After my beat-down from Guerrero Negro, a ride down the coast–technically from San Quintin to Erindera–seemed like a walk in the park. Wind gusting to 50 mph, surf 10-12′, and a number of technical washouts that put me on the beach and, at times, in the water, kept the day interesting.
Of greatest concern was the fact that the final ‘bridge’ into town, Erindera, was gone, washed away by recent rains. I could see a farmer up on a hill, so I gave him the universal hands-up-in-the-air sign for “which way?” Through a serious of gestures, he made it understood that I needed to unlock a gate to some gringo’s property, drop down a hill, cross a stream, and drive up through a patch of what looked like Brussel sprouts, to pick up on the trail into town. Seriously, he was that good at gesticulating.
One problem. The wind and waves had forced the ocean up the river flooding out the stream-crossing. The only other option, was to backtrack 15 miles to the south and pick up a new trail. But, my reasoning went, ‘it was such a short distance across the stream.’ 15 feet into the stream, water was up to my seat, the trail made a small detour through some high weeds, and I was thinking this was not the ideal place to drown-out the little Honda. No time for pictures here, but needless to say the 2-3-0 punched through and got me up the line to Cayote Cals (after a Tecate Caguama in Erindera). I’ve spent a lot of time with friends in this part of Baja and I had them all on my mind as I zigged and zagged up the coast.