Saturday 24 March 2018

Unexpected Returns to Rattlesnake Beach and San Ignacio

We left Tecolote with the expectation we would be heading to El Conejo, a beach about 90 km north of La Paz on the Pacific. We’d never been there but heard positive reports from several other campers, mostly surfers. 

When we pulled off MX 1 to the road leading to Conejo, we realized we were looking at another slow 16 km of washboard sand. After crawling along the full 60 km of East Cape dirt, we had little interest in tackling another two hours of bumpy driving to reach a place we didn’t even know whether we’d like. 

It was already 2 PM and there was nothing further north for a long stretch. But we just decided to keep going. Within three hours we had again traversed to the east side of the peninsula and were heading down the appropriately-named mountains - The Giganticas. 

This ridge is one of the most spectacular, awe-striking spines on the Baja, or anywhere. Horizontal bands of different coloured rock are clearly visible on the jagged towers, topped with lime greenery, looking like they belong in Jurassic Park. 

We decided to pull into Rattlesnake Beach, a place we’d visited in 2015 and skipped last year, and had planned to skip this year as well. But it was already well after 5 PM and Coco was antsy for dinner. 

The boondocking spot didn’t impress us in 2015 due to its dark, rocky, seaweed-strewn beach. However, back here again we now realize it has wonderful merits too. There must be reasons that flocks of snowbirds park here the entire winter! 

About 35 km south of Loreto, this area is protected on all sides from the notorious El Norte winds by headlands and offshore islands. Therefore its calm waters are great for kayaking and fishing. 

There is a large hill at the north end of the beach that we climbed in 2015. We were delighted to find that some industrious campers (apparently fellow BCers) hugely expanded the hiking trails to network all over the hill and offer wonderful views of the Giganticas and coastline. 

We quickly ran into Mike from Thunder Bay who we’d met on our first trip, and then enjoyed happy hour with many of the permanent winter residents, most from Vancouver Island and one couple from West Kelowna. They gave us a ton of great information about other hikes and sights around the area which we’ll enjoy next year. 

The next morning was cool and cloudy, and I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it! Clearly I’d had enough of sun and heat and sweating - it was so nice just to relax outside and read without sunglasses. 

On the road again the next morning and stopped at a restaurant on Buenaventura Beach in Bahia Concepcion for lunch. This place is owned by a fellow, Mark originally from Ohio, that we met on our first trip, and we enjoyed their Taco Tuesday on the way down this time. 

Being the day after St. Paddy’s, they had leftover corned beef and Guinness stew, and we chowed down on a delicious pastrami and rye sandwich complete with scalloped potatoes. Too bad we weren’t thinking to be there on March 17...it would have been a great party! Mark always creates unique and thoughtful fare for the winter crowd.  

With a recommendation from Thunder Bay Mike, we pulled into Don Chon campsite in San Ignacio for the night. This small town was not our radar as a stop because during our 2014-15 trip we hated the RV spot here. But thanks to Mike we found a new campground and have enjoyed two nights at a tiny boondocking site right on a freshwater lagoon. 

The calm waters are great for swimming and kayaking (well, Andrew and Coco swim...I won’t go in the water so full of mud and little fish). And there are bullfrogs hidden in the rushes that croak so low and loud they sound like grunting pigs! 

Here we met Fabian and Isabella, young Europeans with a massive German-made all-terrain RV. They are traveling the world in this huge Mercedes diesel 4X4 rig that cost $300K+!!! It looks like something that would roam around the moon! They have a website at liveandgive4X4.com that we’ll keep an eye on. It was an inspiration...maybe giving us too many ideas ;-)

Tomorrow we will head to Bahia de los Angeles, a bay on the Sea of Cortez in the northern part of Baja. It will be our last taste of Mexican beach for the year, though the forecast is calling for chilly 16-18 degree highs all week. Which is fine with me! 

Coco continues to enjoy the trip and making friends everywhere she goes. She has developed a new morning habit...each day after breakfast she sits at the back of the truck and yelps. This means “I want my toy box!”, which we keep in the truck bed. 

So we get the little cardboard box that holds her balls and stuffies and put it down so she can root through and choose what she wants to play with that day. It’s kind of adorable, except when we haven’t even had a chance to have morning coffee yet and she’s in play mode! 


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