Mexicali to San Felipe and beyond Nov. '08 (Road details incl.)

[David K]

Here are the details that may interest some, of our 4 day trip:

Mexicali border to Hwy. 2/5 split is 5 miles... DETOUR!!! Hwy. 5 southbound is closed for construction of a new intersection infront of the Costco & Mega markets.

The detour keeps you on Hwy. 2 heading for San Luis R.C. for 2.5 miles to a signed right turn back to Hwy. 5 in another 2.5 miles.

Heading north, we decided to 'chance it' and see how far we could go, if not all the way through (most of the traffic was doing this and not taking the signed detour for Calexico, northbound)... We did get through with just a minor detour jog... but southbound was totally closed... It was 3.8 miles on Hwy. 5 that was detoured... so the total additional miles southbound with the detour was only 1.2 miles.

The day (Saturday Nov. 15) was very windy!! We topped our gas and purchased our beer at the new station north of town in El Dorado Ranch...

4 lanes wide is pushing north!

Hwy. 5 is 4 lanes wide for 13 miles north from San Felipe and crews are right now prepping an additional 6 miles (10 km.) of widening to the north.

On the way south we saw many pre-runners and chase crews for the Baja 1000 this Friday. The race course is on Hwy. 5 through the Rio Hardy area for several miles and takes off again at the old canal crossing on the lower Laguna Salada.

With so much wind blowing, we were very happy to have been invited to stay at BajaRob & Connie's beautiful home at Bahia Santa Maria! We love camping on Shell Island, but Rob & Connie have a great place on the beach and we enjoy our visits with them, too!

Sunday, the wind was not as strong and the 4 of us went for a long quad ride down the beach, visited with other friends at Campo La Jolla, went up to Colonia Delicias on the highway, then back to Santa Maria via the beach. We did ride through Nuevo Mazatlan, and it was empty.

Monday the day was beautiful and Baja Angel and I drove up to Shell Island to spend a few hours on our favorite beach. Did some shelling, saw a large squid that the birds were eating, and just enjoyed the solitude. It was breezy, but more normal day breeze than the Northerly wind of before.

Tuesday the day was perfect, flat water, warm sunshine... and naturally, the day you leave is the best weather day! LOL

Rob made a great breakfast (he is an awesome cook) for all of us and we headed north. Because the new border gaurds can enforce the rule about excess Mexican dirt on your vehicle not being allowed north, we stopped in San Felipe for a car wash to remove the dried mud from our trip to Shell Island the day before.

We used the original Mexicali/ Calexico border to cross (the Calexico west crossing) and had only a 28 minute wait starting at 1:30 pm. The border gaurd was very friendly, asked what we had from Mexico ('only 3 beers, sir' to which he replied "3 cases?")... and it was all smiles from then on!

When I drive up to the gaurd, I already have my side windows rolled down so he can see the entire cab easily, my dark glasses are off so he can see my eyes, and I have our passports in my hand offering them to him. We never have a problem returning to the U.S. using that formula.

See below for the July 2010 trip report and photos...

[bajageoff]

As always, a great report David!

Gracias!

[david]

hi guys !!!

what is the road condition from mexicali to san felipe?
is the journey safe during the nights, what is the distance between a gasoline station to another if there are any......
can anyone provide the information. please!

[timestamp]

Hi David

i can say you about the route from the US to mexico, you have to enter through mexicali on highway 5 into san felipe, it is in good condition and journey in the nights is always risky part...... i prefer to travel in the day

[David K]

hi guys !!!

what is the road condition from mexicali to san felipe?
is the journey safe during the nights, what is the distance between a gasoline station to another if there are any......
can anyone provide the information. please!

There has been some construction leaving Mexicali that required a detour (well signed and paved) on New Years.

Paved highway... 1/3 is now 4 lanes wide.... Total distance is about 126 miles, allow 2.5 hours travel time.

Last gasoline southbound is at La Puerta and first gasoline after that is at El Dorado Ranch... about a 90 mile gap.

Night driving is NOT recommended at this time... used to all the time, but not since the Narco-Terrorism wars began.

[david]

There has been some construction leaving Mexicali that required a detour (well signed and paved) on New Years.

