Baja Norte

Leaving San Diego was a bit harder than expected. I ended up spending nearly two weeks there and I got pretty comfortable. I had a lot of really good friends from back home so it was the homiest I felt in a while, and definitely would be for a long time coming.

I wanted nothing more than to be in Mexico, but I knew that things would change a lot very quickly. I also knew my legs would also be a bit out of practice.

After delaying my departure a couple of days in a row, I finally felt ready to leave. I took a tram to Chula Vista to shorten the days’ ride. It was a hard day riding with how much time I took off.

I finally show up to the border. The tough day behind me and loads of excitement and nerves lay ahead.

Crossing the border was really easy. Pretty much just walked right through.

I arrived in Tecate during the Dia De Los Muertos festival. It was a wonderful welcome to Mexico.

I walked around taking it all in. There was so much going on and it was really fun.

There were a bunch of little shops and food stands. I had some Pan De La Muerte and it was delicious.

I met a nice American who was visiting for the day. He was an experienced bikepacker and made sure I had my visa, which I had no idea about. No one at the border mentioned it. I was able to easily get it the next morning.

I stayed for a few hours listening to live music. I soon retired to my hotel room. I was immediately overwhelmed by my lack of Spanish and started practicing right away.

I got a great nights rest and then set off on the Baja Divide the next day.

The first of many tacos. These here are Birria tacos and are amazing. Only cost a dollar each.

Finally out of town and into some remote country. I had loaded up on water and was loving this route already.

After a few hours of riding, I was starting to realize I was struggling a lot. The two weeks off the bike really set me back and I wasn’t able to ride as hard as before. I didn’t think I would be able to make it to the next services on the route in time so I decided to hop off the Divide for a few days to get back in the rhythm.

I stopped and setup camp. The Baja is great for wild camping. There’s also tons of fuel for fires which I use to cook.

Isadora for life. It’s refried beans in a bag and is delicious and great for camping. I squeeze some beans on a tortilla and then add hot sauce and eat like that. Sometimes I’ll heat up rice also.

The next day I hopped off the Baja Divide and headed towards highway 3. It was mostly downhill and great riding.

Out here in the Baja backcountry, there are lots of abandoned ranches.

I now was back on highway 3 which had a great shoulder. I was planning to ride through Ensenada and then hoping back on the Baja Divide in a few days.

Baja is beautiful. I was expecting more desert but it’s so lush.

Stocking up on food and water before heading to the coast on the Divide route. I love all the dogs in Baja, they are everywhere. I feed them any chance I get.

After some awful highway riding through Ensenada, this was extremely pleasant.

One more hill to the ocean….

I had seen the ocean in Ensenada, but this was much much better. The road was rough but this is ideal for me. I love rough and jagged ocean sides.

A moment that has been in my dreams for a while. Biking down the coast in Mexico.

I made it down near the water where there was this beautiful cove. There was no one else around as well. I decided to find somewhere near the ocean to camp and spend the rest of the evening walking around the scenic coast.

A spider hanging out.

I love coastlines like these. I spent a few hours walking around and looking in tide pools.

I found a great spot that was protected from the wind and had a little fire spot to cook on.

Heaven. I will say Isadora is way better than Chata frijoles. I’ve been trying lots of different types.

Lovely sunset.

Not a bad view to wake up to.

Lovely sunrise.

I had a full day of ocean riding ahead of me and I was greatly looking forward to it.

Made some burro friends on the trail.

The route cut inland for a section, but I was never too far from the ocean.

I opted to follow some more off-road coastal riding instead of the Divide route that takes a dip up into the mountains.

An abandoned church.

I rode past a beautiful home that had tons of dogs. I noticed the sign and stopped to check out what was going on. I was quickly introduced to Rick, who is from California and now lives down here with his Wife. They used to run a B&B but now rescue dogs.

What they do is amazing. I’ve been a bit affected as a dog lover by some of the conditions of the dogs in Baja. Stray dogs run free and have to fend for themselves and a lot of them are in rough shape. Rick and his wife take in a lot of dogs (57 now). They take care of them and give them all the shots they need.

Lots of friendly dogs here.

