ODO: 307,130
All resupplied up, we headed out to meet a friend and do some fishing for a couple of days. But first, into the desert for ADVENTURE!!
We met somewhere south of Bahia de Los Angeles because we had a map to hidden cave paintings. It turned out not to be a map at all but rather a couple of partially remembered directions. Luckily our guide was good at maps, and was able to more or less lead us right to the first set. Hidden away in a small cave behind a large hill, down a forgotten road, this would be a very easy spot to miss. Our second cave, and camp for the night took a little more searching to find the “road”. This cave had unfortunately been somewhat vandalized, but wasn’t a total loss. By now it was getting late, so after dinner and a fire, we tucked in among the rocks and giant cardõns and let the coyotes sing us to sleep.
The next day we were off to Poncho’s to start our fishing extravaganza. We learned how to fish from the shore for halibut. If you’ve ever seen one, you know they’re interesting looking, like their face slid around to their side. KoKo caught her first ever fish that day, half of the days total catch. We turned our hard work into sushi and sashimi, which were both delicious. Hot tip, always carry wasabi because you never know! We spent a second day at Poncho’s and Berne was able to catch a halibut too, making everyone’s fish count even. The wind started to pick up in the afternoon, and even our fire couldn’t compete with it, so everyone turned in early. Oh yeah, almost forgot about when we caught a blue footed booby!! See video for more.
As we left Poncho’s in the morning, we came across two men with a bad flat (we LOVE a chance to stop and help!). After trying to plug it, our friend took one of the men into town to get a new tire, while Berne helped the other man remove his ruined tire from its rim. Once they got back, we were able to quickly get the new tire on the rim, filled with air, and back on the truck. All in all, a couple hours out of our day saved these two men a very, very long walk.
Next we were off to see if we could find a way into a beach near Bahia de Los Angeles. Where there’s a will, a satellite map and aggressively capable off-road vehicles, there’s usually a way. And we had plenty of will. An afternoon of backtracking, bushwhacking and guessing paid off, and we were treated to a beautiful and deserted bay. White sand, clear water, and the direction the bay pointed kept the wind down. We saw a coyote, and a couple American Oystercatchers wandering the beach.
This wasn’t the beach we were originally looking for, so we packed up and went on another small adventure to find a way to the northern most side of this bay. This beach turned out to be the big winner of the trip. Minutes after stopping for a quick survey, we caught a halibut, and KoKo collected way too many sand dollars and spindle snail shells. She also found an aggressive number of starfish and a dolphin skull as we drove further north along the beach. As we continued exploring we came across some rock structures that were surrounded by piles and piles of purple mother of pearl shells. We think these are used for seasonal fish camps in the area. Weirdest of all, we found a rusted out enclosed trailer made from an old Econoline Van. We collected all the fire wood we could find, and settled into a chilly night around a roaring fire. The stars were out in full force, so we took in the show until the wee hours.
For the final day of our beach tour we headed into Frog Canyon. While not technically a beach (honestly, water+sand=beach), we did find sand to camp on, and the springs running through the canyon made a small river along the edge of our camp spot. In the morning we packed up and went rock and log hunting on our drive out of the canyon. We found several large slabs of green slate that may or may not become part of a front yard project one day. After that, it was tacos and back to our friend’s house for showers and relaxing.
