Day 10: San Felipe To 15-20 Km North Of Puertecitos

After five days in paradise, it was time to leave for a remote offroad route that we had mapped out that would take us to Gonzaga Bay, Bahia de los Angeles, and San Francisquito.

Despite leaving behind my BigLaw Washington D.C. life, I have a hard time leaving behind my tendencies towards research, planning, and preparation.  Gonzalo enthusiastically takes ideas and runs with them, often flying by the seat of his pants with a “let’s just see what happens” attitude.  While sometimes these personality traits are at odds, the result is just the right balance of dreaming big but not eating moldy tortillas for 3 days.

The first leg we planned to do was from San Felipe to Gonzaga Bay to Coco’s Corner to Highway 1.  I was fairly confident that there would at least be water and some limited restaurant food at least once a day or every other day, but it was unclear what types of non-perishable foods suitable for camping we would be able to find.  Other cyclists going through noted in their blogs that the markets they encountered were sparse, though that was not really the case, as I’ll note in later blog posts.

The second leg we planned to do linked from Highway 1 back to the coast to Bahia de los Angeles, then a huge section of sand/gravel/rock roads to San Francisquito back to Highway 1.  I was unable to find any sign that cyclists had ever taken this route, just motorcyclists.  From what we could tell, the “towns” along this route past Bahia de los Angeles are really a couple fisherman who make their home there and take in vagrant travellers and usually have some water and beer available.

We estimated that it would take us 14-15 days to get back to civilization due to the dirt/sand/gravel roads we would ride.  We also like to be able to stop wherever we think is nice and not be forced to have huge riding days to get to a town, so we decided that we would carry the minimum amount of food necessary for both of us to survive 14-15 days of cycling, and supplement that with any little restaurants or markets along the way.  What does this look?  BEHOLD.

Our per day cost of food was about USD$2.60 per person, even with splurges for fancy granola bars and canned meats.  If I had to ride this section again, I would only buy food for 4 or 5 days given what we know now.  That said, it was good to know how much food and water I could actually carry!

We hit the road packed to the brim with water and food.  It was the most weight I had ever carried on a bike so far and took me about 20 minutes to get used to the additional weight.  

Rolling along... (photo credit Gonzalo)

On the road, we met the first of what I’ve come to think of as our daily roadside “guardian angels.”  This time, it was an older American couple who pulled over and stopped their truck to ask us if we needed water or if there was anything they could do to help us. 

I’ve also found that motorcyclists are particularly supportive of our trip… while most just honk or wave at us, this friendly guy from Mexicali stopped to ask us about our trip while Gonzalo added a little air to his tires.

We thought we might make it to Puertecitos, but with a headwind, the added weight, a long slow climb, my knee started giving me a little trouble.  So we slowed the pace down to let me assess whether it was something I could manage, or whether we should shift some weight to Gonzalo's bike.  I self-diagnosed that it was a knee-flex issue from a former parkour-related series of injuries and that I had rehabbed successfully before the Ironman.  If we stayed slow, the extra weight wouldn't be a problem, I just had to focus on keeping the knee in line as I pedaled.

The views more than made up for all of this… this was some of the most beautiful cycling we had encountered so far (photo credit: Gonzalo).

We made it an early day to give my knee a break and set off down a sand/gravel beach access road for some beach camping.  By this time, I think we were saltier than the water! 

Gonz speeds ahead down 1 km towards the promise of beach camping and a swim!

Slowly working my way down to the beach… I hadn’t gotten quite gotten used to riding offroad fully loaded.  I had to walk a few parts and then at the end we had to drag our bikes through a fair amount of sand... but it is always worth the extra work to have nice beach camping with a majestic view of the mountains on the other side.  Especially if you get there with a few hours of daylight left to enjoy the beach.

Gonzalo got a little too excited for our first beach camping and went for a swim right away… only to cut his foot on a rock.

Wild camping doesn’t get much better than soft sand and a view of the ocean.

I would have done this trip solo if I hadn’t found a cycling partner, but it’s times like this that it’s really nice having good company.  When you travel alone, you tend to get caught up in the cycling, and forget to slow down and enjoy each new place you see.  Getting to a campsite early doesn't have the same allure if you don't have someone to share that spare time with.  And having someone to turn to and say “wow” can make all the difference. 

Also, having someone to help chase cool bugs around is pretty essential.  

I’m not sure why, but there’s something awesome and primitive about camping on the beach with a nice crackling fire.  

We watched the sun go down, made dinner, and stayed up for a bit chatting about life, the universe, and everything. 

It was finally warm enough for me to sleep without my rainfly on, so I stargazed in my tent and fell asleep shortly after a shooting star lulled me to sleep.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• After the pink arch structure, you need to turn left to stay on Highway 5 as you go down the hill or you will find yourself at the airport.

• There are a few small markets around km marker 35 servicing the nearby beachfront properties.  From there, there is nothing until Puertecitos.

• This section is largely populated by American expats, which makes wild camping a little more challenging.  Gonzalo’s GPS showed a sand/gravel beach access road about 15-20 km before Puertecitos that we took to a wonderful beach camping spot.  This was really the only wild camping spot in the area because you start bumping into more beachfront properties as you approach Puertecitos.  While the beachfront properties that are considered private, the law in Mexico is that 50 feet from the average high tide line on beaches is considered public property.  The section behind that 50-foot section can be leased from the government, sometimes creating a de facto private beach, public access roads are a sure way to get awesome and unpopulated beach camping.

• Highway 5 is paved all the way until just a couple kilometers before Gonzaga Bay, where it turns to sand/gravel/rock.

• This section has little traffic, but just enough so that if you find yourself in trouble, while you may need to wait a bit, you can flag someone down for help.