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The Baja Road conditions as reported by our BajaInsider Readers

 

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Detailed Baja Road Report La Paz to Otay Mesa January 4, 2007

 Detailed Baja Road Report La Paz to Otay Mesa January 4, 2007



Looking north over the quiet little town of Santa Rosalia

January 3-4, 2007
La Paz to Otay Mesa - Detailed Report
Tom Zyber - Co-Publisher BajaInsider
Veteran Baja Driver



Making time on the northbound straight-aways outside La Paz

On January 3 and 4, 2007 I drove from La Paz to San Diego. Since most of our readers are traveling north to south and this report is written from south to north, you will have to read this road report in a mirror. (Those that get the joke are safe to operate a motor vehicle.)

08:10AM MST With a full tank of gas and clear blue skies I left La Paz for Guerreo Negro, the first leg of a two day drive to San Diego. The first military check point just north of La Paz involved a few questions as to the intent of my trip and a peak in the windows.

KM 77 north of La Paz there is damage to the road in a vado. The warnings for this area of broken pavement was limited to one set of black and orange hazard markers. The washout is short and passable but is particularly rough in the north bound lane.

Just north of El Cien there is (Km100 north of La Paz for those that don't know why it's called El Cien) there is a minor washout in a vado, rough pavement for about 20 feet.


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North of Insergentes, just south of KM18 near the turn off for Ejido #1, there is some bridge repair underway. A short patch of rough road is the result of damage from Hurricane John.

Just north of Nopalo (near Loreto) less than 0.5km from the entrance to Loreto Bay there there is a washout and rough road in a vado.

 


11:42AM - Past through Loreto, 227 miles north of La Paz.



The road repairs near Loreto are clearly marked in most cases. The repairs seem nearly complete

Km 27 north of Loreto and just north of my second military checkpoint there is a washout that has been completely repaired. Large spools of fiber optic cable are on the sides of the road indicating this may have been one of the locations that caused two days of internet service interruption following Hurricane John. At the checkpoint I was required to open all my doors, my glove box and my hard computer case before being wished a safe journey.

35Km north of Loreto there is a well marked washout that has had limited attention. There are a couple of significant pot holes in the dirt repair that over about 25mph in a car and 15 in an RV would bang your head against the roof and certainly startle the undercarriage of your vehicle. The shoulders are steep here and there is no getting around this bump.

Km 120 south of Mulege there is bridge repair nearing completion. However, at both ends of the bridge are some significant bumps where it rejoins the highway at both the north and south ends.



There is one small bridge south of Loreto still under repair.

In Mulege there is still evidence of the high waters which roared through the town following Hurricane Johns 20"+ inches of rain. The roadways are unblemished but down in the river bed there is still debris, trees and some silt indicating the ferocity of the flood waters. There are also several buildings which remain unrepaired and uninhabitable. The roadway along the river on the south side has been rebuilt. I had driven that side road some years previously and the repairs I am sure were welcomed by the locales. Overall, I was impressed with the return to normalcy that the Mulege residents had achieved.

Km157 north of  Mulege a damaged vado has been completely repaired but the warning signs are still present.

From Km 160 to 157 there are several vados that sustained Hurricane damage. All are well marked with the orange and black warning signs most have been repaired. One close to KM159 however, is still quite a jolt at 50mph and you come up on it very quickly. There was about a 12' section of dirt with some nasty potholes in it.



Campers along the Sea of Cortez enjoy a rapidly vanishing way of Baja Life.

Just around the bend south of Santa Rosalia there are signs of obvious washouts from the hurricane and another couple of spools of replacement fiber optic cable. The roadway has been completely repaired.

Just  a few minutes north of Santa Rosalia was my third military checkpoint. Southbound cars were being waved through while northbound cars received a moderate inspection.

Rough road, apparently where the last resurfacing of the highway had better luck sticking to passing tires than to the previous roadway, there is some very rough pavement that began around KM126 south of Guerreo Negro and continued off and on all the way to the Baja Sur/Baja California border. Some of the road damage consisted of groves in the new pavement about 4" deep and can really toss you around, particularly if you are hauling a trailer.


Rossy's Disco, north of Guerrero Negro is huge. If everyone for 100 miles came, it would still feel empty!

4:10PM After almost exact 8 hrs on the road and 489 miles north of La Paz I arrived in Guerreo Negro, where I called it an early day. I regularly stay at the Motel Ballena. The place is certainly not for the resort crowd but the rooms are always clean and I have always been able to enjoy a hot shower at the end of a day of driving. You can park inside the compound right in front of your room, even if you are driving a smaller RV or towing a small trailer, your vehicle can be within ear shot of your room. I have never had any problems in Guerreo Negro, but the security of having my loaded car close to the room lends serenity to my nights sleep.

6AM Wednesday - Woke up early to get a head start on the days traffic - sleep in folks! At this time of year particularly, the fog was thick as pea soup that early in the morning. Remember to only use your low beams in the fog, but for the first hour I was driving less than 40mph with my four way flashers on. It was some of the densest fog I have ever encountered.



First light through the Yucca north of Guerrero Negro

At the Baja Sur/Baja California border it was too cold and damp for the station guard to come and inspect me, I was waved through.



Some of the driest desert exists just north of Guerrero Negro.

