Overland Adventures - the journey to a new life
- Thread starter RMP&O
- Start date
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
In Guanajuato, been here about a week. Just went caving this last weekend up in San Luis Potosi. Getting ready this weekend to go do the big drop at Golondrinas and then next week some camping in the desert. Working on some stuff here in Guanajuato like the truck and some other things. Here is a couple un-edited sample videos from Baja that I uploaded to youtube earlier today.
Cheers
Cheers
Last edited:
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
One of our sponsors, TRAK Kayaks, is releasing their new kayak in April and due to this we were not able to share any pictures of the boats, until now! They are kicking off the 2.0 TRAKs with a Crowdfunding Campaign, we did a lot of video work in Baja for this campaign. Great time to get a very good price on these outstanding kayaks.
http://ultimate.trakkayaks.com/
Cheers
Traveling 2gether Journal
Adventurer
Looks like your having a good time. I appreciate the amount of toys/gear you brought with you. We've had a lot of people raise their eyebrows at the amount of hiking, fishing, surfing, snorkeling, ect. gear we brought with us, but for me it's all about experiencing new places through the activities I enjoy doing.
Keep on cruising and having a good time. Couldn't blame you if you never left Baja. It's a rad place and one of my favorites.
Keep on cruising and having a good time. Couldn't blame you if you never left Baja. It's a rad place and one of my favorites.
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
Like I say we have gone caving the last two weekends but we have also been doing some other stuff as well. Here are some pictures.
Roy dropping into a 250 meter drop!
Our camp two weekends ago in San Luis Potosi.
In the jungle at Golondrinas last weekend.
We went to a place called Media Luna in San Luis Potosi a few days ago. Wow what a fantastic place this is!
TBC!
Roy dropping into a 250 meter drop!
Our camp two weekends ago in San Luis Potosi.
In the jungle at Golondrinas last weekend.
We went to a place called Media Luna in San Luis Potosi a few days ago. Wow what a fantastic place this is!
TBC!
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
So last weekend we went to a place called Sótano de las Golondrinas also known as The Cave of Swallows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Swallows
The weekend before we had gone out to San Luis Potosi to do some caving and get myself and a few other people who hadn't caved in a long time some time with the gear. I myself have never used this type of gear when it comes to technical caving and "big drops". After some training in a tree near camp we went and did a 60 meter drop, 196ft. This was my first drop ever with this type of gear and it was a rush! The next day we went to do a 250 meter drop, 820ft! After getting down into that cave and getting it all set up at the drop I was 4th in line to go. By the way the leader on all this is my partner Roy's father Gerardo Morrill. He has more than 20yrs caving experience here in Mexico and I feel very comfortable with him leading these adventures. Three people do the 250 meter drop which is also a ways down in the Earth so it is just a black pit down there. When they get down there they find high levels of co2 so I opt out and they ascend out of the pit as fast as they can to get back to cleaner air. The plan with this drop was to get me more comfortable and familiar with the big drops as well as the rack. I trust Gerardo 100% but with such limited use of the gear, aka the "rack" used for repelling as well as the ascends I just didn't get much chance to get more comfortable and confident with the gear. We head to Golondrinas this last weekend. It rains most of the weekend and there are a lot of rules there, mostly just for times in and out of the massive hole in the ground! The swallows leave in the morning and come back in the afternoon so you can only go in and out between about 10am and 4pm. Four people in our group drop on Saturday and I am with the other two for Sunday. Every body here has some kind of experience caving, with the gear and with big drops. I am easily the most inexperienced in the group. I am second to last on Sunday, I get rigged up, even have my rack hooked up to our 500 meter rope and am sitting on the edge of the hole that is just simply incredible to look down. I am literally about to drop over the edge and sit on the rack when I simply decide not to go down. My gut was just not telling me I felt comfortable repelling nearly 1200ft straight down!! Now I have sky dived from 16,000ft to sea level and let me tell ya, that was much easier than doing this. I had to have 100% trust for this drop in the gear as well as my ability to use it and I simply did not feel that way having only ever done a 60 meter drop.
Roy however has done the drop four or five times before So for him it was just a rush, he also has done a lot of caving with his dad. However, it started puking rain right after Roy dropped down which in turn led to some waterfalls forming and pouring into the cave. As well as thick fog and mist hanging up high at the top of the pit. Roy said it was the first time he has ever dropped into Golondrinas when it was like this. Any ways, with that little story here are the pics from Roy's decent into Golondrinas.
