Sunday, June 16, 2019

Camp4Lo Pacific Fun Run




We held a fiesta style event June 7-9 2019. This run was designed to allow those with limited time and resources to "dip their toes" in the Baja pool.
We held it over a weekend and gave the coordinates to Cuatro Casas and basically said get here.
We published Andy's route and time he would be at the border Friday morning in case our guests wanted to follow him. A little more than half of the people signed up met him at the San Ysidro border.
We ended up with 20 rigs and about 28 people at this event.
There were some Camp4lo alumni in attendance as well as quite a few new friends.

We greeted our guests with some carne asada tacos and some cold beer as we checked everyone in and they set up their campsites on the bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean.


Saturday morning the Ground Pounder Coffee guys were on scene to fuel us with the needed caffeine.
Richard and the Cuatro Casas crew prepared quick breakfast burritos for our hungry crew.

Lined up and ready to hit the trail


After a quick drivers meeting we were off. We headed north along the Baja 500 race course over Punta Colonet. and along the ocean up to a private beach we call secret spot.

The trail winding down to secret spot



We had a quick lunch of cold cut sandwiches and enjoyed the peace and solitude this place provides.

After lunch we motored south along the trail down to the beach. We ran the beach along the waters edge to the cave for our traditional cave photo. We headed south to the big dunes and continued to play in the sand.

Nice group enjoying the beauty of Baja

Cave pic

In the dunes

Little break by Johnson Ranch




About mid afternoon we headed back to Cuatro Casas for fresh Blue Fin Tuna fish tacos and all the trimmings. We had a nice campfire and a few fireworks and a whole night of bench racing with our friends.

Sunday morning most packed up and made their way to the border. I convinced a few folks to call in sick and hang out an extra day. We took them on a little wheeling adventure down to the Pirate Bar for some afternoon snacks and a couple margaritas.

We returned to the hostel for a light dinner and another night around the camp fire.
Monday morning the remaining guests saddled up and returned north.

We had a blast on this trip. We are pretty certain we have made quite a few new Baja converts.
Thank you all for joining us. Cant wait for the 4Lo Fiesta in San Felipe in November!

Sunday, April 21, 2019

March 22-25 2019 trip report






With the long winter we have all endured the promise of warm, mild, and sunny weather was very appealing to us. We could tell the moment we met our guests they were feeling the same way.

After some brief introductions we were on our way. Starting in Tecate we hit the Compadre trail south.


Into Valle De Trinidad for some tacos then back on the highway for a transition stage to El Diablo Dry Lake. When we arrived at the "dry lake" we found most if it was not too dry!
We found a great camp spot where we enjoyed carne asada and all the trimmings, a nice campfire and some real good conversation. I could tell right away this was a great group and we were looking at a wonderful trip ahead.

Bench racing session 1
The second morning brought a great sunrise and excitement for what was to come.
We wheeled a few hours up to Mike's Sky Ranch for some refreshments and got to see some race history. We headed out for a very long trail over to the Pacific coast. The flowers and foliage was incredible. 
after reaching the highway we motored up to Rancho El Coyote arriving just at dusk. We had a very long day, covering many miles. The ranch was a welcome sight for our travelers. We enjoyed a family style dinner with refreshments then retired to the firepit for some reminiscing about our day.

Day 3 we awoke to a chilly spring morning. After breakfast we mounted up for the toughest trek of the trip. San Rafael canyon. We ran through numerous water crossings, and the foliage was absolutely breathtaking. 


We reached highway 1 and motored down to the Pirate Bar for some afternoon refreshments and snacks.





We wheeled up the coast for a few miles to our final stop Cuatro Casas Hostel

Cuatro Casas Hostel

Lined up at Cuatro Casas Hostel


We enjoyed a big celebratory dinner, some adult beverages, camp fire, and some fireworks.


Andy keeping our guests "fueled up" with Libre Tequila

                           

The last morning we awoke to a sunny day and headed for the beach. We ran the beach down to the cave then returned to highway 1 through Ensenada for some tacos and up to Tecate where we exchanged tearful hugs and we all went our separate ways.
Great group, great trails, great food, great new friends. Viva Baja!!!

We also had a couple very special guests on this trip Youtube sensation Auto Edit Jason  and Kris Miller  of Powerstop Brakes and Trail To SEMA These guys were a great addition to our run. They really enhanced the trip with their spotting experience. Thank you for coming guys, we cant wait to wheel with you again!!!


The #Camp4LoVIP award went to Kenzie The only girl on this trip. She really embodied the spirit of Camp4lo. She was taken well out of her comfort zone. When presented with any challenge she put the hammer down and tackled everything thrown at her. Congratulations kiddo, you are now in a special club!

Kenzie and her #Camp4LoVIP trophy


We would like to thank a few of the folks that support our efforts. We cant begin to thank these fine folks and are honored to share your products with our guests.