After the sun came up around 7, the fog lifted fairly quickly. By 7:30 I was ascending into the Valle de los Cirios nature reserve and the fog was left behind. It was a beautiful morning in the desert. A full moon had been the night before and was just setting as the sun rose, golden over the Boojum, century plants and elephant trees. It would appear the state has seeded purple and yellow wild flowers along the shoulder of the road in Baja California.

Much to my chagrin on this trip I passed more than 8 convoys of heavy equipment on flatbed trucks headed south, undoubtedly to increase the pace of development in Baja Sur. They seemed to travel in packs of 2 or 3 laden flatbeds, with the required lead and chase cars with flashers. On long up-hills these convoys may prove more annoying on my return southbound trip.



A Boojum tree in Valle de los Cieros nature reserve

Just south of Nuevo Rosario, in a short and sheltered valley, is perhaps the best stand of Boojum trees visible from the road on the entire drive. Now, looking across these spinney trees that look and sound like something invented by Dr. Suess you would probably hesitate to call it a 'forest'. But just imagine how dense the foliage would be if all of these spires contained the bushy foliage that we, as North Americans are use to.

127-120 south of Puenta Prieta there is a series of curvy vados. The fog that I had experienced earlier in the day remained in the deep pockets and reduced my speed for about 4 miles.

For those of you who haven't traveled the road for some time, there is STILL no gas at Puenta Prieta, the turn off for Bahia de Los Angeles.

My 5th military check point was just south of Catavina. It was a moderate search, where I had to open all my doors and allow them to open my hard computer case, which somewhat resembles a gun case. They were polite and quick and I was on my way

This is the one stretch of Baja driving that you need to be aware of your gas gauge. The last gas northbound  is about 45 minutes north of G.N. and the next Pemex station is located in El Rosario, when you emerge on the Pacific coast. If you need emergency gas, there is often a guy selling gas from the back of his truck in Catavina at 2X the pump price. Pemex is building a mini station across the street from this entrepreneur at the La Pinta Hotel, so he will probably be looking for other work by the end of the season.



The urban area of San Quentin now stretches almost 14 miles along hwy 1.

Do watch your speed limit in Catavina. I spotted the local Barney Fife eagerly anticipating his next victim in the 20mph speed zone. For those who aren't aware he IS authorized to issue you an expensive little ticket for your infraction. If you notice as you are entering the pueblo there is a little sign which indicates the end of the federal highway! The federal highway resumes on the opposite end of town.

As far as road conditions, from this point north to TJ, there is nothing worth mentioning as far as road damage.

The first of the most significant military checks occurred at a permanent and well groomed checkpoint north of El Rosario. When I arrived there were about 10 cars in line to be searched and two trucks in the truck lane. Quarter panels were tapped, mirrors under the vehicles and complete checks of the baggage were performed. I was delayed more than 40 minutes at this stop. All bags were removed from the buses and searched. A small tanker truck which looked like a septic pump truck was probed with a long pole looking for false bottoms. (not my kinda work for sure!) Southbound vehicles were backed up about 5-7 deep, waiting for their inspection. Southbound inspections are usually lighter than north bound. (who in their right mind smuggles drugs INTO Baja Sur) By the time I left there were more than 20 cars waiting for northbound inspection.



MILES of greenhouses and truck traffic stretch from San Quentin all the way to where the road leaves the Pacific north of El Rosario

I have not driven the full length of the peninsula in about two years. I was stunned by the increase in traffic in both directions from just north of El Rosario, where the highway becomes within sight of the Pacific all the way to Colnet. Miles of new commercial greenhouses line both sides of Hwy 1, many were still under construction. From passing it seemed that some were cultivating roses while others were filled with strawberries. Truck traffic became heavy in both directions allowing little time to pass the herd in front of you, even in those legitimate spots. San Quentin has grown to more than 18km of traffic and stop lights. My average speed for more than an hour was about 40mph.

My final military checkpoint in Mexico was just north of Santo Tomas. These guys were almost as through as the guys at El Rosario. The delay was significantly less however.

Traffic continued heavy all the way north to the four lane of Ensenada. I was again amazed at the growth in that area. Ensenada now extends almost all the way south to the grade up into the mountains around Km42.



The 90ft tall Jesus overlooks the Pacific north of Ensenada. His twin brother adorns the hwy near TJ as well.

Usually I route through Tecate and enjoy a leisurely drive through the Baja Wine Country. The delay is usually less at Tecate but the drive back down to the 8 freeway usually absorbs just about as much time as you save. Instead, I selected to cross at Otay Mesa. I arrive at the end of the line to cross about 4:30PM, my progress had been much slower on the second day.

I really detest the border wait and on arriving at the checkpoint some 110 minutes later I determine that the 2km I had just traveled personified all the worst attributes of southern California drivers; pushy, self impressed, impatient drivers (most with CA plates) switched lanes, blew horns and tried to jam past each other in an effort to rush their way through the check as if they were the most important client of the day. I was too tired to criss-cross my from lane to lane in an attempt to get a car or two ahead. I made note of those cars around me on my arrival and for all their lane changing, cussing and near fender benders all of us cleared to the US side within a car or two of each other.

6:15PM PST I arrived at my destination in Point Loma 13+ hours after my wheels began rolling that morning. My total drive time was 21hrs 8 minutes and I had covered 1067 miles from Marina Costa Baja in La Paz to my destination. I took a bunch of pictures for you on the way, but unfortunately, left the download cable in my car when I caught my flight to the east coast the next morning. I'll be returning to La Paz the end of next week so look for pictures and south bound update on the 15th of January.


 

 
 

 

 

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