Junction at Mexico 3 (from the South)

July 7th, 2007...another day of 4-wheeling in Baja!

Mike's Sky Rancho

Tucked away in the middle of the mountains in northern Baja, is Mike's Sky Rancho. It lies on the northwestern edge of Parque Nacional Sierra San Pedro Martir. Described as "a beloved haunt of off-roaders," Mike's is set in a small valley framed by the pine-covered foothills of the Sierra. To get here, the turn off from Mexico 3, is at Km 138 or 37 miles (60km) west of the junction with highway 5. The rancho is 22 miles (35km) from this turnoff.

By the time we made it to the turnoff for the Rancho (which is by-the-way very well marked) we had already put in a full day of off-roading. Mike's road was much friendlier to the Jeep, especially the earlier portion. We were able to make 30-35mph on the soft sandy graded road. Then the road got more difficult and more rocky. We had a delay of game due to two cows standing in the middle of the road...and then we ran into a truck and tractor that were doing road maintenance (SCORE had been through here as well.) After passing the tractor, the road became more exciting...back to 4-low.... Arrived at Mike's just at dusk. :)

Mike's offers modest and clean motel rooms surrounding a large (clean) swimming pool, a dining room where dinners and breakfasts are served, a charming bar, and an officina. Off-roaders, racers and visitors alike make their mark on every surface of the bar, its walls, and windows. (Bumper stickers, team logos, patches, signed dollar bills, and business cards are tacked up EVERYWHERE.) Here we met a handfull of friendly off-roaders...americans with years of Baja trails under their belts. Mike is a very cool guy...kind of Godfatheresque. He's the boss...whatever he says goes...and his visitors get whatever they want during their stay at the Rancho!

Hot showers were very much appreciated. (The picture of my dashboard in the "note to self" section was taken at Mike's.)

"Graded" road

Actually, the pictures we took of the roads are not the worst we saw...I was operating by the theory "if you are going through hell, keep going." I am not trying to imply that it was hellish, but the constant crappy status of the road made for lo-gear 4-wheeling at 5 mph...it got hot...it got old...and I got tired.

Once in Valle de Trinidad and at the local Taquerilla we were sitting pretty. It was like ordering off of a dollar menu except the food was AMAZING! (And it was more like a 91cent menu.) We sat on bar stools (outside) at the tiled counter and ate the food right there. The owner set out a whole spread of accoutrements including fresh salsa (with cilantro, Mom!), salsa verde, chopped cabbage, quacamole, and diced tomatos with onion. Carne Asada's the word. Also, the bottled Coke is delicious...the sugar cane tastes WAY better then the aspartame that is used in the US. While sitting there, we joined in watching a mexican soap on the TV (the only television I saw the whole trip!) We also watched a freshly emancipated truck tire rolling down the road...(this country has 400% more dead tires scattered throughout the landscape than actual functional tires!)

From here it was off to Mike's Sky Ranch via 8(ish) miles on Mexico 3 and some more off-roading...

Back to the interior...July 6th, 2007

We made our way back to San Vincente before embarking on another 4-wheeling adventure to Valle de Trinidad.

It's amazing how much of the landscape is dirt brown when you move away from the coast...except when you happen upon a view with a prickly pear cactus farm, a winery, a field of carrots, or a field of onions.

Camping in Baja!

We took a right turn off the Mexico 1 to get here...yes, I said right turn. It was difficult to find the thru street to the coast. With the help of the GPS, we navigated the little neighborhoods and found our way to this spectacular location! (We saw a roadrunner along the way!)

We arrived at this campsite about an hour and a half before dark and spent a lot of the remaining daylight harvesting dead Agave stalks for our fire. (see "notes to self.") That was fun. Aaron managed to knock off the spikey bases with only one almost incident. (The agave tried to attack his eye...and my legs.) I bundled them and stacked them onto the Jeep's front bumber and Aaron strapped them down. (The first use of our parachute chord.) The agave was a pleasant surprise. It burned well, but fairly quickly...and had a kind of sweet smell. So we cooked hot dogs, drank mexican beer, and listened to the waves and the offshore sealions by the fire.

On the "road"

While driving during this trip was both arduous and exciting, it was also exhausting...we switched drivers quite a bit. Aaron was great at taking the wheel when I was tired...allowing me to PTFO in the passenger seat. (An impressive feat, considering the amount of bumping and jostling the ol' Wrangler was dishing out.)