Puerto Penasco to Hermosillo

i am going to drive next Tuesday from Puerto Penasco to Hermosillo. How is the road? How long it will take?
Any advice?
Thanks
Fabrizio

Drove it a couple months ago on a motorbike, only bad part of the road was a few miles south of Rocky Point/Grand Mayan Hotel where you hit a few miles of potholes, otherwise its great road the rest of the way.

Is that going east to Santa Ana first and then south to Hermosillo on 15? In April I am planning to go from Penasco to southern Sonora and was considering taking the "coastal highway" instead of the Santa Ana/Highway15 route. Looking at the map it looks like it probably wouldn't save much time, but could be scenic if the road isn't awful. I know there have been talks of here about various stretches of the highway, but I don't know the current state.

The blue route is the one I would usually take from Nogales to Penasco or Nogales to Hermosillo, and I think the grey route is the coastal highway down to Bahia Kino. Does anyone have any insight/comments???

Marty....road is crappy after Puerto Libertad but doable.....and no tolls....

Took the grey route going down, and the southern half of the road was pretty bad, lots of pot holes. Quiet road, scenery and towns were OK but nothing spectacular, personally I wouldn't do it again on a motorbike. Came back on the blue route and road was excellent all the way. Personally I preferred the towns and scenery going back on the main highway.

Definitely the blue route. Also, locals in Lobos advised me to only take the coastal route in daylight hours. I don't believe they were thinking only of rough roads.

Audsley nailed that one. Excellent advice.

If you do go grey detour to new kino for a cup of coffee at the new place...good

Thanks for all your answers
The blue road will be
I will be going to Obregon for a 4 day fishing trip at lake Oviachich

. Have a good trip...people have no idea how cool sonora is...like Martin Leons ranch for example

Fabrizio said:

i am going to drive next Tuesday from Puerto Penasco to Hermosillo. How is the road? How long it will take?
Any advice?
Thanks
Fabrizio

Hello, we just got back from San Carlos. Took the blue route down from Rocky Point. . Took about 4 1/2 hrs. to Hermosillo with several pit stops. Road Ok until south of Hermosillo, road construction ALL the way to Guaymas. Every 1/4 to 1/2 mile a detour (deviation). Seen 3 accidents, 2 with big rigs, 60km/h speed limit, road stop checks etc. Took 2 hours to get to San Carlos from Hermosillo. Took the grey (hwy 61/Hwy 100/ Highway 3) back. Way better, just watch out for potholes, be ready to change lanes to miss them. Averaged about 65 mph. Way less stressful. Beautiful views of mountains, desert in bloom, people friendly and waving, lots of agriculture, fantastic sea views, plenty of gas stations. Stopped in Kino Bay, checked out RV park, had lunch etc. Road from Kino Bay north is good, with occasional potholes. Gassed up in Puerto Libertad. Road north was even better. With all our stopping, saved about 2 hours of driving time. No checkpoints back, just an occasional local police parked. I would NOT recommend a RV, Motorhome or new Lexus on the coastal road unless you have no problem driving slow. We drove our 2000 Red Toad Ford Focus with good shocks. Only hit a couple of BIG potholes on the highway 61. OK to drive slow or with a 4 wheeler, truck or older car. Hermosillo during rush (its always busy) takes about 45 minutes to get through. If not is a hurry, I would recommend the 37/3 south from RP to Kino Bay, then the 100 west to Hermosillo.

ho9styl said:

Hello, we just got back from San Carlos. Took the blue route down from Rocky Point. . Took about 4 1/2 hrs. to Hermosillo with several pit stops. Road Ok until south of Hermosillo, road construction ALL the way to Guaymas. Every 1/4 to 1/2 mile a detour (deviation). Seen 3 accidents, 2 with big rigs, 60km/h speed limit, road stop checks etc. Took 2 hours to get to San Carlos from Hermosillo. Took the grey (hwy 61/Hwy 100/ Highway 3) back. Way better, just watch out for potholes, be ready to change lanes to miss them. Averaged about 65 mph. Way less stressful. Beautiful views of mountains, desert in bloom, people friendly and waving, lots of agriculture, fantastic sea views, plenty of gas stations. Stopped in Kino Bay, checked out RV park, had lunch etc. Road from Kino Bay north is good, with occasional potholes. Gassed up in Puerto Libertad. Road north was even better. With all our stopping, saved about 2 hours of driving time. No checkpoints back, just an occasional local police parked. I would NOT recommend a RV, Motorhome or new Lexus on the coastal road unless you have no problem driving slow. We drove our 2000 Red Toad Ford Focus with good shocks. Only hit a couple of BIG potholes on the highway 61. OK to drive slow or with a 4 wheeler, truck or older car. Hermosillo during rush (its always busy) takes about 45 minutes to get through. If not is a hurry, I would recommend the 37/3 south from RP to Kino Bay, then the 100 west to Hermosillo.

Great report!

I used to have Hermosillo as part of my territory. I would bring other vendors down with me.
We had a great safety convention there about 8 yrs ago. We almost bought in San Carlos but it started to turn long before PP. A lot of projects never started. Is the golf course still open?

marybna said:

I used to have Hermosillo as part of my territory. I would bring other vendors down with me.
We had a great safety convention there about 8 yrs ago. We almost bought in San Carlos but it started to turn long before PP. A lot of projects never started. Is the golf course still open?

