Day 53 – Mikes Sky Ranch, Baja, MX to Undisclosed desert campsite, Baja, MX

This day is not starting out well. And for those of you who know Johnny O....all I could hear is his loud laughing cackle ringing in my ears!

The down side is it was on a steep rutted uphill and the bike was upside down off the side of the road. Mo….ther….***ker!! Well if this doesn’t suck the ***king big one, I don’t know what does! So, I set about removing all the bags and excess weight to make it easier to pick up. As the bike landed on the downhill side, there was no way to pick it up facing that direction. So, I would have to rotate the bike on its side so the wheels were downhill…and then I can use the hill to help pick up the bike instead of fighting against it. Just then, the guy from Mike’s Ranch strolled up and asked in spanish if I needed a hand. Hell yes I said…that makes things a whole lot easier. As I wasn’t far from the ranch, maybe he heard the engine screaming up the hill followed by the abrupt stop of me hitting the engine kill switch on the way over! Either way I’m not sure, but I was glad for the help. With both of us, we were able to get the bike upright and walk it around so it was facing downhill for me to ride to the bottom. Whew. He said the road was like this the whole way, so there was no way I was going to risk damaging me or the bike for 50 miles of that…my only choice was to backtrack. Crap…I hate backtracking!

OK, so the hill does not look like mutch...they never do in the photos.

He did however tell me of a 30 mile dirt shortcut that goes from Colonia Lazaro Cardenas to San Vicente…and would save me from backtracking all the way to Ensenada. I was sold…because as you may know…I hate backtracking! So after putting all the gear back on the bike, I set off back towards highway 3. This time I put the helmet cam on…

On the way back to Highway 3 from Mike's

Cam1

Cam2

Cam 3

Cam 4

Cam 5

Cam 6

Cam 7

Cam 8

Cam 9 - Back on the road!

On the "shortcut" to San Vicente....

Great view from this shortcut through the mountains...

This is no place to run out of water!

I'm glad to share though...I felt bad for the guy!

Cam 21

Cam 22 - Don't go to far left!

Cam 23

On Highway 1 heading south...

Highway 1 south...

I'm glad the KLR is still in one piece after this mornings wee off...

In case you were wondering what a "gas station" looks like in the middle of the Baja desert.....now you know.

Fill it up super....errrrr....never mind, just fill it...

One more of the Baja desert along Highway 1 south...

I didn’t take many pictures today, but will make more of an effort to stop and take some pictures tomorrow. With sunlight fading, I needed to find someplace to pull off the road as I didn’t want to break the golden rule of adventure motorcycling…never ride at night.

My "stealth camp" in the Baja desert...

So with 45 minutes of daylight left, I made a left and started down a dirt track, then veered off into the open desert and found a nice low spot that was pretty well hidden. The weather forecast overnight was clear, cool with the chance of a passing bandito, so I think I’ll cover the bike just in case.  😉

Parting shot...