La Paz to Cabo - 160 miles
The ride from La Paz to Cabo was fantastic. It began a little cool and windy as we left town. On our way out of town we ended up in another barrio by mistake. A guy on a small motorcycle rode up beside us and motioned for us to follow him and he led us back onto the main road. We thanked him and continued on our way. We had many such experiences when we'd get turned around in a new town. People would drive by and motion for us to follow or point us in the right direction. Most everyone was very helpful.
We continued south on Hwy 1 with plans of turning onto the dirt near Los Barriles. We'd been given directions by the guys at Motosport on what road to take and they drew us a small map. The highway began to get really twisty as we continued south and it was great riding. There were many cruiser bikes on the road headed north, probably from Cabo, and everyone was really friendly. We crossed a couple of really large washes with lots of tracks in the sand. They looked like great dirt biking areas. We stopped at Los Barriles to gather up since we had spread out by several miles through all the twisty parts, some of us going faster than others.
A short ways past Los Barriles, at La Cappilla, we turned off the highway and went out towards the coast. We had been told to head for La Rivera and follow the coast all the way around to Cabo. The road to La Rivera was a small paved but fun road. Once we arrived there we wandered around for a couple of minutes then stopped by the local mission for a couple of photos. I asked a worker at the mission for directions and he told me how to get to the coast on dirt roads. We thanked him and headed off again.
The roads were dirt but good all the way to Cabo Plumo, a very small village along the coast that is popular with divers. There is one small resort that we saw and we considered spending the night since we'd been told that the road gets much worse from here on down. About 2 miles onto the dirt, I hit a section of soft gravel that put me into a wobble just as I was passing a truck headed the other direction. I instinctively put my foot out which promptly got pulled under my aluminum pannier. Thank God I was wearing heavy off-road boots or it could have been a broken leg. This really pissed me off, since I both know better than to stick my foot out while riding with hard panniers and to ride faster on loose ground to improve my balance and handling of the bike. So in a fit of anger, I pinned it for the next 15 miles, averaging about 60+ mph. This helped the riding quite a bit but the rough road was causing my panniers to sway back and forth. This caused my bike to fish-tail. I hit a few deep sandy sections at speed and things got a bit sporty! So, needless to say, we were making pretty good time so far. It was still early and I suggested that we continue until we were really tired or it got dark and then camp. Phil and Paul agreed so we took off again.
Cabo Pulmo Resort
My bike found some kindred spirits along the way.
Phil and Paul along the south coast
As we neared the south tip, we began to encounter more people and traffic. It seems as though locals from San Juan del Cabo drive out to the beach here. There were sections of beach with beautiful palapas that were totally vacant. We passed numerous large ranchos along the way but almost all had large gates. There was no infrastructure to speak of but it was amazing riding. I highly recommend this section of coast to anyone traveling through. 4x4 is not needed, just good suspension.
We had to veer inland a short while after meeting the friendly burros. This section of road was more dusty and washboarded than what we'd been on. On the bright side, there were no large washouts like along the coast. On some of the larger ones, people would place sticks near them as warning markers.
Passing slower vehicles, Baja Style
Phil with a "dirt mustache" trying his best to hide his misery in Baja
Beer break outside Cabo after a long ride
Phil's idea of camping!
We rode around Cabo and San Juan del Cabo for a while looking for a hotel but weren't finding a lot of options. The roads in this area are similar to the States and are two lane with a divider. Phil decided on a whim to stop at the Hilton and pulls a U-Turn from the left lane of a 60 mph highway. This ellicited numerous horns but we succeded in getting turned.
When we got to the gate of the Hilton, the security guard didn't want to let us in. No dirty biker trash allowed! Phil convinced him otherwise and we rode up to the vallet parking on our filthy bikes. The vallets thought we were cool and immediately wanted to chat with us about our bikes and our trip. The other staff however, were not so interested. Phil said he wanted to treat us for a rough day and making it all the way to the bottom of Baja.
Many of the men who were staying at the resort were really interested in our bikes as well. Although, their wives weren't too happy about it and quickly dragged them away. It was too late though, we had already seen the envy in their eyes.
The Hilton was really nice but I think I would have rather been camped along the beach somewhere. It was incredibly nice of Phil to get us rooms but it was the worst night's sleep I had the entire trip (save the night I was sick). I just kept thinking about how vulgar all the opulence of the Hilton was when compared to how the average person in Baja lives. All of the employees at the resort had their perma-smiles affixed and bent over backwards to cater to your every want. I had to physically take my riding gear away from the bellman because I wanted to sort it out myself.
After another 60 or so miles of rough dirt road, my pannier bolts were getting badly worn and the swaying was getting progressively worse. I knew I'd have to either limit the dirt for the remainder of the trip or try to modify the mounting system. Paul was in need of a rear tire since his was beginning to split along the carcass. We'd have to make a stop at a bike shop in the morning to try to find a tire.
It was a fine day of riding. The coast around the point is worthy of several days of exploring but we just didn't have the time. We have already discovered that Baja is just too large to explore in a couple of weeks. We'd need a couple of weeks in each region just to get started.
Part one of the mission accomplished. Now, all we have to do is get back home. More to come...
