Mexico Van Life - Baja California: Free Camping, Wildlife, Weather, Road Conditions
The Baja California Peninsula in Mexico is magical. It was a life changing experience. Because we spent so much time there and want share the entire experience we’re going to do something we’ve never done before. We’re going to break the Mexico blog into 4 parts.
Because the van had off grid capabilities we were able to camp wherever we pleased. We only paid for campsites our first two days ($15 USD total).
After that we only went to free camp sites which consisted of nothing but parking right up on the beach less than a 15 second walk to have your feet in the water. In Mexico pretty much all the beaches are free to the public for access and there is no restrictions on how long you can be there. We were in the same spot on the beach anywhere from 3-6 days, just parked in paradise as some would say. Staying at a campsite until we ran out of resources.
The wildlife we encountered was an amazing experience! The Baja peninsula is the hub for marine wildlife in the winter along the Pacific Ocean because of the warm weather in the middle of Winter and Spring.
Whales, dolphins, and many more animals migrate to Baja peninsula. We would constantly look at the ocean watching dolphins jump in the air and watch whale shoot blow holes. On the East Cape and along the coast of the Sea of Cortez, We were able to do some world class snorkeling a couple hundred yards right off the shoreline.
When driving on the road your also sharing the road with cows, goats, and donkeys. Donkeys won’t get out the way until you pet them! We once witnessed a pack of goats being herded by 3 dogs, better not have gotten close to the goats or the dogs would raise a fuss. Mexico takes on a whole definition of free range cows.
These cows would come by your campsite day or night, stepping on anything in it’s path, eating anything edible, and sometimes leave a present near by . Luckily we had Chief and he would go and run off the cows, so they never got too close to us.
We like to refer to Baja California as summer in the winter time. From March to May temperatures range from low 70’s to mid 90’s. Meanwhile, in some parts it is snowing in the US. Some days it can be very windy and some days it’s not. Once you get to April in Baja California Sur you don’t even need a wetsuit to get in the water. For the 49 days we were there it was sunny almost every day. Sometimes it was partly cloudy. And no rain!
As soon as you cross the the border the roads change instantly. A smooth road is a luxury in all of Baja. 50% of the driving we did was off road on dirt roads that lead you to the beach.
On the way to the campsite with friends!!
The longest stretch we had to drive on dirt road was a little under five hours. The main highway that runs through the peninsula is highway 1. It’s a two lane road going through a big city but expect one lane roads. The roads had some pot holes all around, but drive-able. Because of the conditions you’re not driving as fast as you would in the US so were driving 50-60 mph on the “highway” you were driving on average the most fuel efficient speed which is 55 mph.
There’s also something else that you should watch out for, speed bumps (topes in Spanish). These topes are always going to be coming in and out of a town is a good rule of thumb to follow. Keep your on the road, sometimes there are signs for topes.
That concludes this blog thanks for reading it! Be sure to tell a friend to tell a friend about our blog. Stay tuned for next week Part 2!!!
We also started a YouTube channel we will be releasing videos periodically so stay tuned for that as we dive into new adventures. Click on this link to lead you to our channel
👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
https://www.youtube.com/user/rebel1capone
Thank you have a great day!
