San Felipe with the Boys

[Christyle]

I never post much on here, but after seeing the San Felipe 250 posts and videos lately, I figured I might as well throw up a quick little trip report on a recent run to San Felipe I took with some friends back in October. A buddy of mine has a budding Baja trip company (IG: @adventuresofdirt )he's toying with starting up, since he's our resident trip planner since our college offroad club days and is also the only one with a hint of knowledge of any real Spanish for when we get in a pickle. This was my first trip with my Raptor, past trips had been with my old mildly built Tacoma.

Day 1: SD -> Laguna Hanson -> Valle de Trinidad -> San Felipe

Early morning border crossing at Tecate after meeting up with the group: My raptor, a friends 2012? raptor leading us, a well-built prelander 3rd gen tacoma, A well built mid-travel Bronco and our friend's company rig, the AccuTune JL on 40s.

Appeasing the offroad Gods with a trail soda when hitting dirt, always. Parque Nacional entrance, airing down.


Laguna Hanson, high altitude dry lakebed in the forest. Super fun route from the border.


Valle de Trinidad tacos


Laguna Salada beer break


Pete's Camp for margaritas before heading into town.


Cruised into town about dusk after a long day in the dirt, the only casualty being the Jeep JL losing the driveshaft bolts, luckily we had spares to carry it through the rest of the trip. Got situated in our hotel in town, ate tacos, drank drinks, walked the Malecon, ate more tacos.

 

[Christyle]

Day 2: San Felipe -> Matomi Wash -> Rancho Percebu

Day 2 Started with a fantastic breakfast of chilaquiles at Hotel El Cortez before heading back up to Pete's camp area to start an adventurous day of exploring and trying to find a back way through the desert to our next 2 night's stay in Percebu. We found a track, and a lot of tight and twisty roads through LOTS of ocotillo, scrub brush and cactus. Hit some high speed stuff at the end and then looped back down Matomi wash to come up to our stay in Percebu.

Exploring sand washes and canyons through the desert


Beer break to check how much desert pinstriping was added


Dropping down into the back end of Matomi wash


Cool rock canyons where things can go from 15' wide to a mile


Rock crawling and testing the integrity of the factory running boards


This was a long and exhausting day of sand wash SXS chop, scratches, great vistas and a cooler getting dangerously low on beer. To top it all off, when we got into Percebu where we planned for some giant bowls of alcoholic concoctions and shrimp quesedillas, we learned that Covid wasnt kind to Rancho Percebu, and the bar/taco stand had to close it's doors. Sad news, as it was a great place to enjoy a drink on the beach after a long day.

 

[Christyle]

Day 3: Percebu -> San Felipe -> Percebu

Day 3 was supposed to be a relaxing day in Percebu, hanging on the beach, borrowing some kayaks, snoozing in the Hammocks and checking out the Chenowth museum.

Exploring the low tide in the morning below our rooms on the bluff. It's a wonderfully peaceful sleepy little beach community South of San Felipe.


Setting up the hammocks from Adventure Hammock Systems for a short lived stay on the beach, and not just because we were low on cervezas. Unfortunately one of our guys got tagged by what we think must have been a stingray when he was wading out for a dip. He hobbled back to shore and we got some hot water on it to neutralize the toxins. We decided to make the call and take most of the group into town (~45 mins) for a grocery re-stock since our plan had been to rely on Racnho Percebu for our food and libations.


Beautiful day on the beach in town. Picked up some amazing fish tacos, a bunch of groceries, more cervezas and headed back to the house.


If you're ever in the area you MUST stop by here. Tons of cool off-roading history with old Chenowth beam cars in the garage, plus a bar upstairs, all in an amazing little resort on the beach. They were working on getting their food license approved to open a small restaurant on site, and also have a few guest rooms you can stay at. WELL WORTH the visit.


While enjoying margaritas on the deck, we noticed some people in need on the beach below and my buddy and I jumped in his Raptor and headed down to pull out a little suzuki who'd gotten buried in the muddy sand. He let us know there was another person needing more help up the way, so we headed up and found a Razr BURIED in the mud past the rockers, about 200 yards out into the mucky low tide zone. After a few hours of digging, winching, yanking, cussing, and coordinating far more drunk helpers than I care to count, we were able to free the razr and get him back onto dry ground. They invited us back to their friend's house where we were fed shots and beers and offered food by a local family who were having a party for some newlyweds. Wild times that night, but a great time.


Day 4 was the return trip home, which was a very early start and a long drive back to Mexicali where we made it back to to the states and parted ways. Another solid Mexico trip with the boys...

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Great write up! Fantastic Pictures!
What an Amazing Adventure with memories to last a lifetime.
Grab the Gang and y’all Come up to Vegas for a week of “Supporting The Local Economy “ and Desert Adventures!

 

[John M BUNMAN]

What was the fuel situation on your Adventure? Did you have to carry a lot or was it readily available?

 

[Christyle]

What was the fuel situation on your Adventure? Did you have to carry a lot or was it readily available?

Unlike when the 250 came to town, fuel was no problem. I don't think I was ever below a half tank, but I carried a 5gal jug we filled at the first stop just in case. The giant fuel tank on this thing was helpful for sure.

San Felipe is one of my favorite areas, because the town is just the right level of civilization for me, with plenty of amenities (hotels, taco stands, restaurants, fuel, taco stands, grocery stores, etc) but not quite the touristy craziness of somewhere like Ensenada or TJ.

 

[grleon65]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing

 

[smurfslayer]

Agreed, that was a great read and pics.

 

[Muchmore]

I love it when you can fall into little parties like that after meeting locals, that's perfect.

 

[HOLLYWOOD 1]

Great pics, great write up! There is nothing like Baja!