Trip Report: Baja
Posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
It is not often that you are given a large chunk of time to do whatever you want, within economical reason. Loving climbing, I generally gravitate toward a climbing oriented trip. So when a couple of my friends mentioned a surf trip to the East Cape of Baja, they caught my attention, but they didn’t sell me on the idea. I am not a surfer, not really even a water person, and really don’t care for the sensation of drowning. Why would I want to sit on the beach for two weeks, with an occasional venture into the ocean to try surfing, when I could be climbing in Bishop or Red Rocks? After a lengthy inventory of reasons why it was not a good idea; I decided to go for it and try something new. After all, we would still have time to climb and bike in the Southwest after we returned and a little relaxing never killed anyone.
Staring down on the desert from the plane window, I started to doubt my decision. The never-ending dryness and lack of color was startling. I reminded myself that people LOVE Southern Baja and everything was going to be great. We landed, packed our rental car with four adults, groceries, gear and boards, gobbled up a few fish tacos and started down the washboard road towards Nine Palms.
First thing in the morning we headed down to one of surf spots. We had the beach to ourselves; it was a beautiful bluebird day, the ocean was a gleaming turquoise, and the waves looked semi-friendly. I was starting to understand why people loved being down there.
The only thing left to do was ‘surf’. We had a range of experience in our group; from completely novice to nearly expert. The more experienced plunged into the ocean and paddled out as if the waves welcomed them. They made it look so easy. From my very limited experience I knew it wasn’t easy, but thought maybe things had changed. I paddled with all my might and managed to make out past the break with only a few tosses. The next step was to try and catch one of the waves. Again, I was paddling with all my might, but this time towards the shore. I missed the wave; however the next wave did not miss me. It came crashing down on my head and sent me into what we came to term the ‘mixer.’ The mixer can basically be described as a human washing machine; first the brunt force of the ocean flips you, shoves you under, tosses you round and round, until you don’t know which way is up or down. You are released for a brief moment, allowed to surface for a gulp of air, grab your board just in time for another monster wave to smack you down and send you back under. Needless to say, it dampens your spirit and courage.
I did not manage to stand up on my board and ride a wave that first day, but that wasn’t for a lack of trying. Despite the time I logged in the mixer; I wanted to keep trying.
Day after day, we would throw ourselves at the ocean and hope for success. I came to discover that learning curve was quite steep. My confidence level looked like a sine wave, rising high, only to sink to the bottom, with each toss in the mixer. But progress was made, and eventually I did catch a wave just right and stood up on both legs, without falling off. I even got to enjoy a few rides to shore and what a great feeling. This did not come without a lot of punishment, and fear – lots of it. It also came with plenty of Tecates, avocados, Baja Fogs, pink sunsets, lazy afternoons, walks on the beach, and campfires. And ‘sitting’ on the beach turned out to be quite enjoyable.
The East Cape of Baja turned out to be a pretty wonderful place. Just palms, sand, ocean, surfers, some very tame donkeys and good friends. I didn’t leave Nine Palms a ‘surfer, I will always be a climber. But, I would go back for more.
Environmental engineer Mariah McPherson is one of Cloudveil’s Inspired Mountain Ambassador.
