08/02/2018
Before leaving Mulege we looked for a local fisherman who could take us accross the bay on his boat. The next section of the Divide, the most remote side of Bahía Conception, is only reachable this way. After some asking around and bargaining with locals, we end up finding a tour boat/fishing guide on the indications of an American tourist (himself found in a bar). On our departure day, waiting for Alejandro at the boat launch we have some time to admire the pelicans and other birds there…

A desert island awaits !
A one or two miles hike-a-bike to the beginning of the tracks, on the beach, too. After which we have a swim before cycling a few kilometers on the trail going inland, and then settling for a campsite with a view.
The morning after a late start the beginning of the track is quite sandy and its sometimes more a hike a bike than riding, before getting firmer again passing salty marshes. I get a puncture, then the replacement inner tube Ian puts in loose pressure again not long after so we have to change it again. We have really nice views and ride next to the water almost all the time though.
A bit after lunch the track, passing salty marshes, becomes a bit firmer again and we start getting a bit faster. It is quite hot though and just before we leave the coastline at the end of the day we go for a really nice swim. Refreshed, we keep going until we are a bit inland, where we camp.
The dirt is fairly flowing and compact so we make some ground until, after a tiny uphill and a nice descent on the other side, we arrive near San Sebastian, looking at the sea again from the other side of the small peninsula. There we see a few goats in a palm grove, before Ian tells me he thinks we are going to have to climb out of the small valley we just descended in. And obviously just after a turn and a few dozen meters there is a big uphill on rocky and soft ground so it’s all pushing… then downhill, then we have to push to the same elevation again on the same type of terrain…
The following morning we ride a series of short hills and a flat bit before reaching San Isidro. It’s, again, a nice ride given the landscape. Dropping into San Isidro to resupply on food it’s really beautiful. We get bananas and fresh tortillas for lunch which we are really happy about after days of rice, beans and tortillas with jam. San Isidro seems quite developped given its size, with a stadium and some paved roads. We pass quite a few fields too. A farmer starts talking to us and when we ask him for dates, he sells us a kilo for twenty pesos and gives us a few guayavas each too!
After San Isidro it is mainly climbing. The start is steep just after lunch and so I push for a bit. It gets a bit easier afterwards but I’m quite tired and we only ride about 7 miles from the turn off to San Isidro until we camp, but not before a few beautiful vistas again.
The following day, as the resupply sheet promises a “awesome descent into San Jose de Comondu”, we have high expectations and we think we are almost done with climbing. There is actually a lot of rocky stuff to push the bike up and then it’s a mix of rocks, flatish, winds, rocks, small gradient, winds, etc. The vultures are having a hard time flying… We keep up a slow bumpy pace until we are one mile from San Jose… then it is frankly downhill and a bit less rocky. Although it can be gruelling riding on dirt we actually never climb to more than 600 meters above sea level. San Jose is at 300 meters altitude. Arriving there around 1pm we hope to refill on water and food and start climbing again just after. Both stores in town are closed though. Asking an old lady, she tell us one opens at 4pm… Time to rest for our own siesta too. Since we have crossed into Baja California Sur we came accross quite a few places closed from 1-4pm or 2-4pm but had not been impaired by it until now. Nonetheless, its a good time to relax and spray ourselves with some cold water from a hose in the town square…
After resupplying we don’t have much time left before dark to find a campsite, and given the village is small we decide to risk pushing on a few kilometers to find a campsite even if the road climbs straight back up. We are lucky and find a flat camp relatively close to the road but well hidden after a few kilometers.
Next day we continue uphill for a bit. Then it’s downhill into the canyon. And just after it’s pushing the bikes up a steep long climb back up. On the last two switchbacks it’s so steep both Ian and me push my bike. We have lunch. 17 miles to go. The climb levels outs before going a bit down. Then it’s up again but slowly. I’m quite trashed by this stage and even if it is not too steep at this point my calves are done in so I walk my bike…Ian is far ahead, until, his bike parked by a tree, he comes back running downhill to meet me and ride my bike back uphill as I walk there… I feel a bit guilty of cheating on the trail but I’m quite tired and his smile from ear to ear while riding a bike too small for him is worth seeing. His cassette has been skipping cogs for a couple of days now so he hasn’t been able to climb steep hills in the gear he likes. We go downhill, Ian ahead again, and as I catch up with him at the end of the descent I find him bathing barechested in a river, happily getting a rinse since we haven’t had a shower in days.
We get back on the road and it is flater but quite bumpy still. After twenty miles I’m looking forward to camp as we have passed quite a few shallow river crossings which, each time, made me want to go swimming or camping near the water. We end up near a small river which looks really nice, however once in it, it is a bit dirty as the bottom lime and slime gets disturbed… we still both get a swim.
