Five years ago this month, I finally did the thing I had watched other people do in videos for years. I drove my own Can-Am into Baja. This was May 2021, a 400-mile run with Baja UTV Tours, and it had been a dream of mine for a long time. I went with my brother Clint Olson and my friends Steve Anderson, Greg Fulton, and Mark Fulton, in a group of about 20 vehicles led by JR Quintero. This video is Day 2, the leg from Mike’s Sky Ranch down to Horsepower Ranch in Ensenada, and it opens on the beach just outside San Quintin.

Day 2: Off the Mountain and Down to the Coast

We woke up at Mike’s Sky Ranch, deep in the Baja mountains, and pointed the convoy toward the coast. There is a moment on a trip like this where the dust and the rock give way and the Pacific shows up in front of you, and the whole group goes quiet because everybody is feeling the same thing. That is what the start of this video is. Sand under the tires, the ocean on one side, and a long line of Can-Ams running the beach at San Quintin.

The One Place You Could Pass

Here is what makes this clip fun if you know the rule. For safety, JR ran the group with no passing allowed. Twenty vehicles on tight desert trails is no place to get cute, so you hold your spot and you eat a little dust. The single exception was the beach. Open sand, room to move, clear sight lines. So when we dropped onto the beach at San Quintin, that no-passing rule lifted, and I took my one chance and passed another rig with the surf right there beside me. After a full day of staying in line, that pass felt earned.

The People Who Made It

A Baja trip is the people as much as the terrain. The camera is mounted up top on my Can-Am, so the footage puts you right in the seat for the run down the beach. JR Quintero from Baja UTV Tours planned the route and led the group, and Angel ran the chase vehicle as our mechanic, which is exactly the kind of backup that lets you relax this far from home. My brother Clint Olson and my friends Steve Anderson, Greg Fulton, and Mark Fulton rounded out our corner of the convoy, each in their own machine.

Five Years Later

This trip showed up in my Facebook memories this month, and it caught me off guard how much has changed. When we left for Baja in 2021, some of these were people I had met once or twice. Five years on, a lot of them are genuine friends. That is the part the route map does not show you. You go for the driving and the scenery, and you come home with people. Looking back through the footage, I also realized there are videos and articles from this trip I never finished, so consider this the start of filling that in.

The Trip, by the Facts

This was a 400-mile off-road journey through Baja in May 2021, run with Baja UTV Tours. We started in La Rumorosa, spent the first night at Mike’s Sky Ranch in the mountains, drove Day 2 down to Ensenada and stayed at Horsepower Ranch, then ran back to La Rumorosa on the third day. I drove a Can-Am X3 Max. Guide: JR Quintero. Group size: about 20 vehicles.

Conclusion

If running the beaches of Baja in a side-by-side is on your bucket list, let this one push you to do it. Go with a real outfit like Baja UTV Tours, bring people you like, and let somebody else figure out the route so you can just drive. The mountains, the coast, and that one open stretch of beach are worth every dusty mile.