Sierra de San Pedro Mártir

Sierra de San Pedro Mártir (English: mountains of Saint Peter the Martyr) is a mountain range that is one of the Peninsular Ranges of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. At 3,096 m (10,157 ft), the highest peak is the Picacho del Diablo, also known as Cerro de la Encantada or Picacho la Providencia. It is the highest point in the state of Baja California, as well as the entire Baja California Peninsula.

The range is a portion of the drainage divide that demarcates the west and east drainages of the peninsula.

Parque Nacional Sierra de San Pedro Mártir was established by presidential decree in 1974, protecting an area of 650 km2 (250 sq mi). It was the first of two national parks to be established on the Baja California Peninsula. The other is the Parque Nacional Constitución de 1857, in the Sierra de Juárez mountains to the north.

The National Astronomical Observatory is located at an elevation of 2,830 m (9,280 ft). The observatory was built in 1975, and has several large telescopes, the largest of which is 2.1 m (83 in). The observatory takes advantage of the high elevation, along with typically clear skies, low relative humidity, low atmospheric pollution, low light pollution, and low levels of radio interference.

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Valle de Los Cirios

One of the 125 federal protected areas that exist in Mexico. This is a spectacular wilderness in the middle of the Baja California peninsula, surrounded by two great seas, where the boojum tree and Cardon are the plants of the valley. The Cardon, which sometimes reaches a height of approximately 15 meters, is considered the world’s largest cactus. And the boojum tree, is famous worldwide for its high conical contortions of the trunk and frequent and surprising ramifications.

The area is surrounded by hills of low altitude, such as La Sierrita, San Francisquito, Calamajué and Colombia. It also constitutes the third part of the State of Baja California and half of the municipality of Ensenada.

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