The Vizcaíno Desert, named for the Spanish admiral, Sebastián Vizcaíno, who sailed its shores in 1602, stretches across central Baja from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Cortez. This is the most desolate region in Baja, thousands of square miles where rain is so scarce that vegetation has learned to get its moisture from the fogs that blow in from the Pacific. Rocky mesas, volcanic cinder cones, and broad plains are scattered with stands of yucca, agave, ocotillo, cirio and cactus.

Snakes, lizards, rodents and birds live here, as do small herds of rare desert pronghorn and bighorn sheep. In the eastern desert, beyond the reach of the fog, life is stunted, scorched and sparse. Guerrero Negro, on the Pacific, and San Ignacio, on the Cortez side of the desert, are the only towns for a hundred miles large enough to have reliable stocks of groceries and gasoline. Guerrero Negro has several hotels, San Ignacio only two.