Baja 2024 Part 3 – Ciudad Constitución to San Evaristo – Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures

20km south of Ciudad Constitucion, we turn east on gravel roads. We are concerned about fuel – if we get deep in the mountains and have to turn around, we could run out.

We decrease tire pressure and normally drive at 20 km/h because of rough roads and washboard. Our fuel economy decreases from 11l/100km to 19.

San Luis Gonzaga mission. The pattern was – The Spanish religious missions brought in European diseases and after 50 years there wasn’t enough natives left to keep the mission open.

We are amazed by how many ranches there are scattered across the desert. Occasionally there is a school – expensive place to provide services.

Looks like another well meaning government project. Cheese factory. Looks pretty quiet.

We hate this bush – ocotillo. Seeing hummingbirds feed on these flowers makes me hate the ocotillo a tiny bit less.

Most ranches are built beside an oasis, often where water is forced to the surface along a creek. There was hummingbirds working these flowers.

This was the biggest surface water we came across in the desert.

So much terrain, so few named peaks. This one had a spectacular chunk of superhard chert on top with a crucifix stuck in it

Vultures are by far my favourite creature in the Baja. They are excellent pilots, and once in a while I see one let loose with some fighter jet turns.

Every time we sit down, a vulture or two will immediately fly over, very close, and take a look. I call this a “Baja Wellness Check”

Cardon cacti are giant, up to 25 ton. They don’t normally bear tires as fruit.

Actual Cardon fruit – at least this is the shell. Interestingly all cactus fruit are edible, if you can get through the fortress of thorns.

The road has been great so far – as we approach the east coast and can see the sea, the road gets bad. Fortunately we have 4-Low, as the transmission in Series 2 Delicas can blow up from rock crawling.

That trail behind us is the road down the coast. We take a break part way down to relax.

After walking the steepest section, we roll down. The road keeps getter rougher. We give up and are very happy to drive back out. We later learn no one uses this road – the village is resupplied by sea.

The Los Dolores mission site is a 9km round trip walk. Marta has her peak today so we abandon the goal of getting to the mission.

But we are disappointed we didn’t get to the sea. The blue sea looks amazing from the desert. There is a road south to La Paz along the coast, but ranchers say the road is rough and we don’t have gasoline for any contingencies.

We see more and more dead cows, as many as 6 in one place. And many of the living cows look terrible – not the case last year.

We learn that Baja relies on hurricanes off the Pacific in the fall to provide rain. This year, the storms went south and there hasn’t been rain for more than a year. There is still water in the valley bottoms, but nothing is growing.

This is crazy that hurricanes are a blessing in this brutal place.

We see some ranchers playing volleyball. Marta joins in, we spread some cervezas around, and finally ask about gasoline.

A local rancher sells gas – I’m surprised to see him walk over with a hose and an open 5 gallon pail. At least we know the gas was clean. I get a buzz so Marta drives

The road down to the coast is bad with lots of large rocks. Running low pressure in the tires reduces our clearance a little. Fortunately the lowest point under the van is a beefy frame member so we can bang it off a rock once in a while with no consequences.