3 Weeks in Baja – Surfing, SUPing and Dirt Roading

[dylan.h.brown]

Playboys and American cigarettes worked well too. Big bags of candy to hand out is a special treat for the little ones too.
I used to bring clean folded clothes down until the customs guys apprehended mine claiming they had "bugs" in them. Also I needed a notarized letter from the orphanages for it to be legal to bring stuff down. It's all good.

Yeah, that's my grampa's old move! He would bring cartons of cigarettes. That's rad to hear other people do that. I was half tempted, but didn't know what the military checkpoints would be like nowadays. Pretty chill overall. Helps to have a dog – breaks the ice a bit.

The aqua purificada down there is perfectly safe. If you want you can bring a filter of your own.

I brought a gravity filter just in case. Always a good backup.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

Well... alas, here's Ep. 3. Once we found the surf, there wasn't much time for filming, so what you get is more "truck porn". I must say, the Pacific side is RAW and remote. So cool to be out there in the elements, doing what we love.

 

[SDDiver5]

So much for not naming locations.

Come on man give it a rest. 7 Sisters and The Wall are famous spots. There is literally YouTube content from both spots dating back to early 2000's plus they're in hundreds of publications and websites.

Nice vid. Did you end up surfing the bigger waves?

 

[Regcabguy]

Yeah, that's my grampa's old move! He would bring cartons of cigarettes. That's rad to hear other people do that. I was half tempted, but didn't know what the military checkpoints would be like nowadays. Pretty chill overall. Helps to have a dog – breaks the ice a bit.



I brought a gravity filter just in case. Always a good backup.

Big dogs work too. Gallons of Red Mountain wine worked. My wife and I were going up the 60 mile cross wash road(now paved) to the Observatorio by Jaramillo. We came up on a checkpoint manned by two kids with long rifles. After a short conversation and two Tallboys and we were on our way. This would be in 1986.

 

[RoamIt]

Big dogs work too. Gallons of Red Mountain wine worked. My wife and I were going up the 60 mile cross wash road(now paved) to the Observatorio by Jaramillo. We came up on a checkpoint manned by two kids with long rifles. After a short conversation and two Tallboys and we were on our way. This would be in 1986.

I thought I read somewhere that dogs are not very welcome in Mexico?

 

[dur66@msn.com]

I would say when you go through checkpoints, bring Gatorade.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

Come on man give it a rest. 7 Sisters and The Wall are famous spots. There is literally YouTube content from both spots dating back to early 2000's plus they're in hundreds of publications and websites.

Nice vid. Did you end up surfing the bigger waves?

I got out there... I got punished, but went for it. Didn't really got my good sessions in until the end at of the trip up the East Cape. Was cool being out there though... some of these points really pick up the swell. Hopefully one day will be able to ride some double overheads.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

Big dogs work too. Gallons of Red Mountain wine worked. My wife and I were going up the 60 mile cross wash road(now paved) to the Observatorio by Jaramillo. We came up on a checkpoint manned by two kids with long rifles. After a short conversation and two Tallboys and we were on our way. This would be in 1986.

Pretty wild. My spanish is okay – survivalist spanish is what I call it, so it's harder for me to have good conversation. We did have one interesting moment on the Cortez side later on the trip, where we were out near Punta San Francisquito and rolled up on two trucks packed full of soldiers. They were the only rigs we'd seen all day. They flagged us down and searched under the seats, in the coolers and made jokes about the dog being named Rio. All good though overall.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

I thought I read somewhere that dogs are not very welcome in Mexico?

Dogs are most certainly welcome. I was great being able to have him keep the other scavengers (dogs) out of our camp while we were out surfing.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

I would say when you go through checkpoints, bring Gatorade.
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Haha... Yeah, I felt for those guys. Hot hot hot! I never once asked to snap a photo – I just tried to be as accommodating as possible. You never know who you're going to get and what his day has been like. A friend of mine who wrote the guide book "West Mexico, from Sea to Sierra" told me just be polite, don't snap photos and the checkpoints will be chill.

 

[soulsurferone]

I appreciate you for bringing this to my attention. Like Regcabguy, I don't intend to ruin the discovery aspect of a place. BUT what I don't appreciate is how much you troll on this site. Your tone and attacking mentality is not productive and makes people defensive. If you want people to be more respectful about places you love, show them the respective and explain to them why it's important to not name places. Calling them names (like I've seen you do in other threads), in my opinion should get you banned from this site.

And to answer your question, no, I'm not trying to be an overland influencer. I'm stoked on my build. And I'm stoked on my trip. I want to share it with other people, who may get excited to the potential. I respect the desire to keep places secret, and even those who want to keep places to themselves – I have my own areas in Southern Utah I would never share, but alas, many of those places are out there now...

All the places I'm to visit I have found on surf blogs, pubs and seen on videos. On the inside: blogs, travel articles, etc. have all shared many places. If you have a truck like mine (and from what I call tell, yours) then all you have to do is get on Google Earth and map out a route. Nothing is secret anymore. Sorry to burst your bubble.

There are A LOT of haters out here. You are a good person to have responded very diplomatically. I do not share the specific location of my adventures but I agree...no need to attack people. You have a nice set-up...enjoy it and enjoy the outdoors. I was in Baja last year...that is an awesome trip and exciting to tick off the bucket list! Good that you were able to experience it!
@therealmrmichael (IG)
-Michael

 

[Regcabguy]

The first time I went to the Wall was 1985. The rock formations sure have gotten more intricate.
Waking in at medium/low tide without booties is fun. I can't surf with them. My buddy's the same way but crams his size 12's into the back of his wetsuit somehow until he goes in.

 

[Reno_Nate]

Hey Friends,

Just completed a dream trip of mine: The Baja. I vlogged as best as I could and am putting together a multi-part series, starting with "The Build." As I complete each series, I'll post it here. But for now, please enjoy, and ask all the questions you want!!

Can't say enough about the radness of this part of the world!! And the people!! Such good times.

Enjoy!

Sweet build what size tires did you go with?

 

[dylan.h.brown]

The first time I went to the Wall was 1985. The rock formations sure have gotten more intricate.
Waking in at medium/low tide without booties is fun. I can't surf with them. My buddy's the same way but crams his size 12's into the back of his wetsuit somehow until he goes in.

We were hopeful they would shape up. Woke up to a grey day -- honestly a little hungover -- waited until mid-tide and called it. Seems like it would be quite the scene during a northerner. So many camp spots, lots of use... I preferred the solitude feeling further north, where it was much more remote.

 

[dylan.h.brown]

Sweet build what size tires did you go with?

275/70r18 wrapped around Fuel Shok wheels, offset 0mm.

In hindsight, should have gone w/ something closer to stock offset... Probably could have gone with a 285 had I done that. But I can't go backwards now. I still rub ever so slightly fully loaded, locked and crawling (I think on my mud flaps), so who knows what a 285 would be like (for me -- I know plenty of people out there will argue til they're red in the face that 285 on stock offset doesn't rub at all).