We just got home from an amazing trip to Baja, Mexico, and I can’t wait to fill you in! We drove our 2023 2dr Iconic Silver Bronco from Moab, Utah, across the border, down one coast and up the other over 10 days.
As most of you know, I am not one to shy away from opportunities, even if there is an element of danger (whether real or perceived), and as I prepared for this trip, images of being detained or robbed crossed my mind more than once. That of course, didn’t stop me, partially because we were going on a tour led by Curt LeDuc, a legendary desert racer, and Kimmie. Curt and Kimmie have a home in Baja, he has traveled extensively throughout the area, seems to know everybody, has secret knowledge of epic spots, and has raced there for years.
Brian and I met Curt, and a few of our fellow travelers, including our friends Darin and Hope Spreadbury at the Tecate border crossing. This border is positioned in the hills west of El Centro, California and the drive-in was absolutely beautiful. Curt helped us in advance with the nuances of driving a personal vehicle into Mexico, which included stopping at the border for immigration and getting our FMM cards. He walked over the border, met us on the U.S. side, and told us exactly what to expect. We filled out a form, paid a fee, and the card was placed in our passports. The guards at the border just asked us our destination in Mexico, looked briefly inside our packed Bronco, and we were on our way. We grouped back up at the Tecate McDonald’s, which you could see from the crossing, and after a quick planning meeting, we topped fuel and left town. There were six of the total seven vehicles there, we met another family later that evening at the hotel. The group was made up mostly of Ford F-150 Raptors, but also a Ranger, a couple of Jeeps, and one Bronco.
Our first off-road adventure was just a few kilometers down the toll road, called the El Compadre Trail, that’s over 50 miles long. We quickly found ourselves on dirt, running through open ranch lands, up some higher forested areas, and down to Highway 3.
We did not visit Mike’s Sky Ranch on this trip but continued south to Lazaro Cardenas, where we had some wonderful tacos for a late lunch. We topped fuel again (fuel tops are important as fuel can be scarce), and on to San Felipe for our first night hotel. On the way, Curt told stories on the 2-way radios he provided. We quickly learned the moral of most of his stories are “that’s why you don’t drink Mescal!”
Curt took us on a shortcut to cross the Diablo dry lakebed, which he hoped was dry. Luckily, it turned out that it was. Driving at high speed on the lakebed, looking at the mountains and flowering plants, was breathtaking. On our first night we stayed right on the ocean, in small casitas, and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.
The next morning had us on a short drive for a late breakfast at the Chenowth Museum and Hotel, accessed by driving along the beach. We spent some time taking photos and shopping for souvenirs before hitting the pavement again, making the long journey towards the Bay of L.A.
One of the fun things we were asked to do for the trip, was to collect items for a Memory Jar, that we would assemble on our last evening. Today, Curt turned off in a beautiful desert area, where we collected pieces of cactus wood, petrified wood, rocks, and even pieces of Baja 1000 cars. The roads were paved (sort of) but very narrow and filled with potholes so we arrived in Bay of LA just before dinner and stayed at a rustic inn, again, right on the beach. We had the most glorious sunset.
Our next day’s route was almost entirely off-road, over 100 miles, following much of historic and current Baja 1000 routes through fields of cactus. We stopped at a remote fish camp and collected some seashells that were literally piled on the beach. It was challenging to leave so many behind. We then traveled on some sandy, narrow tracks to a secret location, where we were able to hike up and see cave paintings that are thousands of years old.
From there, it was our own Baja 1000 race, because the time changed by one hour going from Baja to Baja Sur and we needed to get past a guard shack by 5 PM to get to our Whale Magic Camp, south of Guerro Negro. We were a little late, but luckily the guard was still there, and we made it to camp around 6 PM. Our accommodations were right on the beach, but our only neighbors were coyotes and the whales out in the lagoon, as it is almost impossible to get permits for this area
The tents had beds furnished with linens, and the main tent served meals and had a generator with Wi-Fi. The generator only ran a couple of hours in the evening but with our group being the only occupants, we had fun with two theme nights, a pajama party and a 60’s night. Brian won second place for best 60’s costume.
We spent a total of 3 nights at the Whale Camp and made 3 trips out in the lagoon, in small, motorized boats to see the gray whales. These whales migrate each year to give birth and breed, in the warm waters. During that time, the adults don’t eat, so they are focused on getting the calves strong enough to travel back up to the rich waters of the Bering Sea where they feed on tiny crustaceans. The calves do eat, and gain on average, 100 lbs. per day on whale milk that is over 50% fat. But enough fun facts on the whales, the coolest part of visiting here, is getting close-up encounters with them. Many are friendly and will approach the boats to scratch on them or even to be touched. So few operators have permits to be out there, that there are almost no other boats, and the whales are in no way threatened or harassed. It’s incredible to see how big they are and hear them draw huge breaths of air. We got whale spit on us more than once when they came up alongside. I was able to touch them and look them in the eye, it’s amazing to think they were almost hunted to extinction. It was another opportunity because Curt “knows a guy”. In this case, he knows the “gals” that own and run the camp. I heard him book for next year in case you’re interested.
Our next part of the journey included a drive on the very narrow pavement to El Rosario. On the way there, we stopped off for another hike to see more cave paintings. I’ll never get enough! Leaving there, we traveled on to a turn-off and easy 4-wheel drive route to see the remains of the El Marmol Onyx mine. At one time, it was the largest onyx mine in the world, and the statue outside the St. Paul City Hall, the tallest onyx statue in the world, was carved from the onyx mined there. It is now abandoned, leaving only a cemetery and the remnants of the only onyx one room schoolhouse in the world. We took some time exploring the area and finding some small pieces of onyx (outside the protected area) for our memory jars.
From there, it was on to our hotel for a great shower and dinner at the famous Mama Espinoza’s, traditionally the first checkpoint of the Baja 1000. This restaurant is full of racing photos and stickers cover the walls. It was Curt’s birthday, so we had some cake (and margaritas).
The next morning, after breakfast at Mama Espinoza’s (the huevos rancheros are amazing), we headed to the coast and a great off-road trip out to the La Lobera Sea Lion cave. We checked out the cave and the spectacular coast before returning to our rigs and heading for another epic off-roading trip over the dunes and down to the beach for a several mile drive along the coast.
We found a few sand dollars and then headed into San Quintin for lunch. After lunch, we drove to our turn off to visit the Melling cattle ranch for our last night of the trip.
Again, rich in race history, the trails run right through the ranch. We put together our memory jar, which was packed with rocks and shells but didn’t have room for our favorite memento, a leftover sign from the Baja 1000, signed by Curt LeDuc himself. We each held up our jars and shared what this trip meant to us, our most special moments which resulted in lots of laughs and a few tears. We had a wonderful steak dinner and slept in rustic accommodations, with a wood fired stove to keep us warm.
The final morning, after breakfast, we headed north, stopping briefly at Acambaro, another traditional pit stop for the race, and through Ensenada for the beautiful drive through the wine country, back to Tecate. We literally crossed the border in less than 1 minute, after looking at our passports and U.S. Customs asking us where our home is. That finished our first Baja 1000 trip as it was over 1000 miles that we actually drove in Mexico. We felt perfectly safe and had no issues, only a spectacular time that I’m still processing.
It's been almost impossible for me to condense this trip into one recap, there are so many stories of the people we met. I plan on following this article up with at least one more on how you too can travel to Baja, what should you expect, how we packed, and what you really need to bring. Put any questions you want answered in the comments below.
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