Parque Nacional Sierra de San Pedro Martir
Last night for the first time in quite a while, we were cold during the night, having failed to pull the comforter out from its’ storage place. We were surprised to learn it got down to 33 degrees overnight, and was only 45 degrees inside the Chalet when we got up. At 9am we left Meling Ranch in the RAV, leaving the Chalet behind, for a day trip to the national park high in the mountains. This is a trip recommended by friends Kal and Amy Brauner, who went there last winter. The road to the park is newly completely paved, and while it is narrow, winding, and very steep in places, it is not a difficult drive. We passed only two oncoming vehicles, and saw no one else headed our direction. Views from the road are spectacular, winding through green, mountainous terrain with pine forests and distant sightings of the Pacific Ocean at spots. At one point we came around a curve and found ourselves directly in front of a gigantic bird on the edge of the road. Bob took a photo, we watched briefly, and the bird took off in flight, further demonstrating its’ enormous size. Turns out we later learned it was a California Condor, an endangered species sporting a 9 ½-foot wing span. On arrival at the park, we had to register, pay a fee of 46 pesos (about $3.50 each) and put on a bracelet proving we had paid our fee. Shortly after the entrance, the road became a dirt road for the final 12 miles. Again, it was narrow, winding and very steep in places, but smooth and easy to travel. About halfway up, we encountered a grading project underway, so travel was reduced to one lane, a grader was operating at the time, and there was a 2-foot-high pile of dirt lining either side of the lane for a couple of miles as a result of the grading work. There was no room to pull over in the event of an oncoming vehicle. We encountered the grader coming down as we were headed up, and he simply veered off into the piles of dirt to allow our passage. We encountered a convoy of two school buses, two dump trucks and one pickup truck on our way down, and we had to back down 3/10 mile to a wide spot in the road to allow their passage. We reached the park in about an hour and the top was reached in an additional 45 minutes.n The road had climbed from just over 2000’ elevation at Meling Ranch to just over 9200’ elevation at the park summit. It was 46 degrees, so windy it was difficult to stand still at times, and felt very cold. There are 3 different-sized telescopes at the top, and we’d hoped for a tour of the larger one, but the door was locked and no one was present, so we looked around on our own and headed down. We had also hoped to do a hike, but the grading project prevented getting off the main road to side roads or parking spots, so we returned to Meling Ranch happy to have seen the scenery and views. Views of the Park can be found at this link (which includes photo’s of Meling Ranch)
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