The Good & The Bad

Good morning friends, adventurers, schemers & dreamers!


Lots to report.  So, it was my last day of Spanish school here in Ensenada.  Kind of sad, but also nice to take a break from that.  I sincerely intend to keep it up and try to improve my Spanish on this trip.


The bad.  My field trip to La Bufadora was cancelled for a variety of reasons, which kinda sucks.  The upside is I'm going to get Dan to go see it with me when he gets here.  Apparently, there is only two of this type of natural phenomenon in the world.  I'll be able to cross one off the list after Tuesday.


The good.  I went for an amazing ride yesterday.  I can't begin to tell you how much I needed a good ride and a little adventure, and I found some.


My plan, to head out to Parque Nacional Constitución de 1857 and also to Laguna Hanson, which is in the vicinity. They have a facebook site and here is the link:https://www.facebook.com/pnconstitucion 

My good friend Yolanda said there had been bunch of snow, and the park had been inaccessible and closed. A quick look at the facebook page revealed that things had cleared up somewhat and it was "go time".

First thing in the morning, (when I say that, I mean as soon as the water was turned on and I could take a shower), I sprung out of bed liked a coiled spring, ready to be sprung.  I had a nice breakfast here at the house and got ready to depart.


I didn't want the hard luggage today and since my tank bag is a piece of broken piece of crap : )  I just went with a small pack and some essentials on the back.


I was found it a little hard to navigate without a way point in the GPS and the town of Ojos Negros wasn't listed on the GPS, so I just navigated to a spot on the highway where I thought it was, and low and behold I found it!  Maybe someone can give me some pointers with this thing later, but for now it worked.


When I rolled into Ojos Negros, I was kinda of expecting some signs, but after poking around, I just picked the more obvious road. (not too obvious mind you with a puddle the size of a small lake right at the beginning of it) and this is where the pavement ended.


I went down the road and then crossed a more prominent one track running perpendicular and decided to try it.  Some fun, sandy roads, but I still wasn't sure if was on the right track.  The GPS, without a way point, wasn't much help and the map was pretty vague.

"Cava de Quesos" Translated means "cave of cheese".  Once I saw that sign, I got a little side tracked and I thought maybe there was some caves to see.  Later I talked to Elizabeth and she figures it basically means, cheese farm. haha.

I headed back into the direction of Ojos Negros and I bumped into a another dual sport biker on a Kawi.  He spoke great English and he told me to go straight down the road I was on, for about an hour.  So I was on the right track, just not having any faith  because the lack of markings.   Something I should get used to, I suppose : )

The road got interesting quick and I finally hit a Park Sign.

I really wasn't sure what the distance was on this sign.

The Go-pro cam that was mounted on my lid didn't seem to work for me yesterday.  Good thing we're going back for more.

Faded old map of the park area.

There's a write-up on this place in Lonely Planet.

Tonnes of roads like this with no-one around for miles and barely any cars.  I didn't see a car for about an hour at one point.

Just a little bit of snow on the ground.

These sandy but firm roads are so fun on the Tiger.

Laguna Hanson.

There were huge boulders all over the place, but this one spot in particular was a garden of them.  Kind of like a natural stone hedge.

I forgot the tripod, but still got a little self-timer shot.

Such interesting rock formations.

There was actually two Lakes.  Laguna Hanson,  I believe is the first one I arrived at.  On my GPS there was also a much larger lake just a little further called Laguna Juárez.  I'm not sure why no one mentioned it, but if you look at the spot tracker you will see it.

After checking out the lakes I west a bit further into the park and passed a few 4x4's.  The excitement was building and I kept going faster until I hit a patch of softer sand and ate dirt big time!  Luckily the bark buster and GO-Pro camera broke my fall.   Darn it to hell if I didn't flinch and pick up the bike before a nice picture.  I assessed the damage and there appeared to be only some minor scratches on one mirror and another small crack in the plastic.  Seems like the bike goes down on the right, more that the left.  Must be something to do with me being right handed and flinched right! haha.  I started to think.... how shitty it would be if I got hurt out there.  There's like no one around for a longgg way.  Then the hospital would be a long ride on the bike. Best not to think of that shit;  that's what medical insurance and a spot tracker is for! ahaha

One last picture and I'm heading back.

A few KM's (miles for you American folks) back there is a few buildings and there was an old guy selling pop, snacks and I bought myself a Monster Energy drink to cool off a bit.

I hope that's per gallon.

It's not a conventional store by North American or Mexican standards.

It's really beautiful, but hard to capture on film.

I took a different route, which led to the highway #3 faster.  After a military check point, I stopped for gas and chatted with some nice Mexican bikers...2 couples that were headed to Ensenada from San Felipe.  They seemed to like the Tiger and one of the guys was very impressed with the Rotopak mount.   Shit, I'm still impressed with it and the peace of mind that two extra gallons of gas gives me is sooo sweet.


Adios for now!