Winter in Baja Day 60: Reunited

South of El Conejo -> Mangroves north of San Carlos //

All the prints in the sand this morning reveal just how much life surrounds us while we sleep.  Coyotes circled the perimeter as though they were patrolling the area, crabs left tracks that look like they were drunk on their way home from the bar, and tiny little paw prints leading directly to where our water jug had been indicate a thirsty mammal of some kind.  Their presence vanishes with the rising sun meaning it’s time for the bees to begin their shift. With that it’s time to go.

We have one objective today and that is to intersect paths with Josh & Darci (insert excited cheering noises here) and find a place to camp together near some mangroves.  We’d been camped hours apart from one another but our plan to rendezvous in Ciudad Constitucio´n worked out perfectly.  While surfing restaurant options on Google, a photo of French fries (a rare find in Baja) piqued my interest.  The five of us reunited at Casa Rafael Restaurante where we thoroughly enjoyed food and flavors that we haven’t had in months.  Burgers, sandwiches, fries…this is not your standard fare in Mexico.  I’ll gladly eat tacos any day of the week, but those French fries definitely satisfied a craving I didn’t know I had.

Timing-wise lunch set us back a little bit leaving us with under 3 hours to find a place to camp.  First we had a 45 minute drive to reach the area where we would begin searching for a spot.  And this is where wild camping can get tricky.  When you arrive at an unknown area and begin looking for a spot, you have no idea how long it will take to find a place to call home.  Sometimes it happens within minutes of arriving, sometimes it takes hours.  This afternoon, as the sun drew closer and closer to the horizon, we kept striking out.  It was currently low tide and with a 6’ change to high tide we had to be sure and do our due diligence before settling in anywhere.

Just as our options started dwindling we came upon a pull-off deep in to the mangrove channel that would work beautifully.  Quiet, safe from high tide, not trashed, not carpeted with spiky desert objects…things were looking up.  When the sun is setting and you’re still on the hunt you let go of the search for something great and begin simply looking for a place to sleep for the night.  The four of us were delighted that we’d not only found a place to park but somewhere we’d likely be happy for several days.  And so we got settled and kicked off night 1 at camp #20 for the Baja ’23/’24 season.