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Mexico
In December 2017, I shipped my Yamaha XT225 to San Diego, CA. My plan was to ride south through the Baja all the way to La Paz and back, storing the XT in San Diego until the next summer when I would ride it north to Seattle along the Pacific Coast Highway. In reality, I ended up riding as far south as Bahia de Concepcion in Baja Sur, after which I turned around and went back up north.
ROUTE: San Diego ->Ensenada -> Catavina -> Guerrero Negro -> San Ignacio -> Mulege -> San Ignacio -> Guerrero Negro -> Santa Rosalilitta -> Bufeo -> San Felipe -> Tecate -> San Diego
TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED: ~1300 miles
TOTAL TIME TAKEN: 2 weeks
MOTORCYCLE: 2006 Yamaha XT225
ROUTE: Google Maps link
PHOTOS: Link to Flickr Album
PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS
DAY 1 – SAN DIEGO TO ENSENADA
With Andrea and Ashlee in Ensenada, at the Bufadora!
DAY 2 -ENSENADA TO MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
We camped by the side of the road on the way to a pine forest because we ran out of daylight.
Camping in the desert was cold.
DAY 3 – MIDDLE OF NOWHERE TO CATAVINA
Riding through a mindbogglingly amazing landscape consisting of HUGE cacti and HUGE boulders.
Did I mention the cacti were HUGE?
Some places, you buy petrol from a guy in the back of a truck.
Met this cool Mexican lady biker who was riding a BMW with her husband and son
DAY 4 – CATAVINA TO GUERRERO NEGRO
Guerrero Negro greets you with this amazing whole grey whale skeleton
DAY 5 – GUERRERO NEGRO TO SAN IGNACIO
A lot of the riding looked like this – volcanic, bleak, miles of nothingness.
There’s always time for a selfie for that book cover.
San Ignacio was a miraculous little tropical oasis in the desert. I have finally seen a real oasis!
So typical Baja with cacti and palm trees!
Sleeping with your bike. Like you do.
DAY 6 – SAN IGNACIO TO MULEGE
Riding through Santa Rosalia – this was a pretty little European-ish town.
Mulege was gorgeous. Such a perfect little coastal Mexican town.
I walked along the coast until I hit the sea, to find the lighthouse. Found this restaurant at the end of the world.
To the lighthouse!
On top of the world!
Christmas Eve in Mulege
On Christmas Day, I rode south to Bahia de Concepcion. This is the farthest south I rode in Baja.
DAY 9 – BACK TO SAN IGNACIO AND GUERRERO NEGRO
My gas cap sprung a leak on the way back north. Fixed it later with some plastic weld.
Found a hole in my air filter too. Did not fix it.
The coast off of Guerrero Negro
Met this super cool local guy who took me riding to the salt flats and sand dunes. It. Was. The. Best.
Coolest spot in Guerrero Negro
The sand dunes in Guerrero Negro
DAY 10 – GUERRERO NEGRO TO SANTA ROSALILITTA
The desert was full of the coolest, weirdest trees.
Sundown in the fishing village of Santa Rosalilitta
Found a room right on the coast
DAY 11 – SANTA ROSALILITTA TO BUFEO VIA CHAPALA
More desert, more weird plants
A rancheria at Chapala junction – popular spot for Baja 1000 riders
Coco’s Corner – extremely missable
Beautiful desert landscape
Stopped for the night at San Bufeo. The sand was so soft in some places I’m glad my front wheel didn’t sink into it entirely.
I hated the desert when I started this trip. Ten days in, I started to find it strangely peaceful and meditative.
They had a tiny little church attached to the house.
DAY 12 – BUFEO TO SAN FELIPE
San Felipe was big, popular and full of ugly tourists. But I liked going up to the lighthouse to get away from everyone.
The military is everywhere in Baja. They waved me through all their checkpoints without any issue.
I spent the last day of 2017 sitting on the beach, looking out at the waters, and reflecting back on a hell of a brilliant year!
DAY 13 – SAN FELIPE TO TECATE
It was flat for hundreds of miles going towards Mexicali but the mountains were incredible!
A strange sight along the way.
Stopped at Tecate for the night. My last night in Mexico.
DAY 14 – TECATE TO SAN DIEGO
Home!
My bike was reeking oil, so we had to tear it apart. The culprit – a missing screw on the carb float bowl. Andrea can fix everything!