Baja Adventure Ride

Day 7 - Loreto to Guerrero Negro (266 miles)

Baja route map This days ride was mostly on asphalt, joining a couple of big bike riders on 1200GS's (Bob and Marco), putting more focus on the scenery than off-road trails. Marco led the way, dropping down many times to some of the more scenic beaches along the road. Many of these beaches have campers on them, most in an RV or travel trailer that they drive down from the states, and just hang out here during winter season, and living cheap.

After reaching Mulege, we also visited one of the older missions up on a nearby hilltop, that I doubt I would have discovered without Marco's guidance. He knew the people well enough to even get access to a narrow stairwell shaft to reach the roof of the mission. Later on in the middle of the town Santa Rosalia, we explored a separate church framed in metal as built by the French architect that designed the Eiffel Tower.

If you are interested in renting a 1200GS and exploring Baja yourself, Marco also runs an adventure motorcycle rental businss: BajaGS Moto Rentals. He should be able to set you up with everything you need including guide service if you want.

After lunch back at the San Ignacio plaza that we passed through on day 3, I spent more quality time exploring the mission there, and capturing some better photos. Following that we put the bikes in hyperspace mode to reach our motel at Guerrero Negro, traveling across some of the most boring terrain of Baja. WIth the wind starting to continuously gust at about 20 mph in a mostly west to east direction, my neck still feels sore thinking about these last few days of the ride.

During the long stretch of highway, it is often necessary to pass other vehicles. One quirk noticed while riding in Mexico, is the driver ahead of you will often turn on their left blinker when they are acknowledging your presence and think it is okay to pass them. Usually this is helpful, but sometimes it is not, and it is good to double check the situation. It could also mean they are going to make a left turn soon, they forgot to turn their blinker off, or it is okay assuming you are a motoGP racer.

Another word of advice: If you want to avoid being stopped by the local police, stay within the speed limit and obey all the stop signs (some can be well hidden) when passing through any town. The police tend to hang out there, having never seen any on the open highway. I hear a 500 peso note is the typical payment to make a potential traffic violation go away. Concerning the checkpoints at various places along the highway, these are staffed by federales armed with bigger guns. Most of the time they will just waive you through. But occasionally they will want you to stop and look into something like your tank bag. If you have anything readily visible in there like an energy bar, Red Bull, or other such goodies, expect to have some extras to share.

Back at Guerrero Negro, most riders got back at a reasonable time. Some of us hung out drinking beer from the ice chest that Greg the support driver was diligent about keeping the stock up, with each of us contributing toward a pool to pay for it. For entertainment that late afternoon, we mostly watched Scott (and cracking a few jokes) who was repairing a slow leak on his Tubliss tire system on a KTM 690, that supposedly is more flat resistant.

Images (click to select the larger view at bottom)

Intro Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Conclusion

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