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Last Updated
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Exploring the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve
by Ron Mader
Deserts are the breathing spaces of the west and should be
preserved forever.
- Desert
Notebook
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| The Pinacate Reserve and
the abutting Gran Desierto de Altar Reserve are less than a day's
drive from the U.S.-Mexico
border.
Together, the two contiguous reserves protect the sea, coast, and
inland desert. El Pinacate stands out for its easier access and
its surreal beauty. |
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Located in
the state of Sonora
the region contrasts sandy coasts with rugged volcanic cones - the
region is a 30-mile wide volcanic field. The region is named after
a local species - a beetle that when threatened, sits vertically
on end and emits a foul odor. More loveable wildlife includes puma,
deer, antelope, wild boar, the Gila monster, bighorn sheep, pronghorn,
quail, and red-tailed eagle. Visitors to the park will find a rustic
vistors center.
There are few paths in this region and you can climb on the volcanic
cones to observe the craters. You are urged to travel with someone
who knows the region or hire an experienced guide and explore the
area in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, as the roads are of dubious
quality.
Guide information can be obtained through the visitor's center.
Be aware that this area is uninhabited and presents many dangers.
Make sure to bring along extra water.
VOLCANO FIELD
The park's chief attraction is its bizarre and mind-boggling scenery.
About 3 or 4 million years ago, an erratic series of volcanoes erupted
in what is now the Pinacate lava field. Hundreds of blank cinder
cones and craters mark the surface. You can visit some of the largest,
including El Elegante, from the park entrance off Highway 2.
The largest crater in the Pinacate Field is Cerro Elegante, a
maar crater about a kilometer in diameter. It takes a two to three-hour
hike to reach the crater and the path is well-marked. The view is
simply awesome. The crater is 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) from rim
to rim and 140 meters (460 feet) deep.
There are also places in the reserve where it hasn't rained for
years. The park's dune fields can be accessed via Highway 8 and
a 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) dirt road the heads west near the Kilometer
73 marker.
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DESTINATION MOON
The Sonoran Desert covers parts of California, Arizona, Baja California,
Sonora and Sinaloa.
Part of the largest extension of mobile sand dunes in America (including
the rare star shaped dunes) run right through the Reserve. The volcanic
shield (500,000 Acres) is composed by 10 giant Maar type craters
(the largest concentration in the world), more than 400 volcanoes,
lava flows, lava tunnels and caves.
Although it is often thought that a desert is a life deprived place,
the dark lava formations contrasting with the white sand dunes create
multiple habitats with numerous biodiversity. You can find more
than 560 species of vascular plants, 41 species of mammals, 200
species of birds, 43 species of reptiles, and amphibians and fresh
water fish as well. Endemic, endangered, and threatened species
exist in the Pinacate.
Some of these lava fields were used to train U.S. astronauts heading
to the moon during the Apollo space program.
While the craters definitely evoke an otherworldly terrain, what
is amazing is not the sterility, but the fertility of the land.
You'll see many cacti, including saguaro, ocotillo and chollo. The
desert blooms in February and March after the spring rains. Dune
sunflowers, verbena and desert lilies blossom in the sand, and if
you look, you might see the tracks of bighorn sheep.
BIRTH OF A RESERVE
Mexico declared this area a biosphere reserve in 1993, at the urging
of Ezekiel Escurra, then-director of Mexico's protected areas. Escurra
had performed his graduate research here years ago and knew the
importance of the local biodiversity as well as the park's larger
role in the region of the Sea
of Cortez.
The Pinacate is part of the Man and Biosphere program of UNESCO
since October of 1995, and a Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Site
since September of 2007. It also forms part of an international
brotherhood of biosphere reserves here in Sonora and Arizona.
Because of all of this, the Mexican government, innumerable environmental
groups, scientists, and the general public, decided to declare The
Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar a Biosphere Reserve in June
of 1993, with a surface of 1,765,706 Acres.
Management authority for El Pinacate rests with IMADES (Instituto
del Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora),
an institution created in 1996 as the result of a merger between
Sonora's Center for Investigation and Development of Natural Resources
and the Centro Ecologico de Sonora (Sonora Ecological Center, or
CES). IMADES is headquartered in the ecological park in Hermosillo.
El Pinacate and well as the Upper Colorado Gulf in the Sea of
Cortez to west were jointly declared biosphere reserves. One of
the reasons was to protect the vaquita and totoaba species. The
totoaba resembles white bass and is considered a delicacy, and consequently,
overfished. The vaquita has perished in fishermen's nets, and is
now one of the rarest marine mammals on earth.
The area is also the spawning grounds of a highly commercial fishing
industry that thrives in the middle portion of the Sea of Cortez.
By protecting the breeding grounds, officials hope to be able to
sustain future marine production.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The Reserve is a vast heap of archeological remains that go back
more than 20,000 years. It is an important cultural site for the
Tohono O’odham people, who consider the Pinacate Mountain
the place where the creation took place.
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VISITING?
LOCATION -- The entrance to El Pinacate is
50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Sonoyta, Sonora, on Highway 2.
If you're approaching the park from the United States, be sure to
visit the Organ Pipe Visitor's Center on the Arizona border for
up-to-date information.
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The Schuk Toak (sacred mountain)
visitor center is located only 20 minutes away from Rocky Point,
you take highway 8 northbound towards Sonoyta, on kilometer 72 (10
miles from the old port) you will see a series of signs and the
only paved road that takes you west into the desert. After you make
a left turn you will drive 4 miles alongside the Sierra Blanca,
a granite structure 300,000,000 years old.
When you get to the visitor center, you must register and pay 50
pesos or 4.50 USD per person. Then the personnel will gladly address
an opening lecture on the Reserve and on the existing activities
both in English or Spanish. You will get to see a series of photographic
exhibits, and in addition there is a display of the Pinacate’s
collection of archeological remains. You will hike through a couple
of short informative trails that describe the biological and geological
aspects of the reserve. In the audiovisual room a short documentary
by Mike Foster will be projected for you, also available in English
or Spanish. You can enjoy the view from the terrace overlooking
the Gran Desierto de Altar, or if you want, you can drive an extra
2 kilometers to the base of the first sand dune and hike until you
see the Sea of Cortez from the top.
The vehicle route’s entrance is located on highway 8 halfway
between Rocky Point and Sonoyta (half and hour drive) on kilometer
52, once you pay at Schuk Toak visitor center there is no need to
do so at the vehicle route, you do however need to register your
car, and read the rules for this circuit. You don’t need a
4x4, or huge all terrain tires for this, although it is a dirt road,
the employees often give maintenance to these paths so they wont
be as bumpy or loose as they would normally be. you will be given
a map with the course and it’s places of interest. You can
visit El Elegante Crater, with a mile in diameter and 700 feet deep,
El Tecolote campground for a picnic, El Cono Mayo volcano with a
trail that takes you to the top where you can see a panoramic view
of the area, El Colorado Crater, ten informative vehicle stations
and much more to see. You need from 2 to 4 hours to enjoy the vehicle
route.
Another campground is El Cono Rojo, normally you register in the
afternoon, you set up you camp, enjoy the star filled sky at night,
and very early in the morning you hike your way to the Pinacate
Peak (or Santa Clara Volcano) 4,000 feet high. It takes about 6
hours to get to the top where you can witness how Baja California
unites with Sonora. It takes another 6 hours to get to Cono Rojo
from the top. We recommend doing this particular activity in the
fall to spring months, as the heat can get unbearable and potentially
dangerous.
Both the Schuk Toak visitor center and the Vehicle Route are open
every day of the year (including Christmas and New Year), and our
operating hours are from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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AUTHOR
Ron Mader is the ecotourism and responsible travel correspondent for Transitions
Abroad and host of the award-winning Planeta.com
website. |
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