Paved highway... 1/3 is now 4 lanes wide.... Total distance is about 126 miles, allow 2.5 hours travel time.

Last gasoline southbound is at La Puerta and first gasoline after that is at El Dorado Ranch... about a 90 mile gap.

Night driving is NOT recommended at this time... used to all the time, but not since the Narco-Terrorism wars began.

Thank you so much David.

[prasad581]

hi guys !!!

what is the road condition from mexicali to san felipe?
is the journey safe during the nights, what is the distance between a gasoline station to another if there are any......
can anyone provide the information. please!
__________________

[David K]

hi guys !!!

what is the road condition from mexicali to san felipe?
is the journey safe during the nights, what is the distance between a gasoline station to another if there are any......
can anyone provide the information. please!
__________________


Was in San Felipe on May 25 weekend... we crossed at Tecate and joined Hwy. 5 just south of Mexicali using the Libramente toll highway (2-D), total tolls just under $10 US.

All roads good except for the 10 1/2 mile detour north of San Felipe... and for a detour, it was good and smooth.

The 4 lane new road extends 19 miles north from town now and then there is a 10+mile dirt detour ending just south of the Hwy. 3 jcn. (military checkpoint).

When done with this next 10 mile section, approx. 1/2 of the drive on Hwy. 5 will be on a four lane highway.

[futon]

thanks so much for the info

[David K]

That was like 8+ months ago, amigo...

I have been back to San Felipe (just south of) again in July, October and this past New Years... The detour is now north of the Hwy. 3 jcn... the new road south of the junction is not all 4 lanes, but a wider 2 lane for much of the distance... very nice.

Photos:

May '09: http://vivabaja.com/509
July '09: http://vivabaja.com/7409
Oct '09: http://vivabaja.com/1009
Also in July, our bigger 8 day trip to southern Baja: http://vivabaja.com/709 LOT's of great sites!

[OlgaShtain]

Thanks for the replies. I was planning on doing the exact thing but thought that I might as well know how much it is worth before I start riding it.

Any other guesses of how much would be a reasonable price to post them for?

[David K]

What are you talking about?

[David K]

For an up-to-date look at the highway construction south of Puertecitos (and a road log in my trip report) from the July 18, 2010 weekend... Mexicali to Laguna Chapala (all of Hwy. 5) with a beach campout a couple nights near Percebu... go to this site (which does not have a limit on the number of photos linked): http://baja-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311

Geoff, if you remove the limit of photo hot links allowed, I will post the report here!

[bajageoff]

Hey DK,

Just fixed it. You should be able to add all the photos you want now!

[David K]

I just tried again to paste the trip report with photos and got this message: "The text that you have entered is too long (37109 characters). Please shorten it to 10000 characters long."

[bajageoff]

OK......fixed that too.

Go for it!

[David K]

It was our second wedding anniversary on the 18th, and our favorite place to be just to ourselves is Shell Island, about 20 miles south of San Felipe where the Sea of Cortez is on one side and Laguna (or Estero) Percebu is on the other.

We started our weekend with breakfast at Sunrise Café, in Vista, CA and were on the road south at 7:30 am. Because of the traffic southbound at Calexico, last trip (2 weeks earlier) we decided to cross at Tecate this time. We crossed the border about 8:45 and headed towards Mexicali, getting on the fast toll highway (Mexico #2-D) a few miles to the east.

Three tolls are paid heading east to the San Felipe highway (Mexico #5). El Hongo was $4.30 (55 pesos), La Rumorosa was $1.50 (16 pesos), and Mexicali (at the Hwy. 5 junction) was 55 pesos (no dollar amount sign posted, we paid in pesos here). It was 10:30 when we got to Hwy. 5.

There was about 6 miles of dirt detour between La Puerta and Rio Hardy where there was earthquake damage and they may be widening the highway to four lanes. Another, but shorter section of dirt detour is near the Hwy. 3 junction, and military checkpoint. New, wider highway begins south of the Hwy. 3 junction and turns into four lanes closer to San Felipe. We got gasoline and a pack of Tecate beer at the El Dorado Pemex and market, and then went into San Felipe for a lunch of fish tacos and carne asada tacos before heading south.

