Baja Del Norte Surf Trip
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:00 pmA friend and I finally decided to make the trek to Baja Del Norte after years of talking & dreaming of uncrowded surf. I met him at his house with my trailer last Thursday night, transferred it over to the hitch on his truck and hit the road early Friday morning. Crossed the border with ease, drove to Puerto Nuevo for an awesome Lobster lunch and then continued south until finding a nice Cliffside campground near Ensenada.
Next AM we went to a market where we loaded up the cooler with Tecate, asada, chorizo & all the other Mexican essentials before heading south. After driving through several small towns south of Ensenada, we stopped at a little market for snacks & refreshments. The clerk told us about an unmarked dirt road a few miles south that would take us to the coast, so he headed on to find it.
The road took us West through the mountains. It wasn’t a terrible road, but my trailer with its 12” tires and low ground clearance just isn’t built for deep ruts, sand, boulders & never-ending washboard. After 2 hrs, we were relieved to come over the last hill and see the coast, but as we approached and saw nothing but miles of cliffs, it was apparent that we would have to continue south to find an area with access to the water. We left paved road around noon, drove nearly 50 miles on this road and finally found an empty, sandy beach as the sun was setting.
Sunday was spent surfing, fishing & scouring for clams & mussels. We made out pretty well with the surf, clams & mussels, but fishing only yielded small, inedible surf perch. Either way, we had plenty of food & beer.
On Monday morning we packed up and hit the road for the long drive home 7 actually found a faster route through the hills. Hit the border crossing in TJ about 4:30 pm and did our souvenir & gift shopping from the comfort of our vehicle. The line is so slow moving that vendors will come around & sell you food, drinks & touristy junk like sombreros & knockoff homer Simpson piggy banks. After some successful shopping, churros & cokes, we hit the inspection station at 6:30, showed our passports & were waved through with no vehicle inspection. Its strange because you don’t want to leave yet, but you’re really happy to be back on normal US freeways after sitting in that line in TJ.
All in all an excellent & safe trip. I will definately be returning to Baja after I beef up the trailer's suspension & tires.
Check out my pics with the links below
http://s272.beta.photobucket.com/user/f ... story/4397
<a href="http://s272.beta.photobucket.com/user/fourbi4rox/story/4397" target="_blank"><img src="http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj196/fourbi4rox/story/4397/thumb/large.png" border="0" alt="Baja Adventure 1.0"/></a>
Next AM we went to a market where we loaded up the cooler with Tecate, asada, chorizo & all the other Mexican essentials before heading south. After driving through several small towns south of Ensenada, we stopped at a little market for snacks & refreshments. The clerk told us about an unmarked dirt road a few miles south that would take us to the coast, so he headed on to find it.
The road took us West through the mountains. It wasn’t a terrible road, but my trailer with its 12” tires and low ground clearance just isn’t built for deep ruts, sand, boulders & never-ending washboard. After 2 hrs, we were relieved to come over the last hill and see the coast, but as we approached and saw nothing but miles of cliffs, it was apparent that we would have to continue south to find an area with access to the water. We left paved road around noon, drove nearly 50 miles on this road and finally found an empty, sandy beach as the sun was setting.
Sunday was spent surfing, fishing & scouring for clams & mussels. We made out pretty well with the surf, clams & mussels, but fishing only yielded small, inedible surf perch. Either way, we had plenty of food & beer.
On Monday morning we packed up and hit the road for the long drive home 7 actually found a faster route through the hills. Hit the border crossing in TJ about 4:30 pm and did our souvenir & gift shopping from the comfort of our vehicle. The line is so slow moving that vendors will come around & sell you food, drinks & touristy junk like sombreros & knockoff homer Simpson piggy banks. After some successful shopping, churros & cokes, we hit the inspection station at 6:30, showed our passports & were waved through with no vehicle inspection. Its strange because you don’t want to leave yet, but you’re really happy to be back on normal US freeways after sitting in that line in TJ.
All in all an excellent & safe trip. I will definately be returning to Baja after I beef up the trailer's suspension & tires.
Check out my pics with the links below
http://s272.beta.photobucket.com/user/f ... story/4397
<a href="http://s272.beta.photobucket.com/user/fourbi4rox/story/4397" target="_blank"><img src="http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj196/fourbi4rox/story/4397/thumb/large.png" border="0" alt="Baja Adventure 1.0"/></a>
Great time! Wonderful that all went well. Hope you caught some good waves. I spent time in the Las Rocas area where there were some really nice surf / camp spots, restaurants to eat at and market nearby, with a beautiful coastline and fine surf. Many small hotels and I even stayed at a spa resort for pampering. It was nice to see your vacation come to life!
