Baja 2018: 1,200 miles on Dirt Bikes: Burn Down the Mission

I don't know why that old Elton John song got stuck in my head today, but we did get to visit and tour an amazing 300 year-old Franciscan mission today high up in the mountains above Loreto. A really fun 25-mile ride up a VERY twisty road brought us to the Mision San Francisco Javier. Built at an oasis high in the mountains, it truly is a tiny slice of paradise. About 150 people live and work around the mission, and it is all kept fastidiously clean.

We left San Javier and headed out on a nice two-track trail. It got very rough as we progressed. The interesting thing is that this rough trail - like many others we have traveled this week, has mile (km) marker signs, caution signs, etc. In other words, it's an actual road. They call these goat paths "secondary roads". What this means is that unless you have a full-on 4WD truck with high ground clearance and big tires, don't even TRY to drive these roads!

We stopped to chat with an old rancher that Pepe knows and dropped off some snacks for him. The rest of the morning was a series of great trails, beautiful scenery, and lots of water crossings. We stopped for lunch at a little taco stand and were off to ride (very fast) on the beach again! We ran into a pack of coyotes who headed for the hills as we got closer and there was an amazing colorful red tide going on. Odd to see pink waves.

Next, we learned about "silt" - which LOOKS exactly like our good old Florida sand. But nay, nay. It has the consistency of talcum powder and is like riding in very deep, slippery mud. It also raises HUGE clouds of dust. Nasty stuff, and we had a bit of it to contend with today.

Much later in the day, we met up with the trucks for fuel, where one of our support guys, Ramon, told us about how much he loved the next 20-mile section, heading into La Paz. Well, after a 2-mile entrance trail, we dropped down to a very steep, rocky downhill. Unfortunately, Isaac managed to hit a bowling ball sized rock, lose his front end and crash hard on his head and hip. He was able to ride the bike gingerly back out the way we came (after about 30 minutes to clear his head) and it was loaded back onto the trailer for the ride into La Paz. Hopefully, he will be up for riding tomorrow's final day.

We continued on with the section - which was amazing. Steep downhills, twisty uphills, nicely spaced whoops, tight woods. It was a pretty epic 20 miles indeed!

So, after another 250-mile day, we finally drove through the beautiful town of La Paz and up to the new Hyatt Hotel at the marina. Cold drinks at the bar, a short ride to dinner at the restaurant where Ramon works when he isn't doing Baja tours, and I am READY for bed. It's late and I have to get up in 6 hours for the final day of riding into Cabo San Lucas tomorrow. It's been a hell of an adventure, and I'm sad that it's almost over.