Escaping Cabo for the Wilds of Los Frailes

Met author/rider Phil Berg and his top-box passenger, Umma, in Todos Santos

We spent a couple of nights with Deb and Jelle and a couple of their friends who have built a lovely home just South of Todos Santos: Trisha and Don.

Trisha and Don’s place was very simple but absolutely lovely. Their palapa roof was so artistically done that I enjoyed looking at it as much as the sunset over the Pacific, which you can see from their roof terrace.



With an awesome caffeine kick and internet updates finished at Baja Beans, we headed in the direction of Cabo San Lucas. We had planned to visit a few of the motorbike shops to see about tires for me, but as soon as we got into Cabo, the heat and the traffic overwhelmed us and all we wanted to do was get out. Apparently, the hurricane knocked out several traffic lights on the main road… so imagine any 4 lane main road that usually has stoplights, all of the sudden having a 4-way stop intersection every 2-3 blocks.

It was also pretty staggering to see luxury holiday high-rise resorts and golf courses, mere blocks from year-round shacks.



After stocking up on bottled water and groceries, and meeting a couple of fellow Vermonsters, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer.


Apparently, this is one of the more picturesque Tropic of Cancer crossings

After a long break at a gas station where we had a nice chat with a group of riders who had just come from the mainland and were headed home to Southern Baja, we headed back to the coast to Los Frailles, which we heard had beautiful free camping to offer.


Got some great advice for riding around the mainland from these Baja riders who had just returned from picking up a couple of new BMWs

We’d heard the road to los Frailes was paved until the last 15 kilometers, which then turned to hard packed dirt. Well, “hard-packed” was a bit of a misnomer. Some of it was hard packed. The rest featured loose gravel where you were lucky, soft medium-to-deep sand where you weren’t so lucky, and bull dust where you were extremely unlucky.

The Transalp and I went down again, but since I did such a good job of angling it towards the side of the road where there was an incline, and hence it was partially upright and not spewing fuel everywhere/it would be easier to pick up, Roel managed to get photographic evidence this time:


Oopsies.

After that 15 kilometer workout, we were ready for a big meal so as soon as we found a spot to camp, I went to work preparing tacos with black beans, guacamole, salsa, queso fresco, and grilled peppers and onions. It’s become a bit of a staple for us here in Baja and can be had for less than $6 for generous portions for the both of us.


Ensenada de los Muertos, between La Ventana and Los Frailes

Taming the Sand Amidst the Cacti