Lots of cute puppies also.

If any of you are interested in adopting one or donating, you can find more information here.

I fulfilled one of my goals for the trip to bike on the beach. I didn’t do it long because I know how bad salt water and sand is for the bike. It sure was fun though.

I setup camp up on some cliffs by the beach.

A pretty neat spot to camp.

The coastline was foggy so it seemed to disappear.

The next day I was riding highway 1 for a few days. I was skipping some notoriously difficult sections of the Divide that didn’t seem worth it. The highway riding was fast and peaceful. Drivers in Mexico are extremely careful when passing cyclists.

At a restaurant I had met a Canadian cyclist, Erica. We decided to ride together for a little bit since we are both headed the same direction.

We camped somewhere off the highway. It’s so easy to tuck away and find a quiet campsite.

Full moon rising as the sun sets.

The next day we got into some amazing cactus territory. It was called Valle De Los Cirios. Cirios trees are unique and beautiful desert trees. They are the tall and skinny ones with the yellow bushy top.

We did a little climb to get a good view from above. It was a forest of cacti.

There were also beautiful flowers out here. The Baja desert has really surprised me.

A cool little oasis. These must be some of the only palm trees around here.

We stopped for a snack break and there was someone nearby also looking for some snacks…

We shared some tortilla chips with the pretty cat. The cat would eat them so dainty compared to the dog.

Here’s a Cirios tree. They look like something out of a Dr. Suess book.

Here’s a whole valley of them. They tower so high. I loved riding through this region.

We stopped at a restaurant for a quick snack before finding a campsite. We were welcomed by the cutest little pug ever. It must have been a mix because it was tiny. Her name was niña and she was full of love and energy.

She loved to be pet. We only spent a short time here but fell in love with the dog. We had to head out to find a campsite before sunset.

Some more cirios trees glowing as the sun sets.

Erica accidentally rode into a cactus while looking for a campsite. Gotta be careful with sandals in cactus country! Thankfully it looked worse than it was.

We climbed up a nearby peak to watch the sunset.

Cirios trees in the sunset.

It was a rainy night and morning.

A rainbow as we were getting ready!

We decided to head back to the restaurant to get some breakfast and wait out the weather. Plus, we wanted to see niña again.

Niña was happy to see us, and we were happy to see her. We spent a few hours her waiting our the weather. Erica would end up leaving earlier but I stayed behind to nap with niña.

The restaurant also had some cute little birds.

I got back on the road after my nap. Climbed up to some high plateau riding.

I stopped for some delicious enchiladas.

I started looking for a campsite as the sun was going down. I had a pretty rough time and for the first time on the trip, I stepped on a lot of cacti. I usually am good about watching where I step but I was tired. I think I got pricked about 10 times and one of them was really bad where I impaled my calf on a long and sharp Bush. As soon as my tent was up I hopped inside with my peanut butter and went to sleep.

The next day I woke up feeling much better. I decided to try and push for a 100 mile day to Guerro Negro which would be my final day in Baja Norte. I had a mostly downhill day and some good tailwond at my back. For the first hour I was going about 40km/h!

I didn’t stop to take many photos this day, but I had to stop in this beautiful field of flowers.

After a long and challenging day, I made the 105 miles to Guerro Negro. This is where I am right now as I write this blog post. I took two days off here as the first day I was feeling sick but I’m feeling much better now.

My first two weeks in Baja have been amazing. I was overwhelmed and nervous at first but have since grown to love it. The riding and scenery have been nice, but the people have been truly some of the best. I’ve been stopped by many locals who have asked about myself and my trip. Just the other day a couple on their honeymoon stopped Erica and me and talked to us for a little bit. I practice Spanish every day so I can better communicate with locals because it’s one of my favorite parts of this form of travel. I can’t wait to see what these next few months in Mexico bring.

Thank you all for reading and following along. I’m so excited to experience this and to get to share it with you. I’ll be riding the Baja Divide route towards La Paz where I’m hoping to crew on a sailboat to the mainland if I can find one. If not, I’ll take the ferry. I’ll be posting another blog post about my time in Baja Sur when I get there.