Libre Tequila

Squatchboxx coolers

Tembotusk

Ground Pounder Coffee


Ground Pounder Coffee

Tembotusk Skottle
Libre Tequila

Fueling the day with Ground Pounder Coffee












Tuesday, April 17, 2018

2018 Yetibuilt 750 trip report

These days people throw big adjectives around like they are nothing. "This taco is AMAZING" or I am in AWE of so and so's light bar"
You get the idea.
I like to reserve those to describe truly EPIC stuff.
The 2018 Yetibuilt 750 adventure rally was truly AMAZING and AWE INSPIRING, and EPIC all rolled into an INCREDIBLE Baja adventure.

We partnered up with The Jeep Called Yeti and The Wild Yolo for the second annual run donning their brand name.
This trip is a bit different from our normal 4 day 3 night trips. The Yetibult 750 is a 6 day 5 night adventure with camping thrown into the mix.
Baja is a big place with several different climate zones and lots of contrasting terrain, we can't get to all of it in a short weekend trip.
We designed the 750 to have the extra time so we can show our guests more of the Baja we know and love.

Day 1 we met at the border at Tecate for an 8:00 am departure. As we mounted up to cross I could already tell we had a great group. Everyone was super excited and we had a very diverse group of people and rigs.
 Andy and I in his YJ leading the charge. Followed by Yeti in his rig and Yolo in her "Miss Tina"
We had 2 Tacomas Mike Sexy Tacoma 2.0 and  Joe with Socal Tacomas. A Subaru Impreza of all things (more on him later) driven by Sean, A real nice JK and real nice guy who came all the way from Wyoming Mack, The first Ford Raptor to ever join us piloted by Jody and his long time buddy Pat and his son Max, a gentleman we named Nor Cal Mike in his TJ from you guessed it Nor Cal, and bringing up the rear, our anchor in the Bronco Cowboy and my son Jacob

We also had a few passengers along, one super inspiring guy Joshua Coburn from Brownells
A video guy and a photographer Dylan Eastman and Doug Hall along to document our shenanigans.
Check these guys out. Solid guys trust me on this.

Everyone is ready for their adventure to begin


We mounted up and headed South. Crossing the border was uneventful and simple and after a short drive we were at the north end of the Compadre trail. This area is beautiful, it's up in the chaparral and it leads us up toward the pine forest and down into the Ojos Negros valley. A nice 3 hour trail to ease our guests into the baja spirit. 

























Start of the Compadre Trail 
Once through the trail everyone settled in and found their groove. I knew this group would be great together. I could see the Baja vibe on each face.
We hopped on Mex 2 and motored south to the farming town of Valle De Trinidad for some much needed tacos, and a little break from the road to stretch our legs.
With our fuel tanks and bellies full we proceeded south on highway 2 to San Felipe for the night.
We had a nice dinner on the Malecon, followed bu a relaxing walk through town.
We retired to Kikis for the night.

Day 2
We rose bright and early and headed into town for breakfast, some road supplies, and headed for El Diablo Dry Lake. We played on the dry lake for a while then motored south toward Gonzaga Bay.

hammer down on the dry lake


Any travel in Baja is an adventure, even on the highways. This was no different. The road from San Felipe to Puertecitos has always been rough, this time it was its usual bumpy ride, but the road was in terrible shape with many huge potholes on the road like a dot to dot puzzle.
We pulled into Gonzaga as the sun was setting. We made camp and cooked our famous Carne Asada dinner. We had some great campfire bench racing and slept under the stars.

Day 3
We rose to a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Cortez with coffee and camp breakfast



Best breakfast cooked on the Skottle


On the road we visited Cocos Corner. Our guests were super stoked to meet this Baja legend.
We lucked out, he was there. We had a nice chat and he had us all sign his book.  










Your host deep in thought..........



After Cocos  we proceeded west across the peninsula to highway 1.
This being a transition day from the central to the northern region we had a bit of highway to travel. The vistas through this area are unforgettable.
 
We arrived at Catavina in the early afternoon and setup camp and relaxed for the rest of the day, enjoying the peace and quiet being in the Baja outback will provide.
Camp dinner and more fire pit shenanigans of course.

Enjoy some camp shots 



Day 4 we had a leisurely morning still taking in how beautiful this part of the world is.
After packing up we hit the cave for a look at the petroglyphs. Our guests were pretty fascinated.

  
Loaded up for the road north we cruised up the highway heading for Rancho El Coyote.   

