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