Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park

In our last episode Tim and Kerri have a near fatal breakdown (insert sarcasm here) but later that fateful day we  drove the 100 or so miles deep into the Baja mountains (yes, there are mountains here) to visit Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park (yes, Mexico apparently has National Parks too). More than anything, the visit to the mountains – and it’s National Park – was all about the serious case of ‘nomadness’ that had infected us in recent weeks. We needed a change from the daily routine of beautiful beach camping and margaritas, and only pine trees and elevation would do.

8,200 feet of elevation to be exact! It was the largest climb up (and back down) that Big Blue has ever done in a single day. From sea-level to 8000+ feet is greater than going from the Bay Area in California over the Sierras in Interstate-80 into Nevada. It was quite a shock to our bodies, but I was all over that cool-but-thin mountain air, and so were the dogs who played in their first snow in a long time – Moose totally loves snow, always has.

When we arrived, nearly all camp sites were in use by families eating lunch. No one seemed to have a tent out, or even a vehicle capable of being slept in. So, after a quick auto tour of the park to burn a few hours of the day we returned to a campground near the entrance of the park and found no one there. Literally, everyone inside the park at 2PM was gone by 5PM. A three hour (or more) drive home will do that I guess, and locals don’t seem to camp. The campground barely met the definition of a campground in America, with no trees cut away and rough dirt roads to access any camping ‘site’. It actually made it better with the lack of asphalt and clear-cut spaces – more nature, less man made crap. Camping under some trees was one of the biggest reason we were here… did I mention that already?

Although the park map boasts a few hiking trails, we simply could not find any. There were dirt roads that led off into the forests (which we drove a few), but the hiking trails seemed to be non-existent. We saw a few single-track trails, but they literally mirrored the dirt roads – why bother? As much as we would have liked to do some hiking, we only really got a few hundred yards of walking on a dirt road over our one night stay.

All in all there was not a huge amount to see in the park. The few California Condors in the park never appeared for us, and the Observatory at the top of the mountain was gated off. Still, a night in the mountains was just what we needed. I can’t wait to get into more of them in coming months.