Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 52 of total 52 in this topic |
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 2, 2013 - 07:45pm PT
|
so we're in Los Barilles, the free camping is down in the Arroyo, and a guy is adjusting the valves on his VW Bus. I stop to drink a beer and bullshit like all good shade tree mechanics should.
With a beer comes a story, and his went something like this: He was going home and sunofabitch, but he wasn't paying attention on the turn, and don't you know he rolled it. Well, he wasn't hurt but the van was fukced. While salvaging gear, and whatever shreds of dignity there were laying around, another VW bus pulls up. Dude is going home to the states, but he's on his way NOW.
What to do?
What would you do?
Same as him, five minutes later, necessities are packed and the bus is left in the ditch, in that past we all have, left behind for whoever steps up to the plate.
But he was riding home and into the future.
|
|
bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
|
|
Broke a valve spring out on the Seven Sisters coast. Number three was effectively dead. Wound up at Tres Alejandro's camp, and as luck would have it, Alejandro Numero Dos was on his way to Guerrero Negro the next day. Said he'd stop at the yard and see if he could get a spring for me.
The day after he's back, and sure enough... valve spring in hand. A little Yankee ingenuity ensued: Some cord was threaded through the spark plug hole and the piston cranked up to TDC to hold the valve in place. Meanwhile, with the rocker arms removed, two friends with screwdrivers pushed like mad men to compress the valve spring while I gently slipped the retainers over the valve stem. A false move here would mean that the retainers would be launched out into the desert like pieces of shrapnel if the spring suddenly decompressed. All went well,the operation was a success. The rocker arms were bolted back on and adjusted, she fired right up and ran well for the rest of the trip.
It was all good. There were waves, so we weren't too concerned.
But the best part about it was the cost of the fresh lobster for dinner... I had brought along a few extra pair of brand new leather work gloves, you know, just in case. Three pair of gloves, three fresh bugs for dinner.
Ahhhhh... Baja.
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 2, 2013 - 08:11pm PT
|
in Los Frailes it was a deck of cards or an old Playboy for a fresh fish.
"....ahh Baja!" is right.
Tell me that place won't park itself in your bones
|
|
MisterE
Social climber
|
|
Skip's dad has a place at Gonzaga Bay we have been to a few times.
Taken this out a few times:
Found this once Dune-buggyin' around, definitely an FA:
On the same boulder:
Lots of fishing:
|
|
tiki-jer
Trad climber
fresno/clovis
|
|
Red thing is SheepHead right?
|
|
Mr Roy
climber
Seattle
|
|
edit: those guys played surfer music, they were killer..
|
|
MisterE
Social climber
|
|
Tiki-Jer, the wife says that in all of her years, she has never heard of anyone catching a SheepHead. Maybe some kind of Parrot Fish? Not sure.
Edit for Warbler vv: she said, in Gonzaga - sorry. Sea of Cortez side.
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
My parents have been taking me down there since I was born and still have a place down on the Cortez side.
@Warbler.. Mr.E edited the part of my comment that he left out. The fish in that picture were caught in Gonzaga Bay. What I said was that I've never seen a sheephead in Gonzaga and it was likely a type of parrot fish. Of course they (sheepheads) are common catch elsewhere.. usually more on the Pacific side.
View of the Sea of Cortez from the top of Willard Island.
|
|
bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
|
|
Just a few from some past trips.
|
|
ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
|
|
I did the ferry from Mazatlan to LaPaz, then a 21 hour bus ride to Tijuana.
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
Mr. E the fish is a type of Wrasse. Its a male "Hogfish". Colorful little buggers and the males can get quite big. There are probably different types of those too. Lost a lot of rapalas to those things. Ugh. :( No more. Feather jigs now. Oh and a bit of Megabait tossers.
The male Hogs get funky heads during mating , etc. The females (not in the picture.. Those are spotted sand bass or the all too lumped together "cabrilla" if you will, like all locals call them). I catch those "bass" over cobbles a lot. Down near San Bruno they got BIG for that fish.
I believe Parrot fish are in the Wrasse family too, but they eat corals or hard cnidarians, mollusks, etc. Its why parrots don't get caught on lures..... much. Now Hawaiian slings on the other hand....... Have to love common names for fish.
Ah Bahia San Luis Gonzaga. Very nice place. I've started two 3 month paddles up in Puertocitos/San Felipe and paddled down to La Paz both times. Lots of fishing the whole way. Have to put the pole away to make mileage! I've basically trolled the entire eastern coast of Baja.