Once again, we arrive on the beach and find nobody else there… solitude! Experimenting with my new truck’s four wheel drive and traction controls, I drive with tires fully inflated to the water’s edge, but the sand/ shell beach is just too soft for my fully loaded truck. Deflating the tires to 15 PSI does the trick. In this photo, where I deflated the tires, note how much better the truck ‘floats’ beyond. I circled back to take this photo.

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We set up camp next to the dunes… it is a bit breezy, but not too strong.

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An osprey watches from the palapa just south, where Ken and Leidys camped 2 weeks ago.

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We check where the terns had a nest, but the eggs have hatched or been consumed…

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Two weeks earlier…

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The lagoon, low tide…

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Pelican diving for fish…

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Life’s a beach!

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The end of our first day…
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Overnight, maybe about 3 am, it started to rain… and we scrambled to put on the rain fly. It was very warm and with the fly on, quite a bit warmer in the tent. The rain drops soon ended, so we decided the next night to just take and drops that came through the screen ceiling!

The next day was beautiful (naturally, being our anniversary!) and I took my typical photos up and down the beach… Still there, after 32 years of camping, it remains unchanged despite global warming!

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South

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North

The view from my chair under our shade…

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The pelicans were busier than usual diving for fish!

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Usually, we just see them flying by…

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One thing special about camping in Baja, is the days last forever, it seems! We had a calmer night (no rain) and after a campfire with total peace, we slept soundly!

Since this day (Sunday, July 18) was so perfect and lasted so long, we decided to enjoy that memory (the sunning and swimming we did was great) and check out the new road south and go to Baja Cactus in El Rosario for the last night of our little vacation.

Naturally, the day we leave is the nicest day… it never fails! I guess that helps insure we will always want to return? No wind, calm seas, we go for a nice swim and then start to pack up the camp. We have a very simple and easy camp and it isn’t a big chore to load the truck. One more swim before we go and we are off the island a bit after 11 am.

One last photo on the beach as we drive to the road:

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We make a stop at Delicias (Km. 35) for some ice to keep the drinks cold. We have two ice chests, one for food, milk, juice and another for water, soft drinks and beer. We don’t bring too much food that needs to be on ice, so that chest had plenty of ice still.

The highway between San Felipe and Puertecitos was built in 1982-83 and pavement was added starting about 8 years later, but took a long time to reach Puertecitos. Because the job was done so poorly, with too little asphalt, the road was pretty torn up in just a few years. Total repaving occurred by 2008, however the roadbed is still full of sharp, sudden dips and high speed driving is not possible. The new highway south from Puertecitos is a different story!

Here are some photos north of Puertecitos, as we head south…

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Now, the brand new section south from Puertecitos that was started in late 2008 and has taken a year and a half to get 20 miles, through some very difficult terrain…

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There are two big, paved parking areas to enjoy the view between Puertecitos and El Huerfanito.

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Beyond the sand piles marking the place to detour off the highway, is this warning.

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Then, a mile past the sand piles is the unfinished bridge at the absolute end of new highway pavement.

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The older road has been regarded along the 6.6 miles where the highway work is progressing, south of the bridge.

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We have a lunch break with a view of the Enchanted Islands.

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On south we go, 5-15 MPH.

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This monument was located south of the Punta Bufeo road.

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Bahia San Luis Gonzaga comes into view.

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Rancho Grande’s new store… has most everything. The Pemex station was closed for siesta (2-4 pm). We arrived at 2:30… However, I could easily make it to Cataviña and probably to El Rosario on the tank I filled in San Felipe. It is just a good rule to always top your tank when you come to an open Pemex in the remote parts of Baja California.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/DavidKier/7-18-10/7-18-10111.jpg 1.3 miles south of the Pemex and Rancho Grande store is the road to Campo Beluga and Sacrificio.

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We drive away from Gonzaga Bay with the goal of reaching Baja Cactus in El Rosario, before dark!

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The first boojum trees come onto view.

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We pull up to Coco’s Corner a little after 3:30 Monday afternoon and learn that Coco is in Ensenada for a couple of months. Ramón is watching the Corner in Coco’s absence. We buy a couple of ice cold Pacificos and add my cards to Coco’s wall of cards. Hanging overhead is a collection of underwear and other paraphernalia donated by passers-by.


