Sierra de San Pedro Martir

Today I’m in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir mountains in the center of Baja about 120 miles south of Ensenada. This range includes Picacho del Diablo the highest peak in Baja at 10,125 ft. The University of Mexico built and operates an observatory at elevation 9,300 ft on the mountain adjacent to Picacho.

No camping for me tonight, I’m staying at the 10,000 acre Meling ranch which has a small guest lodge in the foothills of the mountains. Several decades ago Carolyn, James, Margo and I stumbled onto this place driving from Mike’s Sky Ranch. Mike’s and Meling are both rustic lodges but with contrasting styles. Mike’s being loose and friendly while Meling was a bit stiff and formal. Both remain in business today and I was pleased to find Meling more friendly than my memory.

Here’s a figure I found showing Meling, Mike’s, the observatory and the peak.

Photos of Meling and the beautiful road leading to it.

I decided to visit the observatory and hike on the mountain. A nice Mexican army kid told me the observatory was closed to the public during the week, too bad, but the hike was great.

Meling is at 2,300 ft so there’s a lot of uphill driving to get near the observatory and start hiking. If you look closely you can see the Meling ranch in the center of this photo.

Continuing uphill on a lovely twisty and well maintained road…

Maybe Carolyn or James remember but I don’t recall such a nice road. My memory is of dirt, burnt chaparral and scenes from a Salvador Dali painting.

Soon I enter 15 miles of increasingly dense pine forest and rocks. Mostly sugar pines I think.

I started hiking at about 6,500 ft through the pretty forest. About an hour in the trees changed to something like birch or aspen.

Continuing on it turns back to pine and I get a glimpse of the peak and then a full view of Pichaco del Diablo, the desert floor below and the distant Sea of Cortez.

Oh and I think I saw a condor. I wasn’t fast enough to get a shot but it was big and gliding to the far left of the peak.
A nice day. The hike was 5 miles and 2,500 ft elevation gain.

I’m in bed at the Meling ranch updating our blog, trying to get warm and waiting for it to get late enough to sleep.

Here’re a couple more shots from the hike, a selfie and some wildlife.