Gonzaga and the 80 mile stretch south of there is roadless love for a kayaker and you can yank Yellowtail in from deep water without losing them in the rocks. YEEEAAHHHH! Paddled out to schools of Blackfin Tuna and would throw a 2 ounce mak finish megabait and hold on for the 15 minute ride. FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! Caught a 10 pound Corvina from shore at Calamajue.......... oops I'm getting all psyched here. Blah blah. You all know this. You spend time there!!! Ugh.
Oh, and if you get the tide right, there is a standing wave to surf just south of Punta Final at an opening to a cove, Catch fish while your buddy surfs then trade out. Fun fun.
And big tides + wind against tide = awesome yet raucous standing wave pretty much from halfway out across to Isla San Luis to its SE tip. That sand spit makes a standing whitewater maelstom/fun for the right folks............
And after a Norte blows for days that southern bay down near San Fracisquito breaks! Longboard and even a shorter one with good conditions. Real surfing.
Have fun down south.
Go Baja!
Bob Jensen
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2013 - 10:19am PT
|
Louis is a French Canadian guy we brought down to Baja with us in 1989.
He was from Quebec and he was learning English on his own "Hello- I am Louis. I am fine."
Louis rode a motorcycle with a trailer and a windsurfer strapped on it from Quebec to Texas in late November. Snowstorm during rush hour in Nashville was tough he said.
He would get excited about anything and he would start to run to wherever he was going: swimming, fishing, sailing, anything. The inner child never was too far from the surface.
He loved to fish. "Oh yes- I love to fish". At Pulmo, he broke his fishing rod so he would hide behind rocks underwater and catch fish with his hands.
His van breaks down on the mainland-this family picks him up at the side of the road, essentially adopts him and lets him stay at their house while the repairs are being done. Their daughter's wedding is happening that week, and Louis has the only camera in the entire village, so he shoots the wedding. He becomes the most welcome guy ever.
He kept on going down south and he is a legend in some circles- This will be his 23rd winter in Baja.
A very, sincere, totally honest (as in "yes I am very Ha-nest"), complete innocent, and about the toughest hard man I ever met. A very positive and inspirational person- hard to describe it but he really personifies "loving life".
Mostly you'll find him from Cabo Pulmo to La Ventana at various WIndsurfing areas. Hope you get a chance to run into him some day.
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
Choss choss choss. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure it could suit somebody? The best I have seen from what my eyes look for was over the water bouldering north of Santa Rosalia by about 30 miles if I remember correctly. Near the Three Virgins. It seemed a well worn stretch of dark rock with overhangs and such. Not a lot of barnacles etc. I would have done some bouldering if I was with someone. The diving under there looked sick as well. I was eating lunch and paddling 40 miles that day. No play for me.
I've bouldered a bunch when the beach and rock permitted. Mostly choss and more just a novelty if I use that term correctly. South of La Paz I did some cool granite bouldering along the beaches as I headed down to La Ventana.
Looking up in the Lagunas from the Pacific side seems to reveal a ton of granite. I think Ed Abby found that place to be one of his favorites.
Lets see?????? I've seen some good desert mountaineering adventures to be had close to the Sea's edge, not far from camp. Not Diablo style, but more volcanic funk ridges and such where Chaco's would suffice and five tennies would seem ultra luxurious. I'm sure there's climbable rock along and close to that coast, but I'm always focusing on right where the desert meets the sea and the islands.
Then get picked up by surf buddies and carve our way by road camp after road camp, ride after ride back to the states. Good memories.
Then I climb when I return.
|
|
frank wyman
Mountain climber
montana
|
|
Mr Warbler, I wanted to thank you for your advice on my upcoming trip to Cabo area, Leave 6:00 am on the 4th, Wrote some of your sugguestions down..Again...thanks...Frank
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
I believe those are called the Emerald Cliffs, yeah Warbler? They are the north end of Bahia de La Paz and north a ways. If so then I've seen them. CHOSS.
You know come to think of it I saw quite a bit of granite out on Isla San Jose across the way there. I did some over the water bouldering. Overhanging and fun, but barnacle filled where best. Dive gloves. Some beach granite as I recall as well.
Snorkeled in a huge school of Sardines out on the northern tip of Isla San Jose in about 5 to 15 feet of CLEAR water. We would swim under the school and watch as pelicans exploded down through the fish. It was surreal. Amazing. So much amazing stuff down there!
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
I haven't heard that to my knowledge. Really good one.
