A Trip Into the Sonoran Desert: Vizcaino Subdivision, Catavina Region Our trip south began on a Wednesday afternoon in early April.   We spent the night in Ensenada at the old Travel Lodge. It is now part of El Rey Sol.  The rooms were about 50 bucks, clean, quiet and close to downtown.   We left Ensenada the following morning before dawn.  We did not carry tourist cards.  Not recommended.  Please get one! No previous problems is an excuse I am doing away with!

                                 California Poppy,                                    Allium, Onion                                   Indian Paintbrush                                 Caterpillar & Parry's Phacelia            ( Click any photo  to enlarge)                                                                       Leaving Santo Tomas and San Vicente behind the fun begins! Although our trip was to the central desert area of Baja we could not resist the temptation to stop and shoot some photos of the Chaparral Plant community. 

South of San Vicente the hills were ablaze.  I remembered "learning" in my youthful miseducation how mustard seed was brought over by the Mission makers. These men, I was told, planted the seeds knowing they would flower and their return route would be perfectly marked. What a crock! These explorers had traveled around the globe without a timepiece,  no accurate knowledge of longitude, had traversed continents on foot with minimal water and they needed to plant flowers to find their way home?  Yep, and ducking under my desk during a nuclear attack was going to save me!   

El Rosario to Catavina                                                                                                       

These well known cliffs just north of El Rosario are always an interesting stop.  We found lots of fossilized oysters, snails and bone fragments. Although great specimens are not easily found, with time, tools and effort, treasures are there.  However, huge rains are really the fossil hunters best friend,  Nature's version of hydraulic mining. Regardless, we always have fun tooling through this ancient limestone seabed.                                                                                                                                                                                           See "Roadside Geology and Biology of Baja California" by John, Edwin and Jason Minche.

According to "A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert", (Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum Press), the Sonoran Desert spreads over approximately 100,000 square miles in Mexico  and the United States.  It is  divided into six subdivisions.  Four of the subdivisions, the Lower Colorado River Valley, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino and Magdalena are located in the states of Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur, Mexico.  Each subdivision has a different climate, topography and vegetation and is therefore unique to itself. 

Where these subdivisions overlap it is common to find plants indicative of particular subdivisions flowering side by side., i.e.: Cardons and Matilja poppies. 

Baja California is an indescribable venue.   To enter, observe and enjoy the diversity of Sonoran Desert flora and fauna after several months of significant rainfall in the area was an opportunity I could not miss.    During the past several years I had traveled often during  hot summer months on our way to fishing and diving points further south.  I would think, just wait, you'll see, one year rains will generously grace this harsh landscape and transform it into something magical. Well, the wait was over! We were on our way!

                            On this day I find myself in a thorn desert alive, able and well!  It is homecoming dance, a  beautiful spectacle of sight and smell.  Everywhere is the sight and smell of a flowering desert.  The colors surround us and we surrender to their force. It is tactile, touching, tantaliizing!   I type these words, see photos of the trip, vividly remember and need more! 

Plants of the Sonoran Desert of Baja California represent Natures ability to adapt and accept.                          Desert Dahlias, Rabbits Purses and Cliff Asters may go years without flowering. Add rain and behold!

Indigenous peoples of Baja California used Agave, Cardon, Torote and Desert  Mallow as medicinal herbs. My journeys into Baja California are also medicinal : a self-prescribed antidote to the modern world.

I am on an old cattle trail a few miles behind Santa Ynez. I imagine this is part of El Camino Real. We camp in an arroyo about eight miles from the Mission Santa Maria. I dream we are alone in a desert unlike any other. Looking around I am awakened by the reality which is my dream.  From our quiet camp in a shady draw we dayhike for two days. Trekking through this living desert, the only sounds   are the noises of two clumsy humans and the buzzing of countless agile pollinators. So many receptacles and ovaries and so little time.

At night a candle lantern's light silhouettes the thornbrush branches. Shadows slowly undulate,  powered by the faintest wisp of a breeze. A small companion fire burns deadfall we  collected consciously. Looking for this nights fuel we choose only a few branches as the fire is for comfort, not warmth.  We sit in silent company.  A lonesome dove mournfully coos, is she sad to see the sun setting?   Venus appears in the sky, begins the warmup, alone at the eastern podium. Soon a symphony of stars and constellations take the stage to begin the spectatacle. It is a show which never closes.   This is  bliss.

The Mission is an easy walk from here during cool weather with ample water. We have both but this trip are interest is in photographing flowers. My next trip will be to the Mission and down to the desert floor outside of Gonzaga.

After three days  in the Catavina, Santa Ynez and Jaraguay regions we pack up camp and and begin the trip home.  We are light headed, trying  to digest and assimilate the overwhelming beauty we had just walked through.   A peace settled upon us, we drove slowly, windows down, sipping  beers which tasted as if crafted from the nectar of all the flowers we born witness to: Rebirth of the Sonoran Desert     

         The rewards of our journey are  lifelong memories of a vibrantly colored desertscape.  The ability of this bionome to wait so long for rainfall and to witness this rebirth  rainfall has when it finally falls is a wonder. I never tire of beholding the magnificence of the change, the hope and the reward.  

Adios,

Jorge