you ask about was tropical storm Odile that I referenced in the second to last paragraph of my original post. To add more to those remarks, I can say that given the track of the storm and the resulting conditions I witnessed in the areas I've been through so far, I expect the remaining sections of the tour that likely experienced some amount of rainfall or runoff will be passable on moto still. Tropical storm Juliette rolled through last year at about the same time, and brought intense rainfall further north than Odile did before moving out of Baja. The photos I posted were from the "revision run" we did last October for the Baja California Loop GPS Tour. All but one section was still passable after Juliette, albeit with some challenges.

But more to your point, in Baja it's absolutely possible that a route passable one week may not be passable the next. It just depends on the event and the timing. But that's also what makes for some of the best experiences and accompanying stories that people come back with.

While I am in the business of selling and promoting these self-guided rides, I'd also be one of the first to say that if you're up for it, grab a good map and pack some extra fuel and go have yourself what will probably be one of the best adventures you'll ever have by exploring Baja on your own. I and plenty of others do it all the time and highly recommend it.

But if you'd feel more confident knowing what lies ahead or just don't have the extra time for trial and errors, consider giving our package a try.

Whichever way you go, you're bound to have a great time.

BajaDave

Below is the description of the tour as printed on the back cover of the book that is part of the package:

The Baja California Loop GPS Tour is a self-guided dual sport
motorcycle tour around and through Baja California, Mexico.
The route utilizes mostly dirt two-tracks, many of which have
been part of the famous Baja races at one or many points in
their history, and offer up some of the best dual sport riding
in North America- not to mention beautiful desert vistas.

The tour is broken down into multiple route legs, navigated
from one to the next in a clockwise direction,taking you
from coast to coast and all points in between. Side trips
to beautiful, interesting, or historical places are also included,
many having their own GPS routes.

Every location along the route providing lodging, camping,
meals, sundries or services is identified, described, and is
marked with a waypoint, as are all fuel stations and many
"alternate" sources of fuel. Many points of interest are also
included, such as missions, mines, vistas, beach access and
the just plain interesting.

This accompanying waterproof booklet contains overviews
of each route leg and indexes all points of interest, services,
lodging, fueling opportunities and campsites by route, and
is meant to be taken along on the tour as a reference guide.

Total length of the tour is approx. 1,100 miles, and can be
comfortably completed in as few as 6 days. The tour returns
to the main highways and "civilization" multiple times,
making it easy to refuel and resupply.

The included CD-ROM contains files for downloading the tour
into your Garmin or other GPS receiver using a computer and
third party software, along with detailed instructions, tour
photos, and other useful information to enhance your trip,
including a section full of info on preparing yourself and your
bike to get full enjoyment from this tour.

Thanks--I will ponder this and figure out whats next.

I am planning a trip to Baja too, but last week in Jan. Going with some friends from the SF Bay area where I used to live.
Similar plan and bikes. Some big / small dual sports and 1 or 2 dual sported street bikes. Cross at Tecate on Saturday, cross back on Saturday.
Still working on the plan where to go. But we will be doing the easy stuff mostly.

Rode the back way to Mike's from Meling in October on an XRL. Still rough, but passable, easier from the North. Wee Strom would have problems.

To me, $106 seems cheap to get solid info on this trip considering what you guys will have invested in getting down there, lodging, food, and fuel. Especially as you have a pretty short timeframe. Just my opinion.
Your route will need to be predicated on what the weakest bike/rider can do in a day, with some margin for safety built in. It's January so the days are short. Especially if everybody is up late drinking tequila! Depending on your fourth bike, maybe you can pick times to split up so everybody gets some of what they want and nobody gets in over their head. This is not the place to exceed the design capacity of street bikes. Or riders. You guys haven't allocated nearly enough time.. but at least you're going!

So are you leaving from PDX to meet your friends in San Fran. Riding all the way?

One of the guys going actually did the Baja 1000 a couple years ago and he is will likely be on an 1190 adventure.

Thanks for the comments!

No, I am going to wimp out and drive all the way down to Guerrero Negro.
~1200 miles in 2 days

Just got back from San Felipe yesterday, the 1200 miles down was easy but the 1200 back seemed twice as far.

Have fun, it's easy to make a lot of mileage in a short time.

What were the highlights for you?

Our group is still piecing sub 100 mile loops around the SF area due to the type of machinery we are on (fuel range). We will probably start heading further south for over nighters in the next couple trips. But just being able to get on the bikes and ride where ever we want is huge for us.
I don't know why there is such a sense of adventure to it down there as opposed to states.

We also try an plan our trips during the time of a race so that is always fun to take in. This year we went to Valle T to watch some of them come through.

Obviously we are barely scratching the surface as far as adventure goes but we have blast down there.