You know, I haven't been down there to that area in 9 years. Damn has it been that long? Well the Sea side at least. I would like to do the East coast of Baja in a kayak again, but its hard to imagine me doing it for third time. It would be cool to do it with the eye for climbing adventure the whole way.
I would probably just surf next time down. Its becoming more of a thing for me.
|
|
hossjulia
Trad climber
Where the Hoback and the mighty Snake River meet
|
|
Rocker Mike, you didn't! Every time I see a bicyclist in Baja, I wonder if they will ever make it home.
Spent a fair amount of time in Baja when I was in my "formidable" years. My Dad was into desert racing and ran the Tecate to Ensenada a few times. I think he came in top 3 one year, maybe top bike. Anyway, he tried the 500 one year and decided that was too much. So the next few years, we pitted and crewed for friends in the 500 and 1,000. Memories of crazy lights, high pitched engines and dust swirling in the dark at the overnight pit stops. My job was water girl. Get the races to down as much water as I could convince them too. Also cigarette roller and lighter. (Yup, 10 years old, dad taught me some gud survival skills, eh?)
Our last year down there we helped organize (I saw "we" because back then this was still almost all privateers, and we mailed entries and such. I got to lick envelopes. It really was a family affair at the time.)the 1,000. We pre ran the course over a period of 2 weeks, a family of four in a 2 wheel drive Datsun truck. Can't hardly believe we did that trip, and I was so sun sick for the last half of it I remember nothing of Baja Sur. We had to repair roads twice, and both times, men just kinda came out of the desert with the right tools. My Dad would pay them in $10's & $20's, and beer. 1st repair job came just south of Portracitas (sp). Took most of the day, when we were done, the men gave my dad directions to the coolest camping spot ever, at the back of a small box canyon with a hot springs. Women washing clothes, kids running around and swimming, that is my memory of Baja, camping at a hot springs with the locals. And cheap lobster in San Felipe, lots of trigger fish to eat, dust, sun, ocean, tide pools to spend time over. That's how I burned my back so bad. Sick, sick, sick. Mexican woman brought my mom a gallon of vinegar. Again, just out of the blue, she took one look at my back and was back in 30 minutes with the vinegar. Memories are like a rambling lane, eventually I get there. ;->
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
Baja Sur
80mph on the salt flats
cheap surfer labor, until the tide's right
feral puppies raised in cactus den
Our little buddies and future rippers
chubasco
god's own choss
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2013 - 08:43pm PT
|
What great stories-getting after it!
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 15, 2018 - 06:16pm PT
|
I just came across this photo- My wife somewhere in Baja 15 years ago. If you've traveled much in Baja you'll know where this is.
Post a pic!
|
|
Juan Maderita
Trad climber
"OBcean" San Diego, CA
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2018 - 12:57am PT
|
Baja, the land of perpetual sunshine, summer and perfect climbing days. Well, most of the time...
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2018 - 04:34am PT
|
Nice shot Juan! Another angle.
|
|
originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2018 - 08:41am PT
|
I posted these to another Baj a thread, but hey, what the hell. I want to go back, this time with my motorcycle.
Edit to add, judging from Bob's old posts up thread, that guy is nailing it.
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2018 - 10:00am PT
|
I want to go back, this time with my motorcycle
The only way to go Bro!
|
|
Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
|
|
|
Jan 16, 2018 - 11:05am PT
|
Spent a couple of winters beach camping there. They inspired the following:
Song of the Snowbird
There’s a playa called Ligui just south of Loreto.
It’s a fabulous spot, but not easy to get to.
The highways are narrow and most don’t have shoulders,
And are littered with shrines, burned-out autos and boulders.
They’re patrolled by acquisitive Mexican policia
Who invent every possible reason to fleece ya.
And at times you must rush past some glorious vista
To search for a rest stop, ‘cause you’ve got turista.
But once you’re established amongst Ligui’s dunes
You can relish the seascapes, the stars and full moons,
To seaward the beautiful Isla Danzante,
Behind you the mighty Sierra Gigante -
The frutas Jose brings and Gloria’s burritos,
The campfires, friends, and of course the Hornitos.
And even Canadians have nothing but praises
For Tecate, Modelo and other cervezas.
If by Baja midnight we’re slightly borracho,
We weave carefully back to our camps mas despacio -
The night may be sweet but it sure would distract us
To tread on a serpent or fall on a cactus.
We delight in the clams and the fish from the ocean,
Are amused by the dogs who proclaim their devotion .
The frigate birds hovering over the sea
Agree with the gulls - there’s no place like Ligui.