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We say goodbye to Ramón and head south. The final 13 miles to Highway 1 are better than the previous road by a bit. However, my BFG Rugged Trail tire on the right rear got punctured, within sight of Highway One!

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My low tire pressure warning light came on before I felt the flat. Before the tire was totally flat, I found the hole and we rolled the truck to where I could plug the hole. It took two plugs, but the air stopped leaking and held after refilling the tire. It would be good for the 108 miles to El Rosario. A sign at the highway advertised tire repairs and gasoline at Rancho Nueva Chapala, 1 km. south.

Cataviña is about 32 miles from Laguna Chapala and we pulled into Alfonso’s gasoline sales trailer (across the highway from the Desert Inn Hotel, just north of the abandoned Parador gas station).

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Desert Inn as seen from the gasoline trailer.

Two young ladies were on duty and we purchased 5 gallons of gas for $16 dollars ($3.20: gallon). This gave us security that we could reach El Rosario as my gauge showed us close to ¼ tank from San Felipe.

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Nearing El Rosario, we see that the widening of Highway One is underway from the edge of town to the previous section of widened road done last year.

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The bridge over the El Rosario riverbed was damaged last January. A paved detour crosses the valley alongside the bridge.

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About a mile of new, unpaved roadbed at the entrance to El Rosario.

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We arrive at Baja Cactus to check in and meet BajaFam, who are just ahead of us, checking in. I get to vouch that they are Nomads, as Lionel couldn’t find his Nomad card, for the special discount. Remember, Discover Baja Travel Club members have the same discount, as well!

We freshen-up and walk over to Mama Espinoza’s for dinner. We pick the big round table as BajaFam said they wanted to visit with us, alas they didn’t arrive until we had finished (getting small children ready sometimes takes longer!). As we were eating (crab and carne burritos), a couple approached us and said they recognized us, and wanted to say hello. They were Nick and Kathy ‘ncampion’ on Baja Nomad, heading to Loreto.
What fun it was to meet new Baja Nomad members we met this day, and both in El Rosario.

A new special treat was in store for us after dinner when we returned to Baja Cactus Motel. The front desk manager, Carmen informed us that we could have ‘His and Hers’ massages by Roxana. Oh boy, another great reason to spend the night at Baja Cactus!

Roxana brought the massage table up to our room, plugged in the sound of waves and sea gulls (like we were back on Shell Island, other sound choices available, too) and gave Baja Angel and I the most relaxing massages. I picked the Swedish massage, which is a head to toe relaxing massage for the long day’s drive. Baja Angel was next, with the Sport Massage that concentrated on the back and legs. The motel desk has a list of massages and prices available. This is one treat well worth the cost (under $35) for an hour of soothing comfort.

The next morning, we awoke totally relaxed and in no great hurry to leave El Rosario. I did want to have a patch put in the tire that I plugged yesterday, even though the plugs didn’t allow any air to escape, overnight. The tire shop next to the plaza, on the same side of the highway did the work ($10). Next, we drove to Primo’s La Bocana Beach (Sinahi Motel) Restaurant for breakfast. We didn’t get to see Primo, but the service was fast being the only customers there.

After checking out of our room at Baja Cactus, we went to the gas station, next door and topped the tank. We had traveled 267 miles since filling up at El Dorado Ranch north of San Felipe. 12.8 gallons was added at Baja Cactus Pemex, plus the 5 gallons added at Cataviña, meant my mileage (including a bit of deep sand four wheeling and the 63.7 dirt miles from El Huerfanito to Laguna Chapala) was 15 MPG. Now, the pure highway driving from El Rosario back home to Oceanside via Tecate (303 miles, 15.8 gallons) gave me 19.2 MPG, my best mileage so far in my 2010 Tacoma.

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For a second time, we stopped to have our car washed at this place in San Vicente, on the north side of the bridge construction.

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They did a very nice job, as before after our Mision Santa Maria trip. He worked on it an hour and only wanted to charge us 70 pesos. I gave him 140 pesos and still believed I got a great deal. There is a nice taco stand with tables there, and they speak English.