The following day we hope to make it to Ley Federal #1, a resupply village 35 miles away. From the GPS data we are thinking we will ride through a mainly downhill/flat terrain which would be perfect to make ground. Unfortunately, while going mainly flat and downhill the route keeps going through small up and downs. Given it is mainly soft ground with sandy and rocky bits as well as passing quite a few river crossings it is slow going. A couple of hours after start I am a bit checked out. It’s now the 8th day we are out of Mulege and it has now been quite a few days on irregular terrain with similar landscapes which is a bit discouraging for me. We end up doing 22 miles instead of the 35 planned.
I’m happy to see this little frog though, and see a strange grey animal with a fluffy tail disappearing in the bushes as I approach. It could have been a racoon or a skunk (which can both be found in Baja Sur ) but I am not 100% sure as the encounter was very brief.
The following day luckily we make up for time. After 13 still-quite-sandy miles we get to Ley Federal and have some lunch before a short stretch on the MEX1. Going back on the trail it’s really hot but after a bit we pass through citrus groves. A car of workers stop by us and gives us a few oranges.
After a couple miles we are in the centre, and find a cheap motel to rest for a couple days after nine days on the dirt without a break and phone coverage! We end up staying three days. The last morning as we are going to the internet cafe we meet a couple of Dutch bikepackers in their fifties and a Englishman who has travelled all over, also on the Divide.
Leaving town we resupply for another predictably long stretch of the Divide. Entering a water purification shop, it turns out the owner loves cyclists, and gives us the water for free as well as some new plastic bottles (unfortunately, we have had to carry some spares who got, very, very dirty…).
Still being really warm in the evening I only pitch the inner tent then, but during the night it start raining and we have to get up to put the fly up. The following morning after the rain has stopped the tent dries unusually quickly. Impressive how the air is still dry and hot after the rain!
In the afternoon while the route is compact and rideable and the hills are small ones I get really tired after 20 miles in the day. We push on 6 more miles and camp. Lots of stretching follows. I probably didn’t drink enough during the day.
The following day see us through quite a lot of climbing but with some really nice views… it is still a difficult day for me as my ass feel sore as soon as I get on the saddle. Ian is a bit acky as well. After all the beautiful views and just before we have lunch we think about getting resupply in a little town marked a bit off route of the trail…we start following a broken rocky road from a turn in the settlement we are going through but decide to turn back as we actually have enough food until the next resupply on route. Then we have lunch before going back on the easier fast flowing dirt road- only to come accross a home where a local, Noberto, gives us water and directions. We then realize we were supposed to actually take the turn on the broken road anyway. We keep following the broken road for a few miles until we decide to camp, halfway between Soledad and Evaristo, in a cattle resting place with babies scorpios under some rocks we move…
After some really good views and some interesting rocks we arrive in San Evaristo, and even though the last few resupply points we have passed have proven to disappoint us (so far no food and we ended up asking locals for water), given the sheets information on this one we are quite optimistic. Our enthusiasm doesn’t last. After a big uphill and some descent into the town, a few miles off-route, we find out from a neighbour that the Abbarotes is closed as the family went to La Paz for the weekend. The restaurant is closed until the evening and the owner of the place where there is a water well is out of town as well. We end up paying a local for some water from his tank.
After a long time aiming for Punta Coyote I get a puncture on my front tyre as the sun gets low. It will be a really hard job for Ian who pinches three tubes while trying to get back the tyre on the rim… So at some point I wander off the road to look for a camp as I think we are done for the day. Not for Ian. He ends up getting the tyre back fine, declare we are back on the road, and we end up in a settlement in the dark. We ask a local, Hector, about the grocery store who tell us…that the Tienda owners are in La Paz for the weekend. However he bring us to one of his neighbour who has cold drinks, always appreciated after four days without one. We camp by the hamlet’s church. Parking my bike, my front tyre is flat again. We are by the beach but access to the water is via a fishing place where there is litter around, so no morning swim.
Ian fixs my puncture easy enough when we get up. The morning light reveals the beautiful cliffs all around our camp.
Hector gives us some water and we get going. Some small hills await us but it is fairly fast flowing. We pass a prawn farm in the middle of the desert and canyons.
The road gets flater, we pass a huge mine and then it’s time to resupply in San Juan de la Costa! Thanks god, they are open and have a decent amount of food.
After resupply we get tired and stop five miles after we are back on pavement, on a beach. We have a great camp there, observing beautiful views of the sunset and some bats coming out at dusk.
The following day we do the 30 miles to La Paz on pavement. It’s been a while we haven’t been on a fairly busy paved road for a certain amount of time, and I find it hard to stay focused when after a few nice hills on tarmac the road turns flat with not much happening landscape wise.
It’s time for some city time, though ! In La Paz, the most inhabited place we have been in months (250000 inhabitants) we’ll end up staying four days in an hotel where there are a lot of backpackers and a few cyclists passing through. This leave us time to sort out some gear, visit a Warmshowers host we have sent mail at ahead and exchange with a few travellers. Also I start to look up for some information for onwards planning and Saxon, the British bikepacker met in Ciudad Constitution and staying in the same hotel than us gives me some heads up for climbing destinations.
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