Baja Trip - A Student's Perspective

by Will VanRoon

Day One
Early Sunday morning, all 16 of us showed up at the school to pack the vans with food and supplies, and begin our long drive to our camp site. We were split up into two groups so that we could fit into the vans and were assigned to a set of crazy instructors. I ended up in the very back of the van, and the back was so full of bags, that the second we took of it became obvious that I was going to be in charge of holding them back throughout the whole ride. We got onto the freeway, and our adventure began immediately. A group of about 100 motorcycle riders engulfed our vans and entertained us with friendly hand gestures and interesting clothing choices (so many tassels!). After about half an hour, we got to the Tecate border where we stocked up on gas and food.
We crossed the border in a matter of seconds, and instantly began feeling overwhelmed by the culture. There were a ton of taco stands and stray dogs... Dave (a teacher at our school, and our van's driver) took us down a highway, through many small communities and past a lot of unusual and unexpected sights. We eventually took a sharp turn between two small houses and began our two-and-a-half hour drive on a dusty, bumpy, unpaved road. This road ran through a desert that was almost completely untouched by civilization. We saw less then five people throughout the whole drive. The road eventually took into the pine forest where we would be camping for the next two nights. We drove through lots of puddles and swerved between a bevy of fallen trees.
Finally, we arrived at our campsite and found a suitable spot to set up our tents and a fire. We were attacked by cows and then made hamburgers and roasted marshmallows. Then we played some games and went to bed.

Day Two
The next morning, we woke up with ice hanging from our tents and our noses. We ate breakfast and complained about how bad we slept. Then we walked over to a small house, where a man that was in charge of the campground gave us a presentation about the pine forest and informed us that the previous night had been about 31 degrees. Soon after that, we took the vans to a remote area designated for student reforestation projects. We each planted two small pine trees and assigned them names. From there, we rode to the base of a mountain that we were going to climb. We tied up our hiking boots and started on the exciting trek to the top. It started out as a slight incline dotted with spiny bushes and small rocks, and progressively transitioned to huge boulders and trees. In order to make it to the top, we had to utilize a lot of team work, and ended up scrambling across very thin rock faces. We were even accompanied by a local flea-ridden dog, who was surprisingly good at climbing and showed us the way to the top.
Eventually, we all made it to the summit where we took pictures and looked at the incredible view of the forest and the lakes.
Once we made our way down, we went back to the campsite and relaxed for a few hours before starting dinner. We cooked potatoes on fire and got acquainted with each other a bit more. It was another very good day.

Day Three
We all woke up late after another frigid night and ate a quick breakfast before packing up the vans and taking off to Ensanada.

I'll post more later.