“Let me take you on a trip through unique and endemic plants, see unusual and often hidden animals, and “meet” people both past and present who make the desert a special and challenging landscape.

The central deserts of Baja California cover approximately 12,000 square miles. Generally, 250 miles long by 50 miles wide. My military buddies started exploring in 1970 when the road south of El Rosario was just dirt and followed El Camino Real. The next real stop was Guerrero Negro some 200 treacherous ‘road’ miles to the south.

What always struck me was the seemingly instantaneous change from coastal scrub to desert as we wound through the hills from El Rosario to Mission San Fernando. You can still walk the original trail.

It’s hard to describe the feeling of seeing your first, towering cardón or hearing the sound of the gigantic, vertical columns singing in the wind. As a photographer, it was impossible to take enough rolls of film.

I will review about 40 endemic or unusual plants and about 12 unusual animals and their interactions with each other and with people past and present. I will also present photos of the grand cave paintings and the Mission San Maria, aka Mission Impossible.

I will conclude with sights of the starry, starry night that may be new to you.”

—Gerald C. Green