We took a day trip out to the El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve in the Sonoran desert. It is a very beautiful volcanic desert (approximately 714,566 hectares) just north of Puerto Penasco. It was declared a world UNESCO site in 2013.
We stopped at the visitor centre first which was very informative about the area except everything was in Spanish, except for one video. 
There are a total of 8 enormous Maar (steam blast) craters. We drove 80 kilometers through lava fields and up to 2 of the craters. 
We saw a wild boar a couple minutes into the reserve. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough with the camera. It is not a great picture. He is above the right windshield wiper running away from us.
There were so many different varieties of cactus (Organ pipe, Senita, Ocotillo, Cholla, etc.) We even saw ironwood trees. The views were spectacular.
There had been a lot of rain fall and at this point understood why only trucks were allowed to go through. We made some rooster tails as we drove through and Bob had a lot of fun!
We hiked part of the El Elegante Crater which is over 3/4 mile in diameter, 800 feet deep and almost a perfect circle.
Some of the 540 species of plants that are located in the area.
This is Ocotillo cactus which is covered with very sharp barbs.
Here are several pictures from two other small hikes we did.
Apparently the Apollo 14 astronauts trained here for the moon landing. I can see why!
Lots of black volcanic rock everywhere. It is amazing so many different plant species grow in this rocky desert.
We’ll be heading for Kino Bay next Wednesday!
B O J I D A 