Arriving at Rancho El Coyote, our guests were completely shocked at how awesome this place is.
We enjoyed their farm fresh dinner that evening and had some good times around the camp fire. The next morning we feasted on breakfast and mounted up.
Here's a little peek of a morning at the ranch






Day 5
 I can feel the end coming near but we still had more trail ahead and looking forward to the day, we had a very challenging trail out of Coyote so we took the Sube, Miss Tina, Nor Cal Mike, and the Bronco the other way round, and met up with the group at the bottom of the hill.
 If you have bothered to read this far email me info@camp4lo.com 
I have a few Yetibuilt 750 stickers and I will send you one.
Here are some photos of day 5





After meeting back up we headed to the Pacific for a stop at the Pirate bar for some afternoon snacks and some cool beverages then we wheeled along the ocean for a few miles to see the shipwreck and finally ending up at Cuatro Casas. We enjoyed a nice dinner of scallops and shrimp. We celebrated our last night with some fireworks and camp fire antics. This was a bittersweet night for me, WE DID IT! but our time in Baja was rapidly coming to a close and our new group of friends would be splitting up and going our separate ways in just under 24 hours. Its amazing how close a few strangers can become in such a short amount of time when they are thrust into a situation like this. 
Day 5 photos...





Day 6
We woke to the sound of the waves rolling in and the smell of fresh coffee. Our host at the hostel Richard had been up early preparing my personal favorite huevos rancheros. We had a relaxing morning, everybody knew it was time to head north toward home. We did have another place to show our guests, the playa!






After the beach we made our way to highway 1 and headed north up to through Ensenada for some tacos. We traveled through the Guadalupe wine region up to Tecate where our adventure began.
There were hugs and even some tears as this group of new friends parted ways.




Your host interacting with the dangerous Baja locals

Camp4lo VIP
We like to recognize one guest that embodies the spirit of Camp4lo, one who runs it a little harder or picks up some new skills, or just does something super cool.

Sean earned that moniker this week. He brought his Subaru Impreza out and showed us all how it's done. Here he is with his absolutely worthless trophy the Camp4lo VIP Surfing Monkey
Awesome job Sean!



I will not forget this trip. Great group, great trails, great food, and in one word AMAZING!




ONE MORE THING
There are a few people that have helped us along the way with tons of support, sharing the event on their various outlets, and some even gave some pretty nice gifts to our adventurers. 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one for your support.

Generous offerings from these fine companies













Please visit these companies and check out the quality they offer.
Thank you all!



















Thursday, January 18, 2018

50 Best of Baja

Here ia a great video series on the 50 best places Baja has to offer. Cameron Steele long time Baja racer and ambassador hosts this series and we can attest this is a worthy rabbit hole of videos.
Check it out


Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Yetibuilt 750

Another run in the books. The Yetibuilt 750 was a long trip. 6 days 5 nights. We covered close to 1000 miles in country with spectating the San Felipe 250 as the finish goal.
The rigs were mostly Jeeps and 1 Tacoma.
Most had never met. Personally I like these runs because at the end there are many new friendships made and this one was no different.
Yeti and Yolo were gracious enough to lend their good names and support for this trip and we are so glad we had the chance to wheel with them again.

Our first day started early just on the other side of Tecate where we crossed into Baja and ran East to the top of the Compadre trail. This is a mellow run through the chaparral up toward the pine forest and down into Ojos Negros.

2017 Yetibuilt 750 presented by Camp4lo
7 AM DAY 1


2017 Yetibuilt 750 presented by Camp4lo

COMPADRE TRAIL


 AJ and Todd. Father and son came from Sacramento to run with us
 Tracy and her well sorted Jeep. She earned the VIP trophy this trip
 Yeti and Yolo 
Whats in your mirror?

We hit the highway and headed to a favorite taco stand in Valle De Trinidad for a well earned lunch.
With our rigs and belly's full we ran the trail up to Mike's Sky Ranch, passed through and took the "Easy" trail into Rancho El Coyote. This is a working cattle ranch complete with small cabins for sleeping and family style dining. We had  dinner and cervezas by the fire pit that night.


Yeti approves


Not a bad view from the cabin at Rancho Coyote

Day 2 greeted us with plenty of sunshine and pure stoke from our guests as we loaded up and headed for the Pacific ocean. Winding highway through the San Telmo area down to highway 1 where we regained the dirt trail West to the sea.

Parked for lunch at "Secret Spot"


Our trusty squatchboxx cooler performed flawlessly keeping our food and drinks perfectly chilled


Spooky day on the beach





We ended this day at Cuatro Casas Hostel
Looking forward to the coming day as we would be heading South toward Catavina. Our guests had not yet been that far South

Catavina


We camped that night in this remote spot. Yeti and I cooked up some Carne asada, we feasted and enjoyed some good campfire time.





Yeti Cooking up some carne asada with all the trimmings

We also found some petroglyphs


The following morning we traversed the peninsula at Chapala and made our way to Gonzaga Bay then hopped on the newly paved highway to San Felipe where we would be spectating the San Felipe 250.
The following two days would find us in San Felipe spectating desert racing, relaxing by the water and enjoying ourselves.

More photos ......


Thanks to Overlandcoffee for providing the fuel to keep us going




                                                       So good we put it twice!



We want to thank everyone who came with us on this Baja adventure. 
Todd
AJ
Tracy 
Yeti
Yolo
Bill
Otto
and 
Canada Shawn and Adriana for the San Felipe leg.
And especially Tyson