These two pictures give a perspective on how massive this cave is at the bottom.
These two pictures do as well! One from our group is ascending!
Cheers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Swallows
The weekend before we had gone out to San Luis Potosi to do some caving and get myself and a few other people who hadn't caved in a long time some time with the gear. I myself have never used this type of gear when it comes to technical caving and "big drops". After some training in a tree near camp we went and did a 60 meter drop, 196ft. This was my first drop ever with this type of gear and it was a rush! The next day we went to do a 250 meter drop, 820ft! After getting down into that cave and getting it all set up at the drop I was 4th in line to go. By the way the leader on all this is my partner Roy's father Gerardo Morrill. He has more than 20yrs caving experience here in Mexico and I feel very comfortable with him leading these adventures. Three people do the 250 meter drop which is also a ways down in the Earth so it is just a black pit down there. When they get down there they find high levels of co2 so I opt out and they ascend out of the pit as fast as they can to get back to cleaner air. The plan with this drop was to get me more comfortable and familiar with the big drops as well as the rack. I trust Gerardo 100% but with such limited use of the gear, aka the "rack" used for repelling as well as the ascends I just didn't get much chance to get more comfortable and confident with the gear. We head to Golondrinas this last weekend. It rains most of the weekend and there are a lot of rules there, mostly just for times in and out of the massive hole in the ground! The swallows leave in the morning and come back in the afternoon so you can only go in and out between about 10am and 4pm. Four people in our group drop on Saturday and I am with the other two for Sunday. Every body here has some kind of experience caving, with the gear and with big drops. I am easily the most inexperienced in the group. I am second to last on Sunday, I get rigged up, even have my rack hooked up to our 500 meter rope and am sitting on the edge of the hole that is just simply incredible to look down. I am literally about to drop over the edge and sit on the rack when I simply decide not to go down. My gut was just not telling me I felt comfortable repelling nearly 1200ft straight down!! Now I have sky dived from 16,000ft to sea level and let me tell ya, that was much easier than doing this. I had to have 100% trust for this drop in the gear as well as my ability to use it and I simply did not feel that way having only ever done a 60 meter drop.
Roy however has done the drop four or five times before So for him it was just a rush, he also has done a lot of caving with his dad. However, it started puking rain right after Roy dropped down which in turn led to some waterfalls forming and pouring into the cave. As well as thick fog and mist hanging up high at the top of the pit. Roy said it was the first time he has ever dropped into Golondrinas when it was like this. Any ways, with that little story here are the pics from Roy's decent into Golondrinas.
These two pictures give a perspective on how massive this cave is at the bottom.
These two pictures do as well! One from our group is ascending!
Cheers
Traveling 2gether Journal
Adventurer
Oh, it's on the list!
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
As mentioned before we are staying in Guanajuato for awhile to get some things worked out with the truck. Nothing that really needed to be done but things that didn't get finished or dealt with in the USA. Today I just need to install the factory e-locker switch to my Harrop e-lockers and that is a done deal and my truck is triple locked! Also fixing leaky power steering lines and some weeping on my coolant hoses. Going to dump the 70/30 coolant to water and go to a 30/70 since we won't need the freeze protection until S. America. This will also be a good time to install some brass heater line T's I have to eliminate any risks with them breaking in the future. I had purchased new winch controlled solenoids in the USA right before I left because mine are toast and we can't use the winch because of it. Well once I started to do that work I learned I was sold the wrong solenoids. So I have the right solenoid plus some other stuff in route from the USA now. Once we finish up the truck we will be moving on to Southern Mexico.
In the meantime Guanajuato is a great place to "home base" it and from the pictures we have obviously been having fun in this area. It has also given us time to do a lot with our pictures and I am currently working on making a video from our time in Baja. I have been on the road now nearly 10 weeks and nearly 8 weeks of that in Mexico. It feels like only a week or two! Amazing how time flies when you are on the road.
Cheers
In the meantime Guanajuato is a great place to "home base" it and from the pictures we have obviously been having fun in this area. It has also given us time to do a lot with our pictures and I am currently working on making a video from our time in Baja. I have been on the road now nearly 10 weeks and nearly 8 weeks of that in Mexico. It feels like only a week or two! Amazing how time flies when you are on the road.
Cheers
bigskypylot
Explorer
Gonna go check out the Mummies?