Sierra de la Laguna

The Sierra de la Laguna is the mountain range that rises behind Todos Santos, and it is unlike anything else in southern Baja. While the coast is desert, its higher slopes are covered in oak and pine forest, with streams and cool nights, an island of green that is home to plants and animals found nowhere else. It became a biosphere reserve in 1994.

The name comes from La Laguna, a broad meadow near the top that was once a lake bed, at around 1,700 meters. Getting there is the classic trek of the reserve: a steep trail on the Pacific side, starting at La Burrera east of El Pescadero, climbs more than 1,400 meters through changing vegetation, from cardón and thorn scrub to oak woodland and finally pine forest.

Most hikers take two or three days, camping in the high meadow. On autumn and winter mornings the valleys below often fill with a sea of clouds, and from the ridges you can sometimes see both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez.