18-Jan-2008 --

Wow! Where do I start?.....The beginning I suppose.

The last remaining non-visited land based Confluences of Baja California were being "Bagged" by a nice guy named Harold. We figured we better make our move fast. After 3 weeks of planning we embarked on a great adventure.

We came up with a 4 day plan that would work out if everything worked went well. We left Orange County California on Jan 18th at 5 am. Our goal was to make it to Bahia de Los Angeles (L.A. Bay) by nightfall. After a 12 hour drive we arrived as planned. We stayed at a really nice hotel called Del Sol. For dinner we dined on fresh caught shrimp and washed it down with an ice cold beer.

The next morning we set out on our motorcycles at 5 am. We had one small hiccup with a loose fuel line on Sean's bike that was quickly repaired. Our course took us Southbound 100+ miles on the Baja 1000 race course. The pre dawn air was down right cold and my fingers became numb within 15 minutes.

As soon as the sun came up we warmed up and were able to pick up the pace to 40 to 60 mph. Our first stop was in Punta San Francisquito for fuel and breakfast. We got lucky they had fuel and really good food! After breakfast we headed West 80+ miles to Mission Santa Gertrudes.

We arrived at the Mission at 12:30pm. I studied Google Earth for months prior to planning the trip. From what I could tell on G.E. we should be able to ride within 400 yards of the Confluence. Well, we made it about 1/2 mile South of the Mission and that was as far as we could go. Apparently Google Earth really is "that" accurate. The old trail was clearly visible in "most" places on G.E. where the trail was not visible on G.E. I figured that it must just be a resolution error. Guess what? If there's no road trail on Google Earth then there's NO trail.

Sure we found sections of the old road at times, but for the most part the trail was gone and there was no way we would be riding the next 7 miles. Good thing we came prepared to hike. We started our quest at 1pm. along the way we saw a lot of neat things, giant cactus, a sea shell, hand stacked rock corrals, and old watering holes. Oh yeah and in a few (very few) places we could make out the "road" I'd seen on Google Earth.

We made it to 28°N 113°W at 4:30 pm. It was a tough hike with lots cactus' slowing our pace. We made it with only minutes to spare before sunset. While this made for great photos it sure complicated the hike back (we both forgot to pack flashlights). Lucky for us the full moon raised over the canyon wall about the time we made it the 100 yards back down to the bottom of the canyon.

For the next 3 hours 15 minutes we carefully made our way back to the bikes with the full moon lighting our way. It was a surreal experience for sure. After we got back to the bikes we debated going back to Punta San Francisquito for about a half of second. The decision was made to spend the night right there under the full moon and bright stars. Power Bars for dinner yum! Good thing we packed sleeping bags too!

The next morning we packed up and spent most of the morning checking out the Mission. Since it was Sunday we were able to go inside the actual Mission and see displays of old artifacts and photo's. This is when we learned that the road we hiked was used to get to the Sea of Cortez in the 1800's. That might explain the sea shell?

Soon our stomachs told us it was time to get going and head back to Punta San Francisquito. 85 miles later it was time for a much needed lunch of fish tacos and beer. I love Baja!!! I could spend a week here in PSF. It would be a great place to unwind!

We refueled our bikes and headed North back to Bay of L.A.. We were having a great un-eventful ride back. Then with only 25 miles to go Sean hit a rock and got a flat tire. We made quick repairs and were off in a flash!

We were back at the hotel Del Sol for a hot shower and another outstanding Shrimp Dinner and a beer or two. We were up the next morning at 5am (Monday) for our 12 hour drive back to the O.C.

All in all a great Adventure!

Hey Sean where are we going next?

San Felipe Bob