Pic-of-the-Week for July 3, 2013

Hola all our friends,

Leaving our home in Baja, we traveled north using our normal stopping places, and taking pictures of some of the sights along the way.  If you have been getting our emails for a few years, you know what some of the sights are.  I will not bore you with repeats.

The one thing that we did differently this trip through Baja, was to take a side trip to Sierra San Pedro Martir.  Sierra San Pedro Martir is the highest mountains in all of Baja.  They are about 100 miles south of the border.  We were first introduced to those mountains on one of our flying trips through Baja when John took us to a place in those mountains called Meling Ranch.  It has a dirt air strip, which is why John could land there.

The road off the main highway to the summit is about 50 miles long and takes you to an observatory.  The road was paved in the last few years, so it is a very nice drive.  We stopped at Meling Ranch on the way up the mountain to make sure we could get a room that evening.  The ranch is down at the bottom of this long entrance road.

They said that there would be no problem.  Then we proceeded on up, and up, and up!  We started out very near sea level, and climbed to over 9000 feet in elevation.  

 There is a National Park near the summit.  It is a beautiful area with large Jeffrey Pine trees and meadows.  It reminded me of Central Oregon!  Jeffery Pines are very similar to Ponderosa Pines.  It would be hard to tell the difference between a Jeffrey Pine and a Ponderosa Pine if you didn’t know what to look for.

We made it to the summit and the observatory was closed.  (What would you expect?  Observatories operates at night!)   

Near the top, we ate a small picnic lunch and headed back down.  It seemed like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.  I only saw one tent in the entire camping area.  There was hardly anyone  around.  What a beautiful place!  The park is also home to California Condors.   

Two babies were born in 2012, and one in 2013.  We did not see any on our driving trip, since I was told a few years ago that they were not there anymore.  Wrong!  Here is a link about the California Condors.  http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/tag/sierra-san-pedro-martir/

We returned to Meling Ranch, where we checked in and relaxed in our room.  Meling Ranch is a large working ranch of about 10,000 acres and is also a hotel.  It has been in operation since 1910.  There is a lot to do if you so desired. They have a web site at http://ranchomeling.com/reservations/homepage/  We decided to just take the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying a nice dinner in their dining room that evening.   

The next day we headed back to the main highway, Mex 1.

Until next time, Ben, Harriet, Sam, and Zoey