(GPS coordinates 29'43.68 N ~ 114'43.13 W ) For such a small place Catavina
gets a lot of attention! Located on Baja Highway One between El Rosario and the
Bay of L.A. junction, Baja aficionados have loved Catavina for many reasons over the years. Out
of necessity they have stopped in Catavina for gasoline. Although
the large Pemex station on the east side of the highway has been closed forever and the smaller pump
at the Desert Inn (La Pinta) has been closed for years, you can usually find an industrious Mexican trying his best to cash
in on the American game of capitalism (usually at about $3.50 per gallon) in
the parking lot across the street.
Aside from the gas, the 58 room DESERT INN - (LA PINTA) hotel (011-52 (617) 6-2601) or (800)
336-5454), and a few small restaurants, most folks love the Catavina area for the
spectacular large boulders, beautiful oasis valleys and raw desert scenery. There
is no other place in Baja that offers this wonderful combination, and Catavina is
always worth stopping for a delicious photo opportunity. For the truly adventurous
the road just north of Catavina to the pacific coast and then south is some of Baja's most remote
terrain offering a loop trip down to Santa Rosalallita and back to Highway One.
Dropping by Catavina in a helicopter? Carlos Fiesta did this for the 2007 Baja 1000 and there is a nice cement pad behind the hotel to land your bird.
Catavina offers a small market "Abarrotes Tonche" and the Oasis Cafe on the west side of the Baja Highway, in addition to 5 small rooms at "Cabanas Linda" a few hundred yards north of the Desert Inn - La Pinta Hotel, on the east side of the highway. San Ysidro, located one mile south of Catavina east of the Highway, also serves good food. If you need a place to sleep and don't want to pay for all of the amenities of the Desert Inn - La Pinta this is your best option.
Catavina is an official bus stop on the Transpeninsula Highway
for travelers headed north or south. If you are looking for the general aviation airport it is located just south of town about 1/2 mile on the east side of the road.
The restaurant directly across from the hotel (and a bit to the north) is a sweet surpise, offering a clean venue and good food.
The small restaurant at San Isidro, just south of Catavina, is a fun place to catch a bite to eat and cold drink. The road east of the ranch leads to Mission Santa Maria, a rough 3 hour drive.
Catavina can be reached by taking Baja Highway One 76 miles south of El Rosario.
Don't blink or you might drive right past it!
Outside of Catavina at mile marker Km 175 a small (and free) museum features excellent data on local fauna and flora in a beautiful setting, complete with a desert walking trail.
Most Baja travelers who stop in Catavina head for the Desert Inn (La Pinta Hotel) on the west side of Baja Highway One.
Not that they are all planning on getting a room, but the services available at the hotel are a welcome oasis in an otherwise desolate territory.
Restrooms, dining facilities and cold drinks at the bar make this hotel a great place to stop and stretch the legs. Carlos Fiesta likes the ice cream for sale in the lobby on the right side!
The boulder fields north of Catavina begin at Highway marker KM 162 southbound and are some of the most spectacular in all of Mexico. Driving in from the north these huge rocks seem to get bigger and bigger until the entire landscape is covered with these huge stones just north of the Desert Inn Hotel. Cactus growing in between the rocks add a spectacular contrast to the desert scene.
Travelers looking for a taste of the real Baja will often take one of the dirt roads about 3 miles north of the Desert Inn and drive to the west. This is a good place to take in the sights, enjoy a cool drink, and take a close look at nature. Camping overnight amongst the boulders is a fun way to enjoy Catavina!
For those who need a place to hang their hat for the evening the Desert Inn Hotel offers large rooms, complete with televisions. Having breakfast in their restaurant is a good way to start the day. The pool in the center courtyard looks good and the water is clean, but the pool is not heated so, unless you are a member of the Polar Bear Club, winter is not a good time to take a dip. In summer it is a great place to cool off!
The people who live in the Catavina area are the local people who work at the hotel and the small nearby markets. There is no Gringo population in Catavina, except the transients in the parking lot of the La Pinta Hotel.
If you happen to be in the area after a good rain, the arroyo that crosses the highway north of the La Pinta offers freshwater pools both east and west of the blacktop. Hiking up these washes is fun and very scenic (especially the wash to the east), but if there is any chance of rain either locally or in the mountains to the east, be aware of potential flash floods.
There's not much left to the ruins at Mision Santa Maria de Los Angles in the
mountains east of Catavina. The mission was abandoned in the 1800's, and today
only a few half walls of the old mission, a doorway, and not much else remain.
However, most Baja adventurers who head for the mission are coming for more
than the old adobe walls. The canyon adjacent to the mission is the site of
undergound springs that create pools of water to form a true desert oasis.
It's easy to see why this location was chosen to establish a mission because
of the water, although it is hard to comprehend how anyone got to this remote
location hundreds of years ago. Although it is only 15 miles east of Rancho
Santa Ynez, it one of the toughest 15 offroad miles Baja has to offer. Yes,
the road starts off looking rather harmless...only as a means to entice you!
Once you get too far in to change your mind, the road gets bad. And then real
bad. There are several places on this road where road conditions will
drop you down to a snail's pace, and keep you there for longer than you might like.
A high clearance vehicle is strongly suggested, and if you have running boards on
your shiney S.U.V....good luck. Ultimately, about a mile from the mission and the
pools, the road falls completely apart, and the average 4X4 vehicle can now look
for a place to park. Right in the middle of the road will do fine. Walking in the
last mile or so is fun, you are just happy to be in one piece! Walking around the
mission site and the pools is a real treat (and a photo opportunity!). If you want
to take a dip in the water to cool off, the first pools to the right are the deepest
ones for a swim, down the small hill. The water further down the road by all of the
palm trees is usually too shallow for swimming, although it makes for an
interesting hike.
Finding the road to Mision Santa Maria is relatively easy. Taking Baja
Highway One south of Catavina, hang a left (go east) at the sign for Rancho
Santa Ynez. After stopping at the small but quaint Santa Ynez Restaurant for
a cold one or a bite to eat (don't expect much here, it's not a big
restaurant) the road to the mission wraps just behind the restaurant to the
north, and then east. If you drive past the wreckage of an old airplane
(another photo op!) you are on the right road. At the fork in the road,
stay to the left. The road to the right heads down into the wash, and the
sand is very soft. Looking at a map of the area, it appears that one
might be able to access Mision Santa Maria from the east side, via Gonzaga Bay.
Forget it. Not even on a motorcycle. I spoke with a couple who hiked in from
Gonzaga Bay, but it was a three day process that involved significant rock
climbing skills.
CATAVINA, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
YOUR FIRST STOP IN TOWN
THE GRINGO FACTOR
THE BEST OF CATAVINA
CARLOS FIESTA'S HOT TIP:
MISION SANTA MARIA