Exploring Baja Off-Pavement
With the exception of a few dozen cities on the peninsula, nearly all of Baja is off-road terrain,... View more
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Access to La Lobera
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Access to La Lobera
In spite of being a Baja California native, born in Tijuana 64 years ago, I have never been south of the port at Ensenada, unless we include a trip to Cabo San Lucas 10 years but that was on plane. My brother and I are planning to drive down with our wives next month to San Quintin to see the area, maybe look at some property and go fishing. My brother got all excited about a place called La Lobera he found online but some of the references include some warnings about the access from the highway out to the sea cave. Are any of you familiar with that place and if so, can tell us what the road conditions are like out there?
TIA
And thanks for accepting me, I have been lurking on different discussion forums for a couple of years now but decided to actually join today. My wife is a member of your group on Facebook but since I don’t use Facebook, this is the next best thing.
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This discussion was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by
six-one-niner. Reason: Forgot to mention
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This discussion was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by
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29 Replies
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Welcome to the forum.
We have lived here in the San Quintin area for nearly 15 years. The road out to La Lobera is in decent shape – not perfect – but passable with just about anything but a low ground clearance vehicle. The trip out to see it is definitely worth the effort. What will you be driving?
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Thank you. We will probably come down in my brother’s Yukon which is a 2WD model, not lifted.
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In a Yukon you shouldn’t have any problem this time of year. There are a couple of spots where the water runs through during rainy season but it’s all dry now with the toughest areas having optional loop arounds if one area gets too difficult. Have fun!
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Jeepers is correct, you shouldn’t have too much trouble in a Yukon and like he said, the couple of places where it looks a bit iffy, look for detours the locals have made to get around it. They get out there all the time in their Honda Civics, so you shouldn’t have much trouble at all.
And while you’re here in San Quintin, be sure to take the Ruta Volcánica which heads along the northside of the bay and you will find lots of great seafood options as well as opportunities to surf fish, hike volcanoes, kayaking, just hanging out on the beach as well as overnight camping.
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Thanks for the help guys and Baja Gringo, thank you for the other great suggestions. I will pass them on to the group but I am pretty sure they will want to check it out. They may be up for kayaking but we definitely won’t be camping. A hotel is a must – any suggestions?
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Definitely Jardines Baja and if they are full try Misión Santa Maria or the Old Mill.
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Thank you, extremely helpful! We’d love to invite you and your wife to have dinner with us while we are down there. I know my wife would love to pick your brain about real estate in the area.
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Anything is possible. PM me a few days before to make sure we’ll be in town. As far as RE, I can refer you to someone that is very reputable here in San Quintin but I’d be happy to share what I know about where to buy and where to avoid…
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No problem in a Yukon. It really should be fine until the next big rains come.
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Thank you sir!
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La Lobera is definitely on our bucket list.
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Ours too – my entire family wants to come down now to see it after my brother shared this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyq81u-SnWw -
One thing to keep in mind is not to go with any expectations as each time I go out there it seems different. Weather conditions like high winds and surf can change everything, some days there are a lot of seals and sea lions and some days the cave is completely empty. A friend came down from Mexicali all excited to fil with his drone but the weather was rough and no seals/sea lions..
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Good point
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Hola Amigos,
Does anyone have current road conditions for La Lobera? What is the status of the steep arroyo about half way out? Is there still soft sand at the bottom? I’ll be driving a GMC 1 ton crewcab long bed 4X4 diesel with a 10’ Alaskan camper (fully loaded weight about 1850 lbs). TIA.
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Hi @boe4fun, we just go to La Lobera on December 31 in a 2 wheel drive Explorer and didn’t have much problem, you will need to drive slowly around the arroyo and pick your best path. We saw some very small cars out at La Lobera when we got there.
It did rain a little in the San Quintin area on Jan 1, but not sure if it make the road any worse?
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The area got some rain – not whole lot – on New Year’s Day. Also, how long is your rig and caper behind the rear axle. I could see you possibly bottoming out around the arroyo.
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Yes, that’s what I am worried about. I’ll measure when it stops raining.
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I think that might be your biggest problem as it often is not so much an issue of having 4×4 but having ground clearance through some of the deep dips that get cut into the arroyo and surrounding area.
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Probably been out there to La Lobera a dozen times or more over the years and a few times after recent rains. It always seems like the locals figure out a way to get around the arroyo with their 2 wheel drive Hondas, just keep an eye peeled for alternative routes they make.
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No kidding. About 5 or 6 years ago we made a last minute decision to head out to la Lobera on our way back north. This was about a week after a couple of storms had blown through and we used all of our off-road / 4×4 skills to make it through the arroyo in our lifted truck and so you can imagine our surprise when we get out there we see a couple of small, low ground clearance, 2WD sedans out there with their families.
When they packed up and left, we decided to follow to see the show in the arroyo mud. Imagine our surprise when a distance back before the arroyo they make a hard left and take a trail that looked recently made around the worst of it.
We had totally missed that detour coming in.
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Sounds about right which is why I always rely on the advice of locals over what any map online tells me when traveling in Baja.
Somebody should organize a race down in Baja where you just pick out a Point A and a Point B on the map, some hundred miles or so apart in the middle of nowhere with all sorts of challenging terrain in between and no obvious routes connecting them whatsoever.
The only rules of the race would be you have to drive a stock, 2 wheel drive sedan – preferably filled with the entire family.
Mexicans would win that race every single time.
😆😆😆
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That’s funny! And you’re probably right…
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That would be an awesome race though the environmentalists would probably never let it happen.
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😂😂😂
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Where do we sign up???
😝
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Gotta Peso will be handling your registrations in Cataviña
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A lot of us have been humbled in Baja by the driving abilities of the locals in 2WD cars, vans and pickups through what appears to us mere mortals to be impassable.
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