Bahía de los Ángeles, 2017 ...

[SFMCjohn]

I've been planning to join the
BARF Baja 2017 crew
for quite a while now ... attending the
monthly planning meetings, trying to arrange
a truck-ride down there and trying to get my poor KLR
prepared for doing a five-day clockwise-loop through
central Baja ...

youtu.be/eyCEexG9xjw

I'm at the part of the adventure-riding-process I find
the most anxious and fear-inspiring, so I thought I'd
start my ride report now, mostly to give myself the pep-talk
I tend to need in order to slog through those parts of
ride-prep I dread ... mainly bike-prep and packing ... : |

We're planning on parking the trucks at Bahía de los Ángeles ...
anyway, we'll see ... :laughing

... been to Baja in the past, but it has been three years
since I was last there--which I think officially makes me
a Baja n00b again ... Baja is like Alaska, a motorcycle-guy
pilgrimage everyone should do, and it occurred to me
I needed the deadline and the relative-n00b friendliness that
the BARF Baja crew seemed cheerfully willing to provide ... :ride

... suppose it's just as likely that I'll manage to crash-and-burn
as it is that I'll arrive in BoLA, in which case this will document
pitfalls to avoid ... arty

Self-motivational pics from years gone by:

 

[dravnx]

John, You'll do just fine and have a great time. Keep up with the TRs so I can live vicariously through you.

 

[SFMCjohn]

... so, my KLR was burning oil ...
decided it would be a good idea to
deal with that before this trip ... ugh. :rolleyes

... part of the fun of doing a BARF rally or organized ride is
getting on a BARF "private" forum ... so, I did that, and
have posted a lot of these pics over there already ...
here they are again for BARF Adventure Riding lurkers ... :laughing

... I find wrenching on bikes stressful ...
but no one was going to do the top-end for me ... :afm199

... took me a month, mainly because it was so hard
for me to drag myself to my garage (three blocks
from where I live) but finally got it done and got the
bike started this weekend ... arty

 

[SFMCjohn]

John, You'll do just fine and have a great time. Keep up with the TRs so I can live vicariously through you.

Thanks Jeff! We'll see if I do just fine ... :laughing

 

[SFMCjohn]

And ... here's a list of things I still need to do
before we leave:

New tires and heavy-duty tubes ... being installed today.
Load two KLRs into the truck to see if we need another cheater spring ...
Buy my Mexican insurance ...
Look into getting my Tourist Visa on-line ...
Look into getting insurance for a medical flight evacuation ...
Find all the crap I'm supposed to have on the bike ... :rolleyes

... get the new top end through enough miles and
heat-cycles to break it in and maybe expose
my shortcomings as a mechanic ... :laughing

 

[Cabrito]

This one sure looks like Gudalupe Canyon to me.

 

[SFMCjohn]

This one sure looks like Gudalupe Canyon to me.

... yes, I'm just posting some random Baja pics to motivate
myself to pack the bike ... :laughing:thumbup

... here's a BoLA pic ... supposed to be taken from Mikes Mountain,
which I've never heard of ... looking to see if there is a road up there ... :ride

... was talking with Daniel at SFMoto today, who just got
back from a Baja trip and was telling me about his ride out
to Las Animas, which he said is a 12 mile ride from the main road
that I could probably do on a KLR ... :ride

 

[dravnx]

I met Mike Humphryville once. Him and his wife stopped by our campsite and shared cocktails with us. We were camped in the dunes south of town near the old dirt runway.
News about another Mike. If you've ever been to Mike's Sky Ranch, you've probably met David. He's the guy that cooks and runs the place. He was killed in the beginning of Jan. He was working on the dirt road and the equipment rolled, he was thrown clear but went down the cliff. Baja is a harsh place and is unforgiving of mistakes or accidents. Ya'll stay safe.

 

[dravnx]

This one sure looks like Gudalupe Canyon to me.

I thought the same thing. Shssshhh. GC is the best kept secret in Baja.

 

[SFMCjohn]

I met Mike Humphryville once. Him and his wife stopped by our campsite and shared cocktails with us. We were camped in the dunes south of town near the old dirt runway.
News about another Mike. If you've ever been to Mike's Sky Ranch, you've probably met David. He's the guy that cooks and runs the place. He was killed in the beginning of Jan. He was working on the dirt road and the equipment rolled, he was thrown clear but went down the cliff. Baja is a harsh place and is unforgiving of mistakes or accidents. Ya'll stay safe.

