Baja California Expedition

Expeditions sponsored by North face

As this is an expedition we have a goal; to explore and develop paragliding sites on the Baja peninsula. Before getting into the specifics of the trip, I’d like to give you a little background information on Baja.

Mountains Flying the dune The east-west road Camping at Conception

The Country

The Baja peninsula is part of Mexico –well, sort of. It’s attached to the bottom of California and separated from the rest of Mexico by the Sea of Cortez. Although Baja isn’t very wide in an east – west direction, it stretches for 876 miles which makes it longer than Italy. Volcanic activity has created the craggy desert-scape and jagged mountains that dominate Baja. Much of the landscape is covered by cardon cactus, spiky Joshua trees, and spindly ocotillo bushes that give it a raw, untamed feel. I guess the best description I can give you is that you feel just like you’ve stepped into a spaghetti western. Although there are some principle routes that are paved, much of Baja is only served by dirt roads or with boat access. Wild horses are still common as are mountain lions, javalinas (small wild pigs), and coyotes. Waking up in the morning to the sound of coyotes howling is unforgettable. The temperatures can vary enormously; in the mountains the temperatures drop below freezing at night while we’ll probably get temperatures in the 40’s C in the desert.

The Detail

We’ll be meeting you at Los Angeles International airport (LAX) on April 6 at (or before) 2pm. We will already have picked up the vehicles and because of the terrain, we’ll be using 3 huge 4-wheel drives. We’ll have them all provisioned with necessary camping / back country kit as well as fishing equipment and snorkeling gear. We’ll head south from here, crossing the boarder at Tijuana then driving a further 40 miles or so to La Salina where we’ll be staying in a rather unusual B+B run by one of the locals. We’ll have a couple of days of flying here before heading to a coastal site called San Antonio Del Mar. This isn’t a particularly well known site but when it’s working you can soar the Dunes above the Pacific for miles. The next stop after SADM is Scorpion Bay (or San Juancino). Again the flying is primarily coastal but when it works there is about a 30 mile strip that is flyable. The rugged hills above Scorpion Bay also offer possibilities.

Next we’ll head into the Vizcanio desert, a truly bleak and beautiful environment. Here we’ll explore completely new sites, hiking to take-offs and clearing them. Continuing east we’ll camp on the Sea of Cortez and fly both coastal and inland sites. The sea of Cortez is wonderfully warm and palm trees grow along the shore line. Our final destination will be in the San Pedro Martir Mountains. Again, we’ll be flying new sites.

The flying will suit a wide range of abilities and ranges from coastal dunes to thermic inland sites with excellent XC potential. For those with less experience, the mornings and evenings offer much easier conditions and there will be 2 instructors to offer assistance. Although this is our itinerary, it is by no means fixed. We’ll do our best to access local weather forecasts and will alter our plans to give us the best chance of flying. There is a chance that we will be able to fly Torre Pines on either the first or last day.

Acommodation

We’ll be staying at a B+B in La Salina and at Mikes Sky Rancho in the mountains, otherwise we’ll be camping. This means cooking over open fires, washing up in the sea or wherever else we can find and opportunities for showers are a bit limited. We will be rough camping in the desert and the camp area at SADM may or may not have showers. We will supply all of the cooking gear and can rent tents and sleeping bags for you if you wish.

Other Activities

We’ll visit some of the old mission stations, many of which are now no more that ruins (but beautiful, none the less), exploring caves and looking at the rock art left on the walls, fishing for our dinner, diving for clams and generally soaking up the amazing atmosphere. There are so many things to see and do and we’ll certainly try to fit as much in as possible.

Cost

The cost of the trip is £1250 and does not include flights. If you require camping hire, tents are £40 for the 2 weeks and sleeping bags are £15 but these must be booked in advance.

If you’d like to join us on this incredible adventure, please call 07833-107902 or e-mail baja@flightculture.co.uk