We had gotten maybe 15 miles into our trip from Mulege when we came across the town of Posada. We were told about a little secluded beach just after Posada that we wanted to check out. The directions we were given was “you’ll come to a town called posada, when you get just past posada, turn left and go over the saddle.”
Well, we went past posada, past El Coyote and Barrillo. Suffice it to say, we missed our turn and had to turn around. When we did, we came to the town of Posada and decided to drive in to the town and ask for directions. There was not a soul out and about. Everything looked closed and we were having one hell of a time finding internet service. We decided to skip the town and try to find Playa Escondida ourselves. This time we drove very slowly out of the town (the town is so small if you blink you’ll miss it) and noticed an obstructed sign that said Playa Escondida. We turned and drove down a dirt road and saw some people camped out on a beach, but it wasn’t secluded so we deduced that it wasn’t the beach we were looking for.
We came to a steep incline where the saddle of 2 hills met. We drove over it and were greeted with turquoise water and a few Palapas with people camped out. As we drove closer to the beach, we knew we had found the slice of paradise we had been looking for. The only problem, we didn’t have enough food to last us more than a couple of days. We sucked it up knowing we’d likely have to leave sooner than we had wanted, but oh well. We set up camp, inflated the paddle boards and took to the water as soon as we could. The water was warm, but there were tons of sting rays in the water. I asked a local lady about them and how dangerous they are and she told me that last summer a man had nearly been killed when he was stung by one. He barely made it to the hospital and the last she heard he had been in a coma for a time before he made a full recovery. She told us if we get in the water to shuffle our feet so they swim away as they blend in with the sand.
As we hopped on our boards and prepared to paddle into the great beyond, we looked down into the crystal-clear turquoise water and saw tons of sting rays scattering about, schools of beautiful striped fish and even some starfish could be seen hanging out on the bottom of the ocean floor. It was quite a sight to behold and we never even had to get into the water. After about half an hour of paddling the winds picked up and Kaden started getting swept further and further South. Bronson had gone out to him to keep him calm as it was becoming increasingly difficult to paddle against the wind. A kind fisherman allowed me to get in his boat with him to go retrieve Kaden. Once we got to him, I had Kaden climb into the boat and I took the opportunity to get more exercise in and paddle back to our campsite. Crisis averted. Kaden has always been told about what to do when getting swept out to sea with rip currents and wind so this was a good test for him to apply what he knows. He didn’t do so well, so we obviously need to do more training with him. We got back to camp, let Kaden have a good cry, cooked dinner, played Jenga and headed off to bed.
The following morning, we awoke to a man who was bringing fresh water to anyone who needed it. He was shortly followed by a man selling fresh vegetables and a couple of people selling the fresh catch of the day. I was very excited because this was apparently something that happened every day. This meant we could stay as long as we wanted!
We met a couple of travelers who had invited us on a hike with a local man to go check out some pictographs. This local man took us on a 2.5-mile hike out in the desert to see some pictographs and a couple of caves. On the way back, a couple of the girls in the group started venturing away from the group which made our local guide have to go after them. Suffice it to say, we all got lost and had to find our way back. The local man was slightly displeased because he only knows the track to take there and back, and if he has to go away from his track it’s very easy to get lost. There are no marked trails to this place. If you don’t know where to go, you could get very, dangerously lost. The hike back was about 4 miles, so the hike took most of the day. It was hot and dry so we hopped in the water when we returned to camp to cool off.
We only camped here for 4 nights because we really wanted to start heading south. It was the most beautiful beach we had stayed at and it was quiet and most of the campers kept to themselves. Many of them are full-timers. They actually live there until the summer when it is unbearable to be there. Then they fly somewhere else and spend a few months away from the Playa until it cools down enough to come back.
If you ever have a chance to make the drive, Playa Escondido is worth every bit of the $150 Pesos per night to camp. I will say though, it would be difficult to get a rig in there that is longer than 30 ft or has low ground clearance.