- 1" 3/4 length sleeping pad (15 oz)- Emergency bivvy sack (3.5 oz)- Hydration unit (3 l)- AAA Baja California guidebook- AAA Baja California map- Some clothes, passport, 140 USD
The bike is a 2005 Suzuki DR200SE dual sport and has 6000 Miles on it.
What I learned today:
Don't take a bus to San Diego. Fly instead.
The drive down to Tijuana is less than 30 minutes. No traffic at all at the border. Immigration guard tells me it will cost 262 pesos to enter Mexico (1 USD = 13 pesos). I reply "huh, it's supposed to be free?". So he gives me another form to fill out and I get to enter for free. Welcome to Mexico!
I drive straight down to Ensenada (1.5 hours), have lunch, then head to La Bufadora, a geyser 45 minutes south of Ensenada. Then I decide it's time to leave the paved roads and I select a 40 mile dirt route that will take me from highway 1, to the coast, pass a camp site, then back to highway 1. This should be a good warmup before I cross the desert. I'm a bit concerned since I've never driven on dirt before, but it turns out to not be complicated at all! It's a little bit like mountainbiking on dirt, except that the motorcycle weighs 250 pounds. At dusk I meet a farmer on the road and ask him if it's far to the beach. "No no, just 30 minutes." I drive for approximately 1.5 hours before I find an old abandoned camp site next to the water where I spend the night. Freezing! I have to wear all the clothes I brought, including the motorcycle gear.
Don't park your motorcycle in a downhill. It will roll away.
When highway 3 meets highway 5 there's a security checkpoint looking for guns and ammunition. I need to fill up with gas before the desert and since the guards look so serious I try to lighten up their day a bit by asking "hay una bomba por aqui" which in Colombian spanish means "is there a gas station around here?". In Mexican spanish it means "there is a bomb here". Both guards jump and ask where the bomb is. I think it's hilarious. Further north I find a mechanic at the side of the road who sells gas of questionable quality in plastic bottles and I fill up the tank. The bike has a range of around 180 freeway miles on one tank.
I enter the desert at around 5pm. The first 8 miles are on a salt lake and offer great driving. As I come off the lake, I happen to end up on the wrong road but find out after only ~3 miles when a fence covers the road. I go back, find the correct road, and start driving north. The road is OK, but very sandy in parts, and I can keep around 10-15 mph. I drive until dusk and camp behind a little bank at the side of the road. This is the moment where I find out that I only have ~0.7 liters of water left and half a bag of chips. I do a little bedtime reading in my guidebook before I fall asleep and come across the following: "dangerous creatures like rattlesnakes and scorpions thrive in most of Baja's backcountry". Excellent! The night is amazing, so quiet and clear, and not cold at all.
Don't tell a Mexican security guard that you have a bomb.
The road becomes a little bit more difficult, but still manageable. After around 10 miles I cross a dried-out river that I recognize on the map, just before the intersection where I'm supposed to turn right. The right turn is so inconspicuous that I don't even see it. After about a mile I can tell (from the sun) that something is wrong. So I go back and find the small road heading north. After around 2 miles it turns really bad, just loose sand where I have no traction at all. The back wheel just digs down when I accelerate and my speed is reduced to ~5 mph. I hit a sand bank and drop the bike. Fortunately, I can pick it up (which is good to know since I was unsure if it was too heavy or not to lift). I stop every 30 minutes to take a small sip of water. It's getting pretty hot (97F/36C later today) and I sweat a lot in the motorcycle gear.
After 4 more miles I come to an intersection which is NOT on my map. Both roads are about equal size. This has me a bit concerned. I pick the left one since it goes in the direction of the mountains where the oasis is. After 4 more miles I encounter another intersection, precisely 10.2 miles after the river like my map says. I'm exhilarated, I just need to take the side road for 6.5 miles to reach the oasis and coca cola! I sip down half of my remaining water right there. After 4 miles, the side road just comes to an end in a sandy pit. I drive around for about 20 minutes looking for where to go. There is nothing. And the mountain is still far away. Moreover, there are no tire tracks at all here which leads me to believe that I'm either on the wrong road, or that the oasis doesn't exist any more (the guide book is 11 years old).
I go back to the main road and find a tree under which I sit down to think about what to do. It's unclear if I have enough gas to go back, I've only gone 80 miles on the tank (20 highway, 60 desert) but a lot of it has been spinning in the sand in 1st or 2nd gear, and in addition I always leave the engine running when I take a rest (since sometimes the engine doesn't start and I have to roll it to a start which I can't do in the sand). On the other hand, if I am where I think I am, it's only 30 miles north until I reach highway 2. I turn on my cell phone but there's no reception. There's ~0.2 l water left. I decide to keep going north.
A few more miles north I reach a ghost town and the road splits into several minor roads. I turn off the engine and listen, but there is nothing. I drive around and hit the horn, over and over. Nothing. I feel exhausted from the heat and constantly having to balance the bike through the sand so I lie down under a tree to get some rest. I continue after 20 minutes, picking the road that leads mostly to what I think is north. After around 2 miles, the road is joined by another road and becomes much better. It looks promising! After 5 more miles I come to an abandoned ranch that is marked on the map! Yey ! The rest of the drive is easy. With about 6 miles to go I meet a car, the first people I've seen since I entered the desert. I finally reach the highway, after 97 miles and 20h (10h driving). There's a refresqueria at the side of the road where I gulp down 2 liters of water. "Are you thirsty?" the store owner asks. I haven't eaten anything (except a few handfulls of chips) in 24 hours so I celebrate with grilled rabbit at a roadside grill. Two hours later I come to Tecate where I spend the night at a hotel, literally 50 meters from the US border.
Don't attempt to cross a desert with 0.7 l water.
Nothing, for I am fully learned. Ready for Sahara!