Catavina

Somewhere in the middle of the Baja peninsula the desert turns surreal. Around Catavina, the highway threads a field of enormous rounded granite boulders - some the size of buildings, stacked and balanced across the hills - and growing among them is the cirio, the boojum tree: a tapering, upside-down-carrot column up to fifteen metres tall, covered in small leaves, endemic to this corner of Baja and adjacent Sonora and found in the wild nowhere else. Add cardon cactus, elephant trees with peeling bark, ocotillo and, after a wet winter, a flowering desert, and the result is one of the most distinctive landscapes in North America, protected as the Valle de los Cirios. The hamlet of Catavina itself is a fuel stop, a hotel and a few houses. Short walks lead to a palm canyon with a spring and to rock-art shelters with painted figures, best visited with a local guide who knows which boulders hide what. Sunset and sunrise on the boulder field are the reason photographers stop here rather than drive through.

What you actually see

• The boulder field - granite blocks stacked across the hills.
• The cirios - boojum trees found only in this desert.
• The palm canyon - a spring oasis among the rocks.
• The rock art - painted shelters visited with local guides.

When to go

October to April for comfortable travel; after a wet winter, spring brings a desert bloom worth timing for. Summer is punishing.

Honest expectations

Services are minimal - fuel availability at Catavina has been unreliable at times, so fill up in El Rosario or Guerrero Negro. There is little phone signal. Rock-art sites require guides both to find and to protect.

Nearby

Bahia de los Angeles lies east down its spur road; Guerrero Negro's whale lagoon is three hours south.