The full moon shined bright throughout the entire trip. What a joy to traverse the biosphere of Baja.

Finding details on this route was next to impossible, and six of us decided to go for it. Here is the map we did find:

We were loosely organized. Raphael was kind enough to head to the park office twice to get our permits. Jaden and Amber coordinated with Raphael to leave one of their cars at La Burrera (our finish point). I took the bus from La Paz to Los Barriles to meet up with David and Leea, whose house in LB became our meeting point.

We all rode together to Rancho San Dionisio to begin our trip. There, we were invited into the ranch, which was amazing! Organic gardens, grass, games, and great hospitality surprised us! We camped out in the lawn, while Clarence told us his story and the story of the Ranch. Our trip was off on the right foot!

We were off! The first couple of miles were flat. Of course, we forgot our permit in the car, and I ran back to get it. Luckily, it was just the flat part. Then things started to get steep! Really steep.

At least we had shade and water. Jayden was backpacking for the very first time. What a way to start! Everyone kept a really positive attitude and arriving at Poza de Pepe made it all worthwhile!

The next morning we set out for the Laguna. It was mostly a hike along a ridge. Less steep than day one for sure.

We made it to the lake early enough that Leea and I dashed off to the peak. It was about a two-hour round trip hike. There was a group of runners from La Paz who were doing up and back in a day. Good on them!

One surprise to me was the Madrona tree! Growing everywhere once we were slightly west. How cool! A taste of home!

When we got back to camp, we learned of an unfortunate situation with the landowner (parks are weird in Baja with much private land throughout). The owner charges 400 pesos per day per person to cross his land. A very high price, which feels pretty awful. We got him to charge us 400 pesos for two days, but it came at a price that involved a lot of arguing and stress. Ugh. That was the only downside of the trip. Leea and I were on the peak when it all went down, but I guess it got ugly.

The next morning was our last and we had a lot of mileage to travel. The down was difficult, hot, sandy, and dry.

Everyone was pretty beat by the time we got back to the car. It felt SO GOOD to complete our goal! I could not believe we pulled it off. No maps, a couple of vague descriptions, very few people we could find who had done the trip.

It felt so special to cross the Sierra de la Laguna and visit the tallest point in Southern Baja. What a wonder to see a place so few people ever get to touch. My team was amazing, and so, so fun.

Full moon over Baja in La Sierra. Pure Joy.