El Elegante crater
Huge and round.
Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones from México D. F., México — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones from México D. F., México — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones from México D. F., México — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones from México D. F., México — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kyle Magnuson from Los Angeles, United States — CC BY 2.0
El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve and, since 2013, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Sonoran Desert of north-west Mexico, east of the Gulf of California. Its volcanic heart lies about 72 km in a straight line north of the city of Puerto Peñasco, just south of the US border. The World Heritage site covers 7,146 square kilometres and is managed by the federal government together with the state of Sonora and the Tohono O'odham people. At its core is a volcanic shield called Santa Clara with three peaks, surrounded by wide areas of active sand dunes, and it has the greatest concentration of maar craters anywhere, deep round craters formed by steam explosions. The best known is El Elegante, a huge, steep-sided round crater in the middle of a plain of black lava, alongside others such as Cerro Colorado and MacDougal. Around the lava fields stretch desert scrub, ocotillo and cactus, the dunes and distant mountains glow at sunset, and more than 540 plant species and 200 bird species have been recorded. An entry fee applies and visitors must register at the visitor centre, and some dirt roads are rough and need a high-clearance vehicle. There is no water or services inside the reserve and summers are extremely hot, so winter is the best time to visit.
Huge and round.
Black rock.
At sunset.
North of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico
Yes, at the visitor centre.
In winter; summers are extremely hot.