Day Three
Our third day of our December ride with Go Baja/Go Desert Riding Tours closely mirrored our first day on the Can-Am intro, just in reverse. The climb out of Mike’s Sky Rancho and through the hilly country on our way to Mexico Highway 1 offers quite a variety of countryside, from desert fauna to green, fertile farmlands to barren desert to a relatively high mountain pass to pavement. There are a couple of stretches of trail where you can really open up the throttle. And some more windy trails (especially going up to and down from the pass) where you slow down so you don’t drop off the edge—and fall quite a ways before getting to the bottom.
Our group stopped for lunch in San Vicente at the Restaurante Valentina, another excelente place to eat. We have eaten there twice now and have been impressed both times.
From San Vicente, we headed basically west toward the Pacific Ocean, passing through Ejido Erendira and then going north along the ocean for several miles before heading back inland to Santo Tomas.
At times, the road/trail is almost at sea level while at other times you’re high above the ocean and can see for miles in either direction. This might seem a bit contrite to say, but it was almost magical to drive along the ocean. There are no trees or mega mansions to obscure your view of the ocean. It’s wide open viewing for the entire stretch from Ejido Erendira to where we headed back inland. We spent a little time on the beach (not as long as we did on the Can-Am ride) but the tide was coming in so that limited our time.
Stretches Of Fun
The ride between the Pacific Ocean and Santo Tomas is another great stretch of trail/road. It’s not particularly tough riding but it is so much fun to take all the twists and turns and ups and downs.
From Santo Tomas, we headed back to Ensenada on Mexico Highway 1 and the San Nicolas Hotel. We pulled into the hotel at dusk and the odometer at the end of that day’s ride read 134.4 miles.
If you remember from part one of this Baja story, we mentioned how Anderson and his crew think of every little detail from the start of the trip to the finish. One very nice touch Anderson adds at the end is to arrange a room so the riders/drivers can take a shower before the drive back to San Diego. It’s nice not to have to make that drive covered in dust and grime.
After our shower we loaded up in the Go Baja/Go Desert Riding vans and went back to San Diego, where the staff dropped us off at the hotel.
We chalk our two Baja California rides up as two of our most favorites. The reasons are numerous. Great guiding and service by Anderson and his crew has to be near the very top. The uniqueness of the trip from the riding to the lodging to the food is also right up there. The people in Mexico are warm and friendly. The riding was fun and varied. To say we rode from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of California—and on the beaches of both bodies of water—is unique.
The real test of a good ride is if you would do the same one again.
En un instante.