If the ocean gets rough or the wind starts to blow
We have only to contemplate forty below.
No one in his senses would trade this fine life
For snowfall, lake fog and political strife.
The only real thing that I think we did wrong
Was not doing this sooner - what took us so long?
|
|
Juan Maderita
Trad climber
"OBcean" San Diego, CA
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 01:22am PT
|
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 04:16am PT
|
All alone at Quatro Casas
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 06:36am PT
|
But the stars at night in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir, that's what's really amazing.
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 07:55am PT
|
Was that you D? Nice surfing.
Calafia- I will have to post a pic of one of my favorite waves!
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 08:02am PT
|
Need to get back down there... Catavinia is a skip-jump now that the Cortez to hwy1 road is paved. Never climbed there.
Got mixed feelings about the pavement south of San Felipe. Good the car isn't in pieces every time i get back and the drive takes half the time, but I miss the dirt road. More adventure and less tourists and thieves.
|
|
originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 10:38am PT
|
Micronut, nailed it! Been a lifelong dream, personally. I have a BMW F800GS I really want to ride all the way down from Northern California.
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 17, 2018 - 05:42pm PT
|
Ok, then a 8.5 for length of ride, linking turns, some solid rail action and a few minor deductions for looking a little old and blowing the last hit :)
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 05:52am PT
|
My wife looking down on the Sea of Cortez from 9,000 feet, atop the San Pedro de Martir.
My Son and wife literally petting a friendly Grey Whale. Several Whales surrounded our panga for hours. This was life changing.
|
|
bob
climber
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 07:52am PT
|
Love the pics and stories. Thanks for sharing. I have a million from the mountains to the sea, but most I haven’t turned to digital. Here are a few I came up with. The first pic is a Marlin that simply decided to come check us out, literally, in the middle of the Sea of Cortez between Isla Esteban and Isla Salsipuedes. Unreal.
Peace y’all.
|
|
skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 10:57am PT
|
Trying to add it all up, I've been down there over a year of my life. Six times I've been down for at least a month, with the first time being a trip to the tip hauling a 28ft skipjack to visit the islands offshore in the Sea of Cortez. This was 2 years after they finished the new highway 1 to La Paz and the trip was a geologic and biologic research trip. Two times I've been down in the bush (Sierra Juarez) solo for a week. Saw no one up close for the entire time except for being dropped off and picked up.
For myself, the entire peninsula is just amazing with plenty of secrets left to find and explore. I have been lucky enough to get to surf, free dive, and explore my ass off down there while in my late teens, twenties, and a few times later in life. I have found the locals to generally be very patient and generous with me. I rarely ever took a camera with me, but here are a few rare shots from Sierra San Pedro Martir, a place I have spent almost 3 months at in total. I've been down when there is 4 to 6 ft of snow on the ground at 7K ft, but this time was mid summer. And Gary is right. You cannot beat the sky at night up there. The Mexicans know this and put an observatory up there.
EDIT: One of the coolest towns I used to love to hit on the way down was San Ignacio. The church square and church in particular have always amazed me for some reason.
How may of you baja travelers have spent the night in the date palms outside of San Ignacio? When we were heading way south for swell, this is where we would always spend the first night.
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 02:39pm PT
|
How may of you baja travelers have spent the night in the date palms outside of San Ignacio? When we were heading way south for swell, this is where we would always spend the first night. Great photo of Wall Street Chris!
|
|
skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 03:55pm PT
|
Glad to add to the great collection of photos Drew. I was lucky one of the three of us brought up a camera that time and sent me copies of the shots of me from New York! I have a few others floating around here somewhere. I'll toss them up if I can find them.
Mission San Ignacio is my favorite I think. I absolutely love the carved doors. San Ignacio, the gateway to southern swell exposed Baja. Thanks for posting more pictures.
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2018 - 07:18pm PT
|
A magical thing about Baja, you can often have it to yourself.
|
|
Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018 - 03:00pm PT
|
|
|
Juan Maderita
Trad climber
"OBcean" San Diego, CA
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018 - 04:06pm PT
|
Contractor,
Is that aid pitch on the north face of Trono Blanco? Curious as to what route?
Off White,
Nice to see your photos of the "Happy Hooker" on the south face. There have not been many ascents of that route.
Here's one from an early ascent, 1976. Also great to see that you enjoyed "Facial Expression", a classic Tajo slab route.
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018 - 04:26pm PT
|
No, similar view but further south.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Jan 19, 2018 - 06:01pm PT
|
6.3 off Loreto today. Dunno about damage.
