aengel
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Road conditions to Parque Nacional & Pichaco del Diablo
Road conditions can be derived from the following creative article. This information is not warranted to be accurate. Use at your own risk.
CAUGHT IN A WHITEOUT ON DEVILS PEAK, BAJA MEXICO (Picacho del Diablo, Parque Nacional Sierra San Pedro Martir)
By Allen Engel
The winds of Devil's Peak drove the snow-sleet-sand into my eyes, causing me to squint my eyes tightly, and avert my gaze downwards to avoid its
sting. J. and I were becoming drenched and ice cold, as we had not anticipated a blinding snowstorm in Baja Mexico in April. Since we had been
traversing in the same general direction throughout the storm, the left side of my clothing had become completely drenched in a wet snow ice shell,
while my right side was nearly dry and ice free. By now my hands have become bright red and numb, and my cotton clad feet ice cold and painful. J.
and I have become very quiet as the storm continues, possibly starting to become hypothermic. As we both hunkered into the snow gusts, and tried to
find our way back in the whiteout to the trailhead, my thoughts turned inwards, and I began to recount our Baja Mexico beach vacation.
Your vacation to Baja Mexico and its primitive beaches and Devil's Peak begins with a short $203.00 (R.T.) flight to the San Diego Airport. At the
airport you rent a car ($135-180/week & $100 Mexican car insurance) and speed through the Mexican border without stopping. Finding the toll road
(autopista) is a bit of a hassle, but once you are on the toll road 1-D you can average 70+ miles per hour the 68 miles to Ensenada. Toll road 1-D
whisks you high into the headlands overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with panoramic views as beautiful any scenic drive on the Pacific Coast. After
driving through Ensenada you join with Highway 1, and then you are only 120 miles from camping on primitive beaches, or the hotels of San Quintin.
There are miles of free primitive camping around the headlands of Punta San Jose, Punta Cabras, and Erendira; and the sandy beaches of Camalu,
Vincente Guerrero, and San Quintin. There are 4 or 5 tourist hotels around San Quintin, and we enjoyed our stay at the Old Mill Hotel, operated by
former Seattlites Jim and Nancy.
The road to Devils Peak and the Parque Nacional Sierra San Pedro Martir is very interesting. The first 14 miles of the 60 mile road are paved, as
you travel up the wash of the San Telmo River, passing by a mix of poor and modern fields and ranches. After 14 miles the road becomes an unimproved
gravel road, with no washouts, some short stretches of washboards, some hairpin turns and steep grades, but passable by any subcompact or larger 2
wheel drive rental car.
As you drive and rise in elevation from sea level to 9,500 feet, the flora changes dramatically, as does the apparent seasons. At sea level the
northern Baja beaches average highs of 60's and 70's, but the temperature at the Parque trailheads started at 45 degrees at the start of our scramble,
dropping to 30 degrees within minutes as the storm grew.
The flora at sea level consisted of miles of dull sagebrush and other semi-arid vegetation which is typical of the Pacific Coast. However, as you
drive and rise in elevation, the sage becomes taller and taller and greener and greener. Above 5,000 feet the vegetation becomes more varied, and
some of the desert plants are in bloom. At higher elevations the remains of long lingering wildflowers appear, and some of the wildflowers are still
stubbornly in bloom. Some of the wildflowers remind me of the wildflowers of the Cascade Mountains, while other wildflowers are quite foreign and
fantastic, strings of neon orange, hot pink, and sky blue.
As you drive your car into the Parque at 8,500 feet, strange dwarf evergreen trees suddenly appear. These evergreens are unlike any evergreen tree I
have ever seen. But as you drive higher, these strange evergreens give way to Ponderosa Pines. Once you are in the Parque, you are surrounded by
throngs of massive 100 foot+ Ponderosa Pines. The forest floor is litterered by Ponderosa pine needles, and pine cones twice as big as your fist.
Strange boulders dot the landscape. As we pulled up to the trailhead, a bobcat flashed across the road, presumably baiting us away from its kittens,
probably hidden in a burrow near the roadside. We saw a herd of about 20 deer as we set out scrambling, and saw lots of deer sign all over.
The Parque is a welcome change from the desert beaches of the Baja. The Parque is fastidiously clean, with no litter. One Mexico travel book claims
that fewer than 1,000 people visit the Parque every year. There are some primitive hiking trails, with intermittent trail markers. I guess that
the hiking trails originated as heavily used deer trails, which were marked by the government for human use. The area surrounding the Parque entrance
is a high plateau, and one can cover miles without much elevation gain or loss. You can ascend atop one of the ridges surrounding Devil's Peak, or
you can make it to the top of Devil's Peak in a long day of hiking and routefinding. The trails become more rugged as you approach the peak, with few
markers. You will need to bring along a good map, compass, and gps. Picacho del Diablo tops out at 10,154 feet, after a 300 foot technical climb.
One Mexico travel book claims that you can see both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez from the top of Picacho del Diablo. We made it back to
our rental car, and thankfully the storm quickly passed overhead, and the sun came out. Luckily our rental car started promptly at 9,500 feet and 30
degree temperatures. As we drove away from the Parque, we enjoyed vistas of the surrounding countryside, and could see over 40 miles, all the way to
San Quintin Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
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Herb
Nomad
Posts: 202
Registered: 11-6-2003
Location: Torrance, CA
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Road Conditions are accurate...
although the author's choice of the word "unimproved" clearly reflects little knowledge of the area. This is one of the better maintained roads in
all of Baja and is currently in excellent shape with the exeption of some washboard sections as mentioned.
The rest of the info is also pretty accurate.
Note: The strange "dwarf" evergreen trees are Pinyon Pines and are extremely common in the 3500 to 7500 ft elevation range in the mountain ranges that
rise up out of the deserts of the southwestern US and northern Baja.
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Herb
Nomad
Posts: 202
Registered: 11-6-2003
Location: Torrance, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
They are paving it. They hope to be done in three years. It was our first time to that part of Baja. It will NOT be our last. |
Aha! So that's why it was so smooth with all the signs of recent and ongoing roadwork... I was there on Sunday, so there was really nobody to ask.
Beautiful place, isn't it? Better enjoy now before it gets paved. 
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