In mid-January 2023, I took an exploratory trip to the northern part of Baja California Sur. I spent a few days in Loreto and a few days in/around San Iganacio, traveling as far north as the Sierra San Franciso. Cave paintings from this trip are posted on the Ancient Peoples website. An example of the glyphs at the La Cueva del Ratón site is shown below.
In late February to early March I spent two weeks at Laguna Ojo de Libre for Gray Whales (see long video -1/2 hour or shorter video - 8 1/2 minutes - embedded below), Guerro Negro, and Bahia Asunción (Video).
The photo gallery for these trips can be found at this link.
The video collection from this trip will be found in my Vimeo collections at some point in the future.
One of the major reasons for visiting this area is the Boojum Tree, known locally as Cirio, which is pictured to the right. This is Fouquieria columnaris, one of the species of Ocotillo. We found numerous specimens on a short outing to the Sierra San Franciso, growing on the foothill ridges of that range. It is a “Dr. Seuss” plant, at least that is how I react to it - worthy of a great deal more time than I was able to give it on this trip (see the Baja California section of this site for additional photos of this species).
The Xantus’s Hummingbird pictured below is a Baja endemic (found mostly in Baja California Sur), probably the “best” bird species in the state.
Many people visit this area to see the Gray Whales which come to the lagoons to raise their young calves. The spectacular behavior of the whales (rising above the water near boats) occurs primarily in early March although the whales show up in January.
Gray Whale Calf
Looking West From the Sierra San Francisco
This road video starts in the highlands of the Sierra San Francisco
and heads west.
And lastly, my take on the small city of Loreto.