Few breaks are off the map in Baja now. Still, you feel like you are on a mission when it takes you more than a day to get somewhere. Never mind that you slept in, or that you stopped at a few to many taco stands. With a swell model print out and the Baja Almanac in hand, you are trekking.

Others are charging too though, a fact you are warry of at first. Every rig with boards on top headed North is met with relief. You may hope they scored, but are definitely stoked to see them leaving. This attitude, born of crowds, drop-ins and more crowds wears off only when you’ve arrived at your destination and have assumed the last position in the lineup.

When three friends and I arrived at a point in Southern Baja, we were prepared to slide into the role of newcomers. Funny thing though, we found the spot where the lineup should have been, but wasn’t. Clean, 150 yard rights peeled right past our chosen camp like clockwork, with no one in the water. Needless to say, our astonished faces gave way to Cheshire Cat grins. Nowhere in the act of selecting boards or buying of food, did we let ourselves think we would surf for seven days with at the most, only 6 six guys in the water.

When the few surfers in the area did paddle out, one of my favorite things about surf trips to sparsely surfed regions began to unfold. It seems that, if given plenty of waves, a waverider will become increasingly more congenial the farther from home he or she travels. Deep in Southern Baja, this phenomenon can turn a stinkeyed Sponsorme into the most talkative surfer in the water. In fact, it can make him downright friendly.

At some point in between sets, almost everyone happily swaps stories of their journey South. Invariably, the better the break and the further from home they are, the more interesting the story becomes. Some have driven less than you and some hail from your town, but I always love to hear from those who traveled a bit harder. My crew was stunned by the 23 hours the chargers from Santa Cruz drove to ride hollow, reef fronted slabs. The Kite designer and crew’s drive from Oregon seemed a long way to go for anything, but plenty of time on these waves were surely worth it. The Colorado windsurfer will spend a summer getting 400 yard waves, connecting impossible sections with the aid of the wind.

Sometimes though, you hear a story that puts all the AC cooled hours on slick asphalt to shame. Such was our luck when a new arrival pulled up on a motocross bike to check the surf. I walked up to say hello and possibly point him in the direction of one of the breaks further down the coast. I soon learned he and a friend had ridden their bikes for days, all the way from the boarder. They carried only a few saddlebags of gear and 2 boards each, cradled in custom racks mounted to the frame of their 400cc and 600cc bikes.

Suddenly the adventure that was our swell predicted, sure thing point began to pale in comparison to his tale of mirroring the coast looking for new slabs, peaks and points rarely, if ever, surfed. I found out later this was Quik/Nixon/DVS ripper Jon Rose and friend, with no photographer or van full of team riders in tow. Their self appointed mission was to traverse the coastline all the way to Cabo and to document a trip that to me, truely embodies the journey as the destination.

A day later, while fueling up for my next session, I observed Jon and his friend take the last position in a sparse lineup. Wave after wave they created new curves in the face, found tight little shacks, waited thier turn through one wave sets or passed on closeouts just like the only other guy out. The whole session illustrated for me the root desire of all the travelers we met, regardless of the length of trip or type of transportation. Each one traveled to to find an empty lineup and unique waves which will never be seen again. I think I can speak for everyone I met when I say “mission accomplished”.

I’ll be putting together a video of the trip in the next few days so stay tuned. Hopefully we will hear more on Jon’s search in much the same manner as his 2004 book Towards Miles: Observations of an American Passage.