North of Santo Tomas we came upon the widening of Hwy. 1 project. The work goes all the way to Maneadero.

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http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/DavidKier/7-18-10/7-18-10153.jpg

Highway 3 from Ensenada to Tecate was great with 4 lanes to San Antonio de las Minas completed and new, wider 2 lanes on past Guadalupe (Francisco Zarco). However, from Valle Las Palmas to Tecate (14 miles) there are 4 dirt detours as the road south from Tecate is being widened. The four detours totaled nearly 7 miles, and will make the trip run longer than expected.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc212/DavidKier/7-18-10/7-18-10154.jpg

The border wait was only 12 minutes starting at 7:14 pm that Tuesday. The three military checkpoints we encountered (El Rosario Mesa, Santo Tomas North, Valle Las Palmas) were all fairly fast and easy. Gasoline (south of the border zone) was $2.52/ gallon at Pemex stations and $3.20 at Cataviña’s ‘emergency depot’.

As before, this was another great trip into Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula with no problems caused by crime or cops. Businesses were all nice to deal with, and they all expressed the hope for a return of tourists.

Until our next trip south, adios amigos!
David y Elizabeth


Here is the road log from Monday, July 19, 2010 :

0.0 (0 min.) Puertecitos Entrance Road, sign ahead for Laguna Chapala.

5.2 (6 min.) Playa Cristina

6.2 La Costilla

17.6 (20 min.) El Huerfanito (off to east of highway, no sign)

18.5 Detour off pavement onto older road, regraded for construction traffic. Piles of sand on road mark this point, no sign. Ahead on pavement is sign for Campo Tano at Mile 19.0. At 19.3 is a sign 'End of Pavement, 200 mtrs.'). At 19.5 is the absolute end at an unfinished bridge. No sign of road work on the opposite side of arroyo. Road work does continue beyond, out of sight from here.

Return back to Mile 18.5, detour onto dirt... log continues from this point.

25.1 (34 min. from Puertecitos, not including run to end of pavement) End of new road construction alongside old road. Old road new grading ends... very rough, rocky road on to Gonzaga. Motorhomes and trailers should avoid!

26.0 'Okie Landing' to east (note cement pads along end of gravel beach marking the fish camp of the 1960's.

33.1 (1 hr. 14 min.) Campo Delfines

36.3 (1 hr. 26 min.) Las Encantadas

37.9 (1 hr. 31 min.) Punta Bufeo

43.1 (1 hr. 59 min.) El Faro

43.4 (2 hr. 1 min.) Papa Fernandez' Bahia San Luis Gonzaga

Military Checkpont is just a mile + ahead.

46.1 (2 hr. 12 min.) Alfonsina's Pemex (closed from 2-4 pm), Rancho Grande Market just ahead on right.

Clear odometer for next section... The main road south from Gonzaga is much better than the road north, but the rough surface still limits maximum speed to ~30 mph (twice that of the north section) in a Tacoma, loaded.

0.0 Rancho Grande 'Gonzaga Bay'

1.3 (8 min.) Road to Campo Beluga and Sacraficio

7.5 (22 min.) Road west to Arroyo Santa Maria and Las Palmitas oasis on the old mission trail 'El CaminoReal'

10.0 (28 min.) Road in from left is the south access route to Punta Final

16.7 La Turquesa Canyon road to west (green pools of water, turquoise mine, and very difficult off road and abandoned mine road shortcut to Hwy. 1 near El Pedregoso)

19.2 (52 min.) Las Arrastras site access road. Gold ore grinding mills, well, nearby waterhole of San Francisquito on the Camino Real.

23.0 (1 hr.) Coco's Corner (cold Pacifico for sale $2) Coco in Ensenada, helper Ramón on hand.

36.1 (1 hr. 30 min. driving time) HWY. 1, Laguna Chapala. Gasoline and tire repairs advertised, 1 km. south.

[bajageoff]

Awesome DK!

Glad you were finally able to get that uploaded!

[David K]

Awesome DK!

Glad you were finally able to get that uploaded!

Life is good (at BajaBound.com)!!!:)