Driving the east shore Baja road, from Gonzaga Bay to San Juan del Mar...

After you put the welcome oasis of Rancho Grande in your rearview mirror, you'll drive about three miles until the turnoff to the next resort is reached, and that turnoff will lead you to Papa Fernández, where I turned off the road to enjoy a delicious breakfast of chorizo and eggs at Restaurante Papa Fernández.

Photo: Papa Fernández resort, looking from the main road, before the turnoff to the resort, and the Sea of Cortez. Note the beautiful, secluded, sandy beach on the north side of the resort, between the huge rocks.

Photo: Looking north on the main road, with parallel roads to the left. This photo clearly illustrates how rough this road is, and why its not recommended for motorhomes, or trailers.

Back on the gravel road, after you've left the turnoff to Papa Fernández, you go a mile or so, climb a slight rise, and right before you is something that you wouldn't expect to see in this remote, desert country: A military checkpoint. To the non-seasoned Baja traveler, the military checkpoints can be intimidating, as it does give one a strange feeling to be surrounded by a squad of soldiers, outfitted in full combat gear, and toting full-loaded M-16 assault rifles, but if you're not carrying illegal arms or drugs, you have nothing to worry about. I stopped the truck, and greeted the two privates that walked up to me, and they greeted me back. I know the drill, so I opened the doors to the cab of the truck, got out, and unlocked the toolbox so they could look inside it, and then stood back a respectful distance, to allow the soldiers to do their job. While the privates were looking through the contents of my truck, I asked the corporal how many vehicles they'd had this morning; he replied that I was the first one, by now it was almost 10:00 O'clock. He went on to say that they only got a handful of vehicles each day, as most people didn't travel further north than Papa Fernández along this road, and very few people came from the south, and that it was boring duty, and that he couldn't wait to get back to Ensenada, where they were based. This corporal was quite talkative, which is quite unusual.

Photo: The beautiful beach at Cinco Islas, which requires a hike down the steep cliffs to reach the water.

The privates did a thorough job searching my truck, but they didn't find anything, so they allowed me to continue. When you come to a military checkpoint, just smile, be courteous and allow the soldiers to do their job, and you'll never encounter any problems. I offered the soldiers each a cold Pepsi from my ice chest, which they readily accepted, since the temperature was by now, well over 90 degrees. I sort of feel sorry for these young guys, as they sleep in a dusty communal tent, eat their food in the open, and seem to do their laundry under primitive conditions, as witnessed by the laundry hanging out to dry from the ropes between tents. They must be bored, as there are no bars, honky-tonks or women out in this remote comer of the Baja California peninsula.

Photo: Just north of Cinco Islas, I encountered a wash-out, marked by a motorcycle tire, and a cairn of rocks. This would be a nasty place to get stuck. Note how rough the main road is.

Photo: Close-up of how discarded dirt bike tire marks washed out section of road. If the angle of the sunlight is wrong, these washouts can be hard to spot, as illustrated by this photo.

Driving north, the road is bad as ever, but the parallel roads disappear, as the terrain has shifted from sand to rocks, and the road has narrowed to one rough, rocky lane, with nothing but rocks on the side. The Sea of Cortez is in view, to your right (east) as you travel north, and high, rugged, desert mountains, the Sierra Santa Isabella rise a few thousand feet to the west. It's a land of stark, rock, desert scenery, set against the azure blue of the Sea of Cortez, which makes for truly beautiful scenery. I also noted that the vegetation had changed drastically, as the seguro cactus had disappeared, and had been replaced by very small greasewood bushes, and rocks, and more rocks. The ciro cactus were still present, and their twisted, pale green frames offered a bit of green, to add variation to the brown desert scenery.

Photo: In some areas, the road takes to gentle cliffs, a half mile or so from the sea, as this photo near Las Paredes illustrates. Note the errant rock in the middle of the road, ready shred your tire. When I'm off the main road, I always carry 2 spares, which is a good idea when driving secondary Baja California roads.

The road is as bad as ever, as its still washboarded, full of holes, washed out in places, and generally very rough. But in this area there's a new twist... the surface is very rocky, and you have to be alert of rocks that could potentially shred a tire. This section of road requires your attention, even if you're driving a well-equipped four wheel drive truck like my Ford F-250. You could drive a passenger car over this road, but you'd have to be very, very careful; personally, I wouldn't subject my Camry to this road. Driving a motorhome or pulling a travel trailer over this road would be out of the question, as the road is narrow, rough, with tight turns, and steep in places.

Photo: Las Paredes is a small fish camp, and not much else, and its located at Ensenada Las Paredes.

Photo: These gentlemen are fishing, at an abandoned resort, a few miles south of San Juan del Mar. I asked them if they'd caught any fish, and they hadn't, but they had plenty of ice and cold beer, and planned to make a long day of it.

Near the abandoned air strip at Salvatierra, about 12 miles north of Gonzaga Bay, I encountered a washout that, if someone wasn't paying attention and wandered into it, could result in a serious situation. True to form, the locals had marked it with a rock cairn and a discarded dirt bike tire, and in checking out this washout, it reminded me why I drive this road slowly, with caution, and drive only during daylight hours.

Photo: Joe Raven looks over his territory, just south of San Juan del Mar. That's Isla Miramar in the background.

Photo: Looking west at the imposing Sierra Santa Isabel mountains, which appear to be about as hard core desert as there is.

The small town of San Juan del Mar is reached, after driving about three hours, and 28 miles, from Gonzaga Bay. By describing San Juan is a town is misleading, as it's only a collection of a few ramshackle shacks, camper and trailers clumped together. It's located on a small bay, and has nice, sandy beaches, but little else. I didn't stop in town, as there didn't seem any reason to stop, or nothing particularly interesting to photograph, but I did notice the lack of a pier, and the lack of boats and pangas. This seems odd, as any settlement along the Sea of Cortez owes its existence to the sea, particularly fishing, but San Juan didn't seem to share in that heritage. Quite interesting.

Photo: Just south of the small poblado of San Juan del Mar, a side road that leads to the Sea of Cortez, where there are lots for rent. I did a double-take, as I've heard of purchasing a lot, but never renting one. Is there a language barrier of something? I didn't drive over to find out.

Photo: Looking south, from the bluffs above town, at San Juan del Mar, with the road that I'd just traveled heading south, toward Gonzaga Bay.

It's 28 dusty, bone-jarring, vehicle torturing miles from Bahía San Luis Gonzaga, which takes about 3 hours to drive.

Next, the final installment of our drive, from Chalapa to San Felipe, as we drive from north from San Juan del Mar, and stay overnight in beautiful San Felipe.

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