Thanks everyone!
All of you who have commented in this thread, but weren't with us, I really wish we could have met you down in Baja too. Brittan, we will just have to make a point of kidnapping you this year and taking you on a "forced" drive in 4WD with us, somewhere really cool.
Jeff, your story about the clam beds is intriquing. I think you went on an adventure that not too many people ever get to see.
To answer the question regarding maps/guidebooks, I will say that there are a wide variety of books on Baja these days, and you could probably spend a substantial amount on building a library. There is a lot of stuff that is likely very good that I haven't seen or read. There are a couple of books that we used to get us oriented with Baja that worked really well. One is the
Baja Adventure Guide by Walt Peterson. Now this book has been around for a
long time, and could probably use some fresh content, but I think it is a good book regardless. It has street level maps of the major towns, which is a really nice thing to have when you are trying to find stuff in town. There is a ton of great stuff in that book to go and see, and lots of good info to get you familiar with the peninsula. If you are into fishing, speardiving, beach camping, and/or seafood, another great book to have to learn about the fish populations and coastal land as well as off-shore descriptions is the
Baja Catch by Gene Kira & Neil Kelly. Again, this book is probably getting a little on the outdated side, but I still think it is a great resource and I'm not aware of any alternatives that are as specific as this book. There was also a book that has long been out of print, and I only found it down in southern Baja. I believe the authors (a couple) live in Mulege. It is a 4x4 adventure guide - a small, but interesting book with some good off-roading trips. We were too cheap and didn't buy it, but managed to glean some info from it. I have no idea if you can still find any copies of it but it is worth checking out. There is a motorcycle
GPS guide book by Lizard Lady, (Hltoppr, listen up!) that looks really cool, but I haven't seen/used it myself. If you have Fugawi GPS software for Baja moving maps on a laptop, there is a CD available with all of these routes on it. And lastly, if you like hot springs, there is
Hot Springs of the Southwest which has some of the Baja springs in it. I wouldn't buy the book just for those springs though, so maybe check to see if the library has it if that is all you will be using it for.
MAPS. Really the only "must-have" maps come in a single-bound publication called the
Baja Almanac. This has topographic maps (100 meter contour intervals) of the entire peninsula. I have the old version as well as the new. The old version is kind of cool because it split North and South (Norte y Sur) into two separate books. The new version is cool because it is color. However, there is a fair margin of error on the map data, so you have to keep that in mind. But this is really indispensable as a reference if you plan to go off the pavement and main roads.
One of the best things you can do prior to a trip is visit the various Baja forums to get current news and reports from people who are either living or traveling down there. It can be a lot of work to fish through all of the threads and posts, but often well worth it. Many good adventures can be found on the forums that aren't mentioned in the guide books.