Take a ride with me! 3-Days & 448-Miles Round Trip / THREE VIDEOS!
With a 3-day weekend, it’s time for a moto camping trip! I rode my tiny 196cc Yamaha TW200 from Costa Mesa, California to Anza Borrego State Park, California, roughly 135-miles away. This trip was not really about the destination, but more about the ride itself.
I chose Anza Borrego over Johnson Valley as AB is down in the lower desert which is a scratch warmer than JV up in the high desert. Additionally, my previous trip was just out in Johnson Valley. Furthermore, I have not spent as much time in Anza Borrego as I have Johnson Valley, so it’s an opportunity to add to my Anza-experience while doing my first moto-ride-camp in the park.
But visiting Anza Borrego on the tiny Yamaha TW200 comes with challenges as gas stations are sparse and this is California’s largest state park at 600,000-acres with 500+ miles of dirt roads! Challenge excepted!
DAY – 1 Saturday Jan 18th, 2020
Getting to Anza Borrego from Costa Mesa, California is typically a 2.5hr ride at 135-miles. But when you subtract “highways” in the Google Maps “calculator” it becomes a 3.5hr ride at 144-miles. The Yamaha TW200 is “freeway capable” but it’s not very fun as you feel small and are the smallest “fish in the sea of iron sharks!” Besides, the freeway is the most boring way! Taking side and back roads are where you see “real life!” LET’S GO MOTOCAMPING!!! The video above is Day -1’s trip to Anza Borrego from Costa Mesa, CA.
DAY – 2 Sunday Jan 19th, 2020
Yesterday was 100+ miles to get down to Anza Borrego from Orange County, so today I am looking for a little more relaxed ride, and way more dirt-site-seeing! I am leaving camp from just outside of Yaqui Wash Primitive Campground to head over to the Scissors Pass via HWY 78 through Lizard Canyon to meet up with a couple of buddies.
We will then travel down the S2-Great Southern Overland Stage Route. Once it turns into Sweeny Pass Road is when we start looking for the tiny Sin Nobre Canyon sign. From here it’s out through Anza Borrego and notably the Diablo Drop! I will camp just outside of the Wind Caves / Fish Creek Area for the night.
DAY 3 Monday Jan 20th, 2020
FIRST OFF! This GoPro HERO 7 Black Edition is giving me fits! Somehow I am choosing Time Elapse mode when all I want is VIDEO MODE! But the quick-start button somehow chooses between both modes. Yes, I need to spend more time with the mechanics of my GoPro HERO 7 Black! But I was very eager to put the GoPro into use for this trip!
With this, I do not have as much video from today’s different areas that I would have liked to present to you. For reference, today’s trip started in Fish Creek / Wind Caves area within Anza Borrego: (https://goo.gl/maps/PmC3nPKqoADWdade8) and I will be traveling to Borrego Springs (https://goo.gl/maps/6tXjQ3tpdt2PxrN49) to re-fuel, then on back home to Costa Mesa, CA. (https://goo.gl/maps/3sHWZZPEvpNFsYsz6)
That’s roughly 160+ miles for today, but I always manage a side-trip or two.
BUT, in my efforts to make it to Borrego Springs to get to the gas station, I did not… I RAN OUT OF GAS 12-miles outside of town! Even though I had just nearly double the stock Yamaha TW200’s fuel capacity from 1.8 gallons to 2.7-gallons with the Clarke 2.7-gallon tank! And yet…. Yes, I ran out of fuel! But Anza Borrego is HUGE! And my last fuel stop was way back in Warner Springs, 70’ish miles by paved road back.
Luckily I had the Rotopax 1-gallon spare tank of fuel!
The above video is from Monday, Jan 20, 20202 • This was a total of three days and 448-mile of Yamaha TW200 moto camping from Costa Mesa, California to Anza Borrego, CA.
FUN FUN FUN is all I can say!!!
MUSIC is from ᕲi̾r̾੮ Porcelai̾n
I first heard his music in this Yamaha TW200 video: https://youtu.be/XDz8ajjoWPk
