Baja California Highway 1: Catavina to Mulege

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cataviña

   Cataviña is a landscape from another planet, and it happens to have a road through it. Cirio trees, known in English as boojum, rise like upside-down carrots up to ten metres tall, with a few spiny branches at the top, and the cardón cactus, the world's tallest, stands in forests of its own. The whole area is protected as the Valle de los Cirios reserve.

   Read the complete Catavina write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cataviña is where the day begins. Next is Guerrero Negro.

2. 2. Guerrero Negro

   Guerrero Negro is a town built on salt and whales, in that order. Clocks change here too, with Baja California Sur an hour ahead. Beyond the town, the lagoon of Ojo de Liebre stretches out in a flat, glittering sheet.

   Read the complete Guerrero Negro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Guerrero Negro comes up about 506 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mulege.

3. 3. Mulegé

   Mulegé is a green surprise in a very brown country. The town sits where a small river reaches the Gulf of California, and a belt of date palms follows the valley inland, so that after hours on dry, spiny desert road you drop through a gap in the hills and find yourself among palms, orchards and the scent of water. The old mission church, founded by the Jesuits in the early eighteenth century, stands on a rise above the river and looks out across the palms.

   Read the complete Mulege write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 1092 km.