Baja 2020 | Spring Break Trip
For some, ‘Mexico’ and ‘Spring Break’ conjures images of bikini clad coeds on warm tropical beaches. For others, not so much; some of us are just on a quest to find the perfect taco. This trip formed as a bit of a reunion trip: back in 2007, a few of us (college roommates at the time) decided to take our motley crew of rigs down to Mexico for the first time. Fast forward, only one of those rigs, the 1-ton Jeep WJ, is still around; 1 of us still had a dark red Ford, now a Bronco built by Desolate instead of a Ranger. I brought my wife’s car, our GX470, and arguably the most comfortable vehicle I’ve brought. Rounding out the list, our Operations manager brought his Ram 2500 tow rig, which turns out to be a great mild prerunner too.
Our trip started with the group congregating in rural South San Diego for a quick bite of breakfast, a top off of ethanol diluted California fuel, and many bro hugs. We made our way over the border, then filled the coolers with Baja’s finest cerveza (Tecate Rojo) and hit dirt 20 minutes later. Recent rains had done a great job of tamping down the dirt and dust, and made no illusion about what this trip was going to be: equal parts high speed dirt running and Mexican mud bog. The Compadre Trail is a wonderful mix of fast and flowing dirt track that traverses the inland mountain ridge of the Baja Peninsula and gradually gains elevation. We stopped for lunch in a little farming village called Ojos Negros and quickly remembered that all but 2 in the group are completely illiterate in Spanish. Just outside of Ojos Negros is a pretty famous jump, but the muddy conditions and being early in the trip, kept us from getting too zesty. Also, without a cage to inspire confidence, or 800hp to back it up with speed, nothing looks as cool as you think it does.
After a few miles of highway and a pit stop, we hopped back onto a legendary dirt road up into the hills, ending at the aptly named Mike’s Sky Ranch. Mike’s has been in operation for several decades, founded by a former Tijuana night club owner as a serene mountain retreat for weary racers and travelers. There are only 2 ways in: the easy way and the hard way. Our route had us coming up the easy way, which is another smooth, twisty dirt track that quickly gains elevation up into a small valley tucked around some of the highest peaks on the peninsula. Mike’s is rustic, with a mandatory electricity off 10pm curfew (to save fuel for the generator) but a few hours spent taking in the memorabilia on the bar wall serves to remind you that this is a place with a storied history, and visiting it for 1 night will never be enough.
The next morning we woke, scarfed some breakfast and opted for the rocky road out to work our way down from the mountains to the warmer, smoother roads of the coast, doing our best to follow the route of one of the older 500 race courses on the way down. As it turned out, it was quite rocky, overgrown, and washed out… we only got a few miles down by lunchtime, but once out of the rocky canyons the trail quickly opened up and got fast again. It’s truly impressive to think that some limited travel, 2wd vehicles make it over these tracks, as we were all in low-range and even had to stack a couple rocks. One thing is for sure: those of us who opted for skids were glad to have them. Fortunately, only 2 casualties occurred…1 diff cover, and 1 plastic bumper cover.
After finally making it to the coast, we traversed some muddy farm roads and found our promised jewel: the coast road that runs roughly from Erendira to Camalu. Most of the group has done this part of the route several times in the past, so it was nice to be on some familiar terra firma, and enjoying the absolutely stunning coastal views available nowhere else in the world. Coastal Baja Norte is the kind of place you don’t actually want to tell anyone about, it’s that good. From the austere architecture where nothing is left unused, to the stark contrast of fertile farmland precipitously ending into a rocky shoreline, and the rich local culture of the fishing and farming villages of the Baja coast. Our final destination for this leg of the journey was another classic.
The Old Mill is another staple for the weary traveler. Tucked at the end of a quiet road next to a couple fishing charter huts, near a small cove in the Bahia de San Quintin, the Old Mill is a typical Baja hotel: quaint, austere, and filled with incredible food. Over the years, it’s seen various revisions and improvements, but we were all pleasantly surprised to see that it’s better than ever. Vacant beaches have been replaced by a fancy boardwalk, and the restaurants were cleaner than ever. The Old Mill is flourishing with a brand new restaurant where we had one of the best meals of the trip, including the biggest and freshest yellowtail steaks I’ve ever seen.
After one too many hours of socializing that night, we had a relatively late start but quickly made our way back north up the coast, adding some farmland roads to the same route from the day before to maximize the amount of dirt miles. The road from Erendira to Camalu is simply stunning, winding along between rocky inlets, criss crossing farmland, all the while traversing picturesque bluffs and quick ravines. Small fishing hamlets and surfing hostels dot the landscape and serve as waypoints for those without GPS or radios.
Finishing the dirt road in Santo Tomas, we continued north to Ensenada, a well known port on the northern coast of Baja. It’s true, the longer the day in the dirt, the better the tacos are at the end of it. We stopped at a familiar favorite near the Estero Beach resort, where approximately 1000 street tacos were consumed and we caught a local Federale snapping a food selfie, which guarantees that the food is GOOD. The well practiced movements of the cooks are a beautiful sight to behold, as muscle memory takes over and he dispenses tacos faster than you can receive them to your plate. After a good night’s sleep, we washed off what mud we could, and continued north to Valle de Guadalupe. Since we hail from one of the prominent wine growing regions in California, we were eager to see what the fertile soil of Baja had to offer. We certainly were not disappointed…and knew it would be a great day, when we were greeted by the AirBNB host in their Subaru at muddy creek crossing. An AirBNB with 4wd mandatory for access? Perfect! At the top of the hill we had a splendid view onto the valley. We spent the rest of the day touring the beautiful rolling hills tasting what Valle de Guadalupe had to offer, and were quite pleased.
LIke all trips, this one came to an end too soon. As is the way of things, while in our isolation the world was quickly locking down to contain the COVID19 pandemic. Amazingly, the rigs all came back unscathed. A testament to the quality of the components we’re all running. No one was running less than a 2.5” body shock, and most of us had air bumps too. We put shocks to the test from all the manufacturers, Fox, ICON and King, and had zero issues putting them through everything from deep mud to high speed washes. The Nitro Worm gear diff recently added to the GX470 made a nice, and necessary complement to the outstanding ATRAC system standard on the car. A welcome upgrade we’ve all made in our older wiser years, every vehicle also had its own on board air system, with ARB and Viair making equal showings. Being the lowest rig in the group, with the smallest tires, the GX470 used every inch of the ARB skid system and Total Chaos lower link mount skids. Further gussets from Total Chaos kept the spindles straight, and the cam tabs intact. Speaking of cam tabs, after another 300+ dirt miles, we’re happy to report that our Taco Tabs are performing perfectly and alignment hasn’t shifted one bit. Quite literally, all we had to do was air up, hose off what mud we could, check a few bolts and hit the road home to a ball of confusion and chaos of a global pandemic. In an uncertain world, it’s nice to have equipment you can rely on to get you where you want to go, and keep the vacation a vacation.