Going good down there https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3DK73zjNgMw&h=ATPyvHF-HrUL3FN5rKUMJIQnPpuGXHkiV-gwErMuZS1oIT5P29yoU8iYKJo3J0T5sHh7O1sbx8SqCrj9XuKf5JgYeKuGzuKsGFFKxiKqyLW-fbJ9sXnGo8aI2scKJQ&s=1.

Yo Jerry..........

Cool video from the Rancho Candelaria complex. I had no idea they had built up Rancho Clandestina into such a phony tree hugger setup. The original Coastal Highway thru that area was always known as the Fish Truck Road between Kino and Libertad. That beautiful old dirt track had a dozen or so secluded coves where you could catch Yellowtail from the headlands where the rocks dropped off into one hundred feet or more of clear water. That area is unusual in that it has a thick population of the Boojum Trees (Candelerias) typically found in Baja California. I used to camp and fish there a lot until maybe sixteen years ago someone started fencing off the road. After a talk with a wood cutter gathering Mesquite and Ironwood one day out there I found out what was really going on. It seems that a group of ricos famosos AKA: narcos, were getting control of that area due to it's remote coves where pangas put in and met up with the big dope boats. The other appealing feature of the region was the numbers of Bighorn Sheep and Deer available to slaughter. So it seems that they now have a private big game hunting ranch and their unchallenged dope coves in place now all under the guise of some kinda ecological preserve. I can tell you a fact about reserves, preserves or whatever they call them..not one feeds the wildlife artificially supplied food. Some hunters do it and it's known as baiting and considered to be a form of poaching since the animals become dependent on the food and then are taken out for their superior racks or horns by a guy sitting in a blind with a martini in his hand. The video clearly shows a guy with sacks of pellets and a feeding station with deer around it. I swear Mexico has become a total narco state just like Colombia. Pablo Escobar would be thrilled with his modern day Mexican wanna-bees.

JJ

Jungle Jim said:

Yo Jerry..........

Cool video from the Rancho Candelaria complex. I had no idea they had built up Rancho Clandestina into such a phony tree hugger setup. The original Coastal Highway thru that area was always known as the Fish Truck Road between Kino and Libertad. That beautiful old dirt track had a dozen or so secluded coves where you could catch Yellowtail from the headlands where the rocks dropped off into one hundred feet or more of clear water. That area is unusual in that it has a thick population of the Boojum Trees (Candelerias) typically found in Baja California. I used to camp and fish there a lot until maybe sixteen years ago someone started fencing off the road. After a talk with a wood cutter gathering Mesquite and Ironwood one day out there I found out what was really going on. It seems that a group of ricos famosos AKA: narcos, were getting control of that area due to it's remote coves where pangas put in and met up with the big dope boats. The other appealing feature of the region was the numbers of Bighorn Sheep and Deer available to slaughter. So it seems that they now have a private big game hunting ranch and their unchallenged dope coves in place now all under the guise of some kinda ecological preserve. I can tell you a fact about reserves, preserves or whatever they call them..not one feeds the wildlife artificially supplied food. Some hunters do it and it's known as baiting and considered to be a form of poaching since the animals become dependent on the food and then are taken out for their superior racks or horns by a guy sitting in a blind with a martini in his hand. The video clearly shows a guy with sacks of pellets and a feeding station with deer around it. I swear Mexico has become a total narco state just like Colombia. Pablo Escobar would be thrilled with his modern day Mexican wanna-bees.

JJ

Martin Leon is no narco but no doubt a lot of the area around is....go to his office in Caborca sometime and you will see he is a big time Hunter ( great free diver too) the Sheep hunting outfitters are a trade off for sure but the only hope for animals like this and the Vendeos is rich guys controlling large tracks of land other rich guys can shoot borderline zoo animals on...Hell by me in Bowie John Klump and an investor had a deal setup where you could go into the back country and shoot a Longhorn....talk about sad...even the hunters were embarrassed...

I have not been following for quiet awhile.
I see that jerry and jim will still hijack a thread in a heart beat. Gotta have all the dirty facts.

BootNHat said:

I have not been following for quiet awhile.
I see that jerry and jim will still hijack a thread in a heart beat. Gotta have all the dirty facts.

Technically not a jack as Fabrizio mentioned he's headed south to go bass fishing.Jim and I just pointed out a few places to stop on the way or not...The Kino coffee place is real good... We want to hear about the bass fishing!

I love that lake
I go 3-4 times a year and on a bad day you catch 40 fishes, usually 80 to 120 with a few in the 6-9 pound range.
I try to load some pix but I don't have the right recipe.

You need to use the upload a file button next to post a reply button and keep them small.....what lure do you use?

I enjoyed the road and seeing new places, went through a lot of farm land and very active. I think it was asparagus time, they were selling a nice bunch of it for 10 pesos on the street of Caborca. This town looked very clean and better than I expected. Freeway from Caborca to Santa Ana was very well maintained and easy to ride.
Fishing at the lake was very good, biggest fish in our group was 8.6, and several 7 to 5 pound fishes were caught. Average per boat was 80 fish caught.
One of this day I will learn to post a picture, maybe instead of an iPad I will try from a desktop computer.