Santo Tomas to San Quintin 2009

Trip Report

When: 18-19 July 2009

Where: Santo Tomas to San Quintin

Who: The usual. Tim Brown, Joe Jackson, Stu, Bob, Jim, Matt, Blair, Dave

We crossed the boarder with little drama and met on time at Cabesa Park

in Ensenada as usual. Jim had arranged to drop off some donations at a

small, well organized an tidy orphanage outside of Ensenada not far from

our favorite Taco Stand. The kids were wild when we showed up and got a

big kick out of the convoy of trucks pulling into the school yard. We

dropped off our donations and decided to keep the trucks there and give

them the 20 bucks each for storage rather than keep them at the camp

ground at Santo Tomas. We hit the pavement and rode the 17 miles to the

trail head about 9:30 or so. The weather was perfect. We rode the 18

miles to Erendria without incident. We were thankful for the Japanese

current as the temps at the beach were at best in the high 70's. We had

a little drama as a group leader who served as "scout" from a group made

up from Baja Bound, the Desert Assassins, Johnny Campbell Racing and

Racers and Ranchers stopped us in the wash about ten miles north of the

shipwreck stopped us and asked us to divert to avoid a head on. (We

never did see them). We did this which created a little challenge

navigating the blue stone berm for a quarter of a mile or so parallel to

the beach. We all joined up at the shipwreck and we clicked off the 10

miles to Camalu again at a decent clip and thoroughly enjoyed the coast

section. We had tacos and cokes in Camalu, gassed up and off to the

coast. The tide was falling but still to high to ride the beach so we

rode the dirt rode until south of the palisades and then hit the beach

for a very cool 9 mile beach run. A race broke out once we hit the trail

system just northwest of the Old Mill. Blair decided we needed to go as

far south as we could go on the peninsula so south we went. On the way

we diverted to one of the twin peaks on the San Quintin peninsula and we

all climbed to the summit. Of course we could not resist the knurly

single track ridge trail to get back down. This required the usual

clutch, brake, shift descent. Bob, Matt, Jim, and Joe elected to ride up

the ridge trail for kicks and retrieve Bobs pack. This created a little

drama as Matt's bike stalled out on the last 100 feet. This challenge

was overcome and down they came, Bob arriving with a flat front tire.

Off to out new Hotel in San Quintin with real showers, a modern motel

room, tv, and a restaurant. We fixed Bob's tire, had a couple of beers,

dinner and swapped lies before we went to bed. The next day back to the

beach at low low tide. The morning was perfect and we made the trip back

to Erendria in record time. We all decided we needed to climb "goliath"

the very beat up, washed out, silty 1/4 miles long steep hill climb.

This resulted in the usual drama as Stu failed to shift properly and got

stuck to everyone's amusement at the steepest and most washed out part

of the hill climb. Matt then reported a flat rear tire but that was

solved with a can of fix a flat and we all headed back the 18 miles to

Santo Tomas. Again some sort of weird testosterone fueled race broke

out. We all joined up at the Pemex, Bob topped off the WR 250 and we

headed south to the orphanage. In short this was again the perfect ride.

Great weather, no drama, minor mechanicals, great friends. One highlight

for me was being able to ride with Bob together for about 30 miles

through the coastal mesa rocky section when the group separated. Bob and

I had some radio problems (bad wiring and a broken antenna) and had

stopped to close a gate when the main group took off. I can't think of a

better way for a father and a son to spend their time than riding at

break neck speeds through the coastal barrens of Mexico. A great memory.

Jim and I decided we wanted to take the Tecate border so we hopped on 3

and except for a flat left front truck tire that required us to go to

yet one more Mexican tire joint and pay the three bucks to fix it(some

sort of failed plug from the last flat) and a traffic jam from a head on

we loved the scenery and wilderness scenery as we crossed the central

Baja highlands. We crossed the border after a short wait and a couple of

tamales.

As far as Tim's bike goes the rear caliper is hanging up for some

reason, who knows and who cares. We promise to fix Tim's bike as long as

he keeps fixing our Medical injuries. It is great to have an experienced

medical expert along! Next Ride? Probably in late September! 

Cheers Stu

Stuart B. Markey

Email From: Brown, Tim L. (SAFETY) 

Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:12 AM

Subject: RE: Border Short Cut

I was referring to MY get-off score. My orange scooter did not touch

the earth on anything but tire, even on the knarly hill north of

Erendira. Nada Nada, mas nada!

In the past the tipover number would go into double digits if you count

the forgetting-to-put-the-foot-down at stops, close calls, front end

washouts, etc. Now I know it was the doggone red bike that was doing it

;-) And I have beachfront desert property for sale....

Tim