Guadalupe Canyon, Baja California. A camping trip.
Guadalupe Canyon is a hot spring oasis in the mountains of northern Baja California, about a three-hour drive from the border near Mexicali. The canyon has several developed hot spring pools set against the rock walls; palm trees grow in the canyon bottom where the water runs. In a desert that is largely brown and inhospitable, the canyon is very green and, by comparison, extremely hospitable.
The drive in is rough. The road from the highway is unpaved, rocky, and takes longer than you’d expect. Guadalupe Canyon is not easy to reach.
You come back out through Mexicali. You wait at the border. If you’re me in 2008, you ran out of gas at the customs window. But you’ve been in a hot spring in a Baja canyon and you’ve had a few days away from the city and even the border crossing is okay if you approach it from the right direction.
I’ve always thought the San Diego–Tijuana corridor makes Baja feel more inaccessible than it is. Once you’re south of the border zone, things open up. The distances are longer and the towns are smaller and the roads are variable, but the peninsula is genuinely beautiful and the hot springs are real and the fish tacos are excellent.
I go back when I can.