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Feb 11, 2018 - 10:16pm PT
|
hey there, say, hobo_dan... wow, great share, here...
bajaandy... hossjulia... so many!!
can't list all the names...
say-- went looking for some 'baja' thread and found this one--
wanted to share this:
my mom was mentioning how she was watching someone on tv...
and, accidentally mentioned this name:
erle stanley
(though, she was really watching a DIFFERENT STANLEY)
(but--erle stanley gardner, she was thinking of, INSTEAD of the man she saw, this morning)...
WELL, so, i looked him up (not being a mystery-book fan, like my dad, or, not having seen much of perry mason, i did NOT
know WHO this was) ...
well: i found out that HE LOVED the BAJA-- and wrote many books about it...
in case none of you have them, or have read of them, just
letting you know...
do a search-- AND YOU will find some neat old books...
i just bought three... and there are two more that i hope to
buy next month...
now, this happened at the most perfect time-- my neighbor and i had
been looking over the BAJA by map, and i wanted to know more of it,
but didn't reckon on buying any books:
UNTIL -- my mom accidentally spilled this out... NOW it will be a double
special memory, for me, as to timing, and my mom's simple blunder...
(she did know about him, as to the GIANT oak, that was on his property)
and, she knew he wrote books, as,she saw an old tv talk-show, about him)...
very 'different' write up... ;)
The Hidden
Heart of Baja.
ERLE STANLEY GARDNER.
New York: William Morrow & Rcviewed by WILLIAM C. MASSEY,
University of Florida According to its dust jacket, this is “an account of
a most important and dramatic archeological discovery-the Indian caves of Baja California.”
A more fitting subtitle would have been “Camping Out in Baja California for Fun and Profit.”
Danger ever impending, is ever thwarted. Bwana narrowly escapes being scalded in a hot shower,
and starvation is averted by roasts flown in from
the old Cali- fornia homestead. No one gets lost, no one drowns in the flash floods which do not
occur. Pursuing writers are thrown off the track (although the wiseness of this last move
could be questioned).
Co., 1962. 256 pp.,
photographs (some in color).
$7.50. 951
American A~zlhropologist [66, 196.21
The writing style equals the author’s
knowledge of archeology. Even to an archeolo- gist, the few chapters given to the
“discovery” of the famed petroglyphs seem no more annoying than the preceding pages of
disorganized thinking, banal philosophies, and inconsistencies.
The book should not cost $7.50.
With its patent leading-out of large type, it is obviously padded. Most of the full-page, gray photographs are irrelevant-“A portion of the Mexicali Riding Club,” or “The dogs were afraid we were going to go away.”
Naive to the point of being pitiable is the erstwhile author’s statement that his effort will create “arguments
pro and con in scientific circles.” No scientist is going to bother arguing with opinions which
include, “Conceivably a tribe may have vanished, but hardly a nation,” and “It is my own belief
that these men were tall, hardy warriors, swift of foot, strong in body and in spirit.” On the
hand, no archeologist can possibly ignore the one contribution of Hidden Heart of Baja: It has now been
proved, once and for all, that a man in a helicopter can go almost anywhere that a man on burro or afoot has gone.
edit: folks HAVE enjoyed though, as to his travels of the 1960 era...
|
|
Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
|
|
|
Feb 27, 2018 - 08:27pm PT
|
Very cool, thank you Neebee!
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Feb 28, 2018 - 12:10pm PT
|
hey there say, contractor... thank you...
i will be finding a few more, later this week...
i always wanted to see more of 'what is inside' away from the coast...
it was a great find, too see the 'nature show' clip...
and, to learn about the bats... :)
|
|
NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
|
|
|
Feb 28, 2018 - 11:44pm PT
|
So tell me straight- as a white guy with broken spanish, can I explore down there without dying? How much are the drug wars a media frenzy vs a real-deal stay away? Do you have to pay to stay in rooms or can you bivy on a tarp next to your vehicle on back roads?
|
|
Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
|
|
I have not been south of Ensenada in 15 years. Sleeping on the beaches is fine in tourist areas, kinda gives me the creeps in isolated areas. I try to plan my trips so I do not drive at night and try to get a cheap hotel room or safe camp site. Thinking about going south with my son, he is almost 15, he would be in to it. I have been going to TJ lately for some out sourcing of car repair and medical treatment, damn the crossing into Mexico is tougher than coming back, that is a big change. Actually driving in is pretty easy if you are not obviously carrying gear, they will just wave you through.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 52 of total 52 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!