The California Scooter Baja Buzz…

Okay, boys and girls, here’s the tentative plan for our California Scooter Baja blitz…

Day 1

We’ll depart the CSC plant no later than 7:00 a.m. (we’ll be trucking the bikes from the plant to the border), and we’ll roll across the border around 10:00 a.m.  From there it’s a toll road from Tijuana to Ensenada that runs along a beautiful stretch of the Pacific ocean, and we’ll stop for lunch in Ensenada at Velero’s (a restaurant I really like).  Tijuana to Ensenada is the tourist zone (most people who go to Baja never get past this stretch…they have no idea what they’re missing). 

After Ensenada, we’ll ride through the wine country and then across the first of many mountain ranges.   There’s an agricultural region about 100 miles long that skirts the Pacific all the way.  The Transpeninsular Highway then turns sharply left and we’ll enter the Vizcaino Desert, which is where the true Baja begins.  You’ll see amazing cactus and amazing panoramas.  We’ll stay at the Desert Inn in Catavina (it’s one of the nicer ones in Baja).  Catavina is like another planet (the boulders are as big as houses, there are massive Cardon cactus and Cirio plants, and a whole lot more new and exotic stuff). 

We’ll average around 40 mph or so on the Scooters, so our seat time will be about 7 ½ hours on this first day.  We’ll cover just under 300 miles (it’s why I want to get a very early start this first day).

The boulder fields in Catavina

Day 2

After an early breakfast in Catavina, we’ll continue through the Vizcaino desert and mountains, and then the plains heading toward Guerrero Negro.  The town is named for a ship that sank off the coast in the 1800s (it means “Black Warrior” in Spanish).  This time of year the whales aren’t in Mexico (they’re stuffing themselves up in Alaska), so we’ll only stop on the outskirts to top off. 

We’ll continue across the sea plains, and we’ll want to keep our eyes open for the wild burro herd that hangs out in this area (they make a cool photo).  The road turns southeast, and we’ll be heading diagonally across Baja toward San Ignacio.  It’s a fascinating little oasis, with an old church that looks like something in an old western movie.   The Jesuits introduced date forming here hundreds of years ago, and it will seem weird to see these beautiful data palm groves in the desert. 

We’ll continue to Santa Rosalia on the Sea of Cortez, descending through the La Cuesta del Infierno (dropping 1500 feet in just a few miles).   We’ll stay in the Frances Hotel.   It’s very cool (you’ll see).  Our total mileage this day will be 284 miles.

Santa Rosalia, from the Frances Hotel balcony

Day 3

This will be a very interesting day.  We gotta get up early, cause this will be a high mileage day.  We’ll skirt the Sea of Cortez to Mulege, where we’ll stop for coffee.   We won’t see the Mulege mission yet; we’ll catch that on our way back.   We’ll skirt Bahia Concepcion, and if you’re like me, you’ll think about why you’d ever want to live anywhere else.  Then it’s Loreto for an early lunch, and the long haul (just over 200 miles) to La Paz.   I haven’t decided where we’ll stay, but it will be a bit pricier than the other hotels (La Paz is a big tourist area).   It’s a great party town (John said he’s buying margaritas for everyone).  Our total mileage will be 342 miles.  It will be a long day, but a good one.

Sunrise on the Sea of Cortez

Day 4

The good news is the mileage will be a little lower today.  We’ll continue south to (you guessed it) Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of the peninsula!   At this point you’ll have accomplished what most riders only dream about…we’ll have buzzed the entire length of the Baja peninsula on our California Scooters! 

We’ll hang around in Cabo for as long as we like, and then we’ll continue around the southern tip, skirting the coast of the Sea of Cortez and then the Pacific Ocean.   The road turns north, and we’ll get to another cool town – Todos Santos.   We’ll check out the Hotel California (yep, that Hotel California…the one made famous by the Eagles’ song).   We can either spend the night in Todos Santos (that would put our mileage at 150 for the day) or push on to spend the night in La Paz again (that would put our mileage at about 240).

Senor Juan, enjoying lunch in Todos Santos

Day 5

We’ll be well into the ride home by now.  We’ll run from La Paz to Ciudad Constitucion (kind of a boring 130 mile stretch), and then we can decide to spend the night in Loreto (the day’s total mileage would be 218) or Mulege (which would put us at a hair over 300 miles for the day).   My vote is Mulege…I think staying in the Las Casitas hotel, having dinner there, and visiting the Mulege mission would be a lot more fun.  Better photos, too.  

The Mission in Mulege

Day 6

I’d like to get as far north as Catavina (323 miles north of Mulege) or, if we are really feeling hardcore, El Rosario (whoa, 399 miles!).   We’ll play it by ear (or perhaps more appropriately by this point in our trip, by butt).  We’ll see.

One of many cool churches we'll see along the way

Day 7

Back to the border, boys and girls.   The only difference is that instead of continuing north all the way to TJ, we can pick up Highway 3 in Ensenada and head through the Ruta Vinicola (the wine country) to Tecate.   It’s really nice.  We can stop at one or more of the vineyards, and there’s an awesome restaurant called Naranjo’s we need to visit (trust me on this one).  Getting back into the US through Tecate is a lot easier than the Tijuana border crossing, too.

Day 8

Wait…there’s a Day 8?  Only if our plans change….this is our day in reserve.

One of my Baja buddies posing for me in the Vizcaino Desert