Hiking in the Sierra de la Giganta

This program offers scheduled day trips, for local residents of Loreto and visitors alike, in which participants hike to different canyons of the Sierra to learn where the limited fresh water supply of Loreto originates. The trip leader is usually a bilingual naturalist, Cecilia Fischer, but she is also joined by members of the Loreto Guide Association (Asociacion de Guias de Loreto).

What to Expect

On the trip, hikers meet new people from the community and learn about the local flora and fauna, notably the medicinal plants important to keeping the community healthy now and in the future.

The maximum number of participants allowed on any one trip is 20. The timing is usually on weekend mornings, 6:00 to 11:00. Cecilia Fischer announces trip dates and availability on social media.

A few days in advance of the outing, participants are given 20 minutes of guidance on the best practices for hiking in the desert and how to prepare for the trip. The trip organizer will typically schedule a carpool to conserve gasoline. 

expanding Public Awareness of Locals

Since the inception of these hikes for locals, hundreds of participants of different ages and backgrounds have joined. The initial purpose was to share the beauty of nature with locals who often don’t venture out on their own or with their families to their own Sierra because they don’t know the access roads or have a fear of heights, pumas or other large predators, snakes or toads (thought to be poisonous). 

Some, if non-swimmers, are nervous about water crossings and others about difficult passageways in the canyons. In order to address these issues, the trip incorporates how to work as a team with strangers (or neighbors on the trip) and how to avoid dangerous situations in the desert.

The majority of the participants, so far, are women aged about 32 to 45. Trips like these are readily available, but we discovered that many local women were holding back. Traditionally, women of Baja California Sur would not even think of hiking on their own or with other women. But over time, more and more Loretano women have joined us and are climbing, hiking, swimming and accomplishing other things they had never done since they were little girls. It is a beautiful thing to witness! Some trips incorporate all members of a family. 

Making New Friends While Exploring our Ecosystem

We are happy to see that folks from far away communities such as Ensenada, Santa Rosalia, Mulege, Cd. Constitucion, La Paz and Los Cabos also come to Loreto just to be part of these trips. By advertising trips as an opportunity for locals to become tourists in their own community, the project acknowledges a social sector easily forgotten in tourist destination advertising. These trips help to weave a stronger community fabric. And encouragement for previously unconnected neighbors to join one another often leads to plans they make together for more nature trips to other parts of the Sierra.