ATV tour in San Carlos

While we were staying in San Carlos, we went on an ATV tour using a Rhino for 3 hours one day.  We explored canyons, an old movie lot for "Catch 22" made in the 1960's, a cattle ranch, and the coastline north of El Mirador. The end of the tour involved riding up and down the sand dunes.

Here are a few photos from our expedition.

Rock formation in canyon

Tropical canyon in the desert.

 A spring appears from part way up the side of the mountain, providing a source of water for tropical plants not normally found in the desert.

When we visited the area used to film the "Catch 22" movie in 1970 nothing much was left of the set.  The remains of one building of an entire airport scene are all that is left.  We crossed the airplane landing strips that are now bits and pieces of pavement on the desert floor. The film had 17 B-25 bombers that actually flew out of this Guaymas / San Carlos location. 15 of these airplanes still remain, including one in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. One B-25 that was in very poor condition was blown up as part of the story and eventually buried beside the runway, where it remains to this day.

V&B at Catch 22 movie lot

We drove up a hill to view the coastline.  Then drove down and stopped at the waters edge to examine the starfish clinging to the rocks and jellyfish floating near shore.

view from top of hill of coastline looking south to El Mirador

Sunflower starfish top side

Sunflower star fish under side

underside of dead jellyfish

Offshore was an island of Cardon Cactus. Everyone calls it Cactus Island...what a surprise! This type of cactus grows to be the largest in the world.  The trunk can be up to 1 meter in diameter and 19.2 meters in height (62.9 feet!). It was very unusual to see these cacti surrounded by salt water, the only vegetation on this little island.

Island of Cardon Cactus