... sorry to hear about David ... been through Mike's Sky Ranch
years ago, but when we went through (we had failed to get
there by dark, and I don't ride in the dark in Baja, ha) no
one was there ...

Didn't come up with much doing a google on Mike Humphreville (sp?) ...
we did meet Herman Hill at Guillermo's one year ...

... guess he wrote "Baja's Hidden Gold: Treasure Along the Mission Trail" ...
https://www.amazon.com/Bajas-Hidden-Gold-Treasure-Mission/dp/193424872X
... you can read a bit of it on Amazon's "see inside" feature ...

 

[dravnx]

John, Here ya go.
http://math.ucr.edu/ftm/bajapages/Correspondents/BajaWithMike.html
These are from Fred Metcalf's Baja site which predates Bajanomads.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Wow, what an adventure ...
just started reading
"The Tempests of Summer" ...
how cool to build a hut and live there
in 1985! :laughing:thumbup

Daniel said he ran into
Pancho at the San Rafael fish camp,
who has been living in a hut
on the Sea of Cortez for years ...

... Thanks for the link! arty

 

[SFMCjohn]

... having fun mining dravnx's link to the
Baja writings of Mike Humfreville ...
came across this book by LA Times writer
Jack Smith, who started building a home in Punta Santo Tomas
(just south of Ensanada and west of Santo Thomas),
a place called La Bocana, I guess,
in 1968 ... guess the book was a best seller in
the early 1970s ... arty

... an article he wrote in 1994 after Mr Gomez
(the landlord and house builder) passed away:
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-17/news/ls-51263_1_romulo-gomez

Mr. Smith is featured on The Huntington Museum's website:
http://huntington.org/Webassets/Templates/Content.aspx?id=6030

A review of the book in People Magzine from 1975 ... :laughing
http://people.com/archive/the-house-that-jack-built-with-help-from-god-and-mr-gomez-vol-3-no-6/

 

[OaklandF4i]

Thanks for sharing John! I'm going to need to take a look at that book as well. We might need an adventure book reading list thread......

 

[Norcalslowpoke]

Thanks John and dravnx.

I ordered Herman's book, appreciate the link to some of the true "gold" of Baja.

I'm a slight history buff, just try to learn about places I'm visiting, makes the experience deeper.

Cheers

 

[dravnx]

Some more Baja history
http://www.vivabaja.com/
David is a long time Bajanomad poster.

 

[dravnx]

You guys got me rolling. I haven't been to Baja in 2 years.
I've been planning a quick run to Ensenada in April to party and see the start of the Mexico 1000. I might have to stretch the time off a little bit to get some more Baja time.

 

[SFMCjohn]

... more random Baja future-exploration
stuff thanks to dravnx link and google ... :laughing

Won't be near there this trip, but
Matomi Falls is kind of exciting because the
slog down from Guadalupe Hot Springs to
Gonzaga Bay is painful ... would be nice to
have some dirt stuff to (try to) explore
half-way ... don't think I could get a loaded KLR
up Arroyo Matomi, but may be able to get in
from the north ...? :ride

 

[SFMCjohn]

Thanks for sharing John! I'm going to need to take a look at that book as well. We might need an adventure book reading list thread......

:thumbup ... I need some new Mexico books to bring to read
in the tent other than Blood Meridian and All the Pretty Horses ... :laughing

Thanks John and dravnx.

I ordered Mike's book, appreciate the link to some of the true "gold" of Baja.

I'm a slight history buff, just try to learn about places I'm visiting, makes the experience deeper.

Cheers

Cool! :cool Did you order Mike Humfreville's book,
or Herman Hill's ... ?

I usually leave my research for when I get back ... :rolleyes

 

[SFMCjohn]

Some more Baja history
http://www.vivabaja.com/
David is a long time Bajanomad poster.

Yes, I think I found the Matomi Falls stuff on the
vivabaja.com website, after reading a post by
Mike Humfreville about it ...

You guys got me rolling. I haven't been to Baja in 2 years.
I've been planning a quick run to Ensenada in April to party and see the start of the Mexico 1000. I might have to stretch the time off a little bit to get some more Baja time.

I'd love to see some of the vintage Baja racers
the Mexico 1000 attracts ... arty