Deeper into Baja - Part 9

Didn't check this one out but I'll bet there's something good back in there.

The march to the south continued after our week in San Juanico.  The plan was to head down to the La Paz area and then down to Todos Santos.  We didn't quite make it.  This drive could have been done in a long day but it ended up taking almost another two weeks to get there.  I'm the worst in getting somewhere as planned because I'll be heading there, spot a side road on the map and then decide that it's a must do.  Sometimes this turns out and you discover some out of the way place that makes the detour a wise choice. A wrong turn in a few days would put us in some of the best stuff stuff we'd found the entire trip. If we hadn't of got lost it wouldn't have happened. Anyway,at Ciudad Constitucion, there is a road leading west out towards a little place called Puerto San Carlos.  Looked interesting so, hard right turn, and off we went.  As we were pulling into town a friendly Mexican fella comes chasing us in his clapped out SUV through town.  The road basically ends at the coast so once we come to a stop he pulls up and wants to know if there is anything he can do for us.  I inquire as to where there might be some free camping.  Lo and behold, he just happens to own a campground back up the road.   What a coincidence.  We figured every time he saw a gringo enter town with a camper he'd give chase trying to drum up some business.  Ten dollars a night....almost free! Quite the entrepreneur and as it was getting late we opted to part with some pesos and stay at his place.  Stayed the night and moved on the following morning. We had hoped to get back off-road here and check out the area across the bay on the Bahia Santa Marie side but found out it was unaccesible by vehicle.  In camp I saw another Four Wheel Camper rig and struck up a conversation with the couple and their little ones.  Really cool family who had been full-timing on the road a few years with their three children.  They'd visited 49 states and had been in Alaska the past summer.  They were now headed south and planned to do South America.  I enjoy meeting people like this who think outside the box, throw caution to the wind and just go.  They didn't really have any set plans other than to head south over the next year or so and see what comes of it.  While they were home schooling the children, I imagine the lessons they learn from their travels are even better.  They had a blogsite but for the life of me I can't remember it.

Nice couple with great kids and an adventourous spirit.

Petey mauling a local pitt bull in camp.

Rising moon overlooking the bay that night.

Lots of low lying areas and mangrove forest along this part of the coast.

We moved on the following day a little further south before turning back off on dirt to check out an area along the coast.  Nothing in here other than some epic camping, a few surfers and miles of open coastline.

Camp up on the bluff.

View looking back along the beach.

Some big surf rolls in along this coastline

 Tough sleeping right along the bluffs at night.  The noise from the surf was..loud. Some of the sets sounded like bombs going off when they'd break.

 Can drive this coastline and find great campsite anywhere.

Wayne found a couple of dead seals washed up on the beach about a mile from camp and decided to take a couple of teeth.  Everytime the dogs were on the beach this was a major draw as they loved the stench.

Coming back from a hike on the beach one evening and I had to set Petey up over a ledge he couldn't make.  As I get ready to crawl over I look up and the wind is holding his ears straight out. 

After a few more nights in here we decided to head back over to the Sea of Cortez side.  The pacific side had been all about big surf and some occasional wind so no fishing or kayaking.  We crawled back out over another rough ass road, found pavement and headed towards LaPaz.  LaPaz is big by Baja standards so the plan was to stop, re-supply and get the hell out of there.  A wrong turn out of LaPaz, Wayne's fault, had us heading in the opposite direction to where Todos Santos was.  By the time we figured it out there was no way we were going to backtrack so we just kept going.  We found a dirt road on the map that would hopefully get us to Los Barriles and begin trying to find it.  The pavement ended with a few dirt tracks leading off to the south.  After driving around lost, we finally came across a couple of locals who pointed us up a rough, rocky dirt road that appeared to climb....quickly. It got rougher and steeper the further we got into it.

We were trusting this would get us through as there was no signage of any type but it was headed in the general direction we wanted to go. We kept crawling along and eventually made it back over to the coast.

Wayne's rig coming around the corner. We saw not one other vehicle on this road leading up over the mountains or along the coastline until nearing Los Barriles.  Beautiful drive.

It got pretty steep in places as you can see the angle of my truck on the right side.

Four wheel is a definite requirement to get through this section and to be honest I'm not real sure exactly what road we were on.  All we know is it ended up where we were trying to get to. Once we got to the coast we set up and stayed put for about 4 nights. More of the same....beach exploration, fishing and screwing off.

 Next time at this area I'll have a speargun with me.  All along this coastline would be a great spot for snorkeling and spearfishing.

 Wayne landed this Moray Eel.  Was able to get him unhooked and released.

Very few points to access the beach along this section.  We came up on this one and set up camp here for 4 nights.

The wrong turn out of LaPaz and getting lost wasn't so bad after all......