Baja California is the land of boulders, boojum trees, beautiful beaches, and historic missions.
On this page, find travel details such as maps, photos, links, as well as Baja California history, books, and more >>>

New & Used BAJA BOOKS for sale! https://oldmissions.com/
Newest website additions:
Eliodoro Arce, the legend (1912-2000) This page keeps growing with more history and more photos!
A wonderful motorcycle trip report from Tom Junkans
The Bill Nichol’s Rock Trail, a story from Kevin Ward
San Bruno 1683-1685 web page
Steve Silver’s Baja California Photos (seven more photos added 2-18-23)
Baja Photos Interactive Map, over 1,600 location photos!
Before you leave home: Advice for border crossing and driving
The #1 Baja California Travel Club: https://www.discoverbaja.com/
This website was created in the year 2000. Twenty-two years later, it has been revised to better help you plan trips and discover more Baja California adventures! More content being added. Look for more modernizing changes in the near future. Until then, just scroll down to see and read about the fascinating peninsula that is full of history and adventure. Several links lead to much more and hundreds, no thousands of photos give you a look at some of Baja’s endless attractions…

Baja California is a thousand miles of fun! Beware, you may catch ‘Baja Fever’!

Join our Viva Baja Facebook discussion group to share your travels, ask for advice, or make requests for this page. Let’s talk about Baja California at:
*Viva Baja Page Discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vivabaja
*Historic Locations Discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bajamissions
*You can also email David: info@vivabaja.com
First time driving to Baja California, Mexico? Advice for border crossing and driving
DISCOVER WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, and HOW TO GET THERE.
RESEARCH LOCATIONS:
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David’s (99) Baja Bound Travel Adventure articles
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Subscribe to receive free monthly Baja Bound bulletins with news and articles
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Interactive Baja Articles Map, showing the 90+ Travel Article Locations (Links & Photos)
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Interactive Baja Photos Map to see over 1,600 locations photos, throughout the peninsula
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Baja California Maps (1685-2021) click here for over 200 maps!
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Baja California Books “Viva Baja Library” (383 books, so far. A work, in progress.)
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Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip Reports (2016-2018)
HISTORY:
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The Spanish Missions and Visitas in Baja California (Photos, GPS, History)
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Quick look Mission & Visita Photos, north to south (+ historic facts)
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Mission-basic-facts-names-dates-founders/
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San Bruno, the oldest European ruins in the Californias
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Finding El Camino Real (El Rosario south to Loreto)
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The Journeys of Harry Crosby, excellent 57-minute film (limited time)
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Facebook Pages: Baja California History & Groups
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‘Bajo California: The Limit of Time’ the 96-minute, 1998 film [English subtitles]
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Desert Magazine articles on Baja California (1939-1993)
DRIVING:
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Advice for border crossing and driving
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David’s Road Guide Maps (2018-2021)
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Kilometer Marker Guide
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GPS Waypoints in Baja California
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Get the Benchmark Maps Baja California Atlas: SPECIAL PRICE
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Download the 2021 Digital Benchmark Baja California Map App (from Avenza Maps), for your phone or GPS enabled tablet.

*See the Trip Photos section, below, for more ideas of places to see!
Coming in 2023:
Click here to see: What will the new guide have in it?
HEAR & SEE BAJA and the Viva Baja host:
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Listen to the SLOW BAJA PODCASTS (Great interviews with dozens of Baja-loving folks who have done some incredible things).
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Below are episodes David was on Slow Baja:
- June 14, 2020: AUTHOR DAVID KIER REFLECTS ON FIFTY YEARS OF BAJA TRAVEL
- January 17, 2021: ON A MISSION WITH DAVID KIER
- June 15, 2021: MEET THE BENCHMARK MAPS BAJA TEAM
VIDEOS, TV shows, & a motion picture (with David Kier):
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The 1973 Baja 1000 (a Super 8 film by David), east of Ojos Negros (3 min)
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2001 Video: Amigos de Baja Caravan to the Sulfur Mine & Matomí Canyon waterfall.(18-min)
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2001 Video: Cielito Lindo Baja Bash, Las Pintas, and a Lost Mission Hunt!
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2014 Cameron Steele’s (first) Trail of Missions, on CBS Sports (my short mission chats are at minutes 5:40 & 9:37)
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2016 The Baja Extreme, a David Kier 4×4 Tour (7-min)
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Pat Malone’s 7 videos of the 2016 Baja Extreme
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2019 America Unearthed (with Scott Wolter), goes to Baja (4 min.)
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2020 The Devil’s Road, an award-winning film. 1-minute clip
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The Devil’s Road, a full-length feature film (98 min.)
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2021 The Last Mission, an Amazon Prime TV show (21 min.) Five heroic off-roaders struggle over a 300-year old trail, in Baja California, to reach the last Jesuit mission ever built: Mission Santa Maria de Los Angeles. Historical introduction by author David Kier. Written & directed by Robert Marcos. Produced by Patrick Malone. Copyright 2021 Malone Productions.
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2022 Mission Santa María trip preview (48 seconds)
2019 Cameron Steele’s Trail of Missions Tour reconnaissance trip (7 to 10 min. episodes, with David):
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2019 Trail of Missions Recon (Episode 1: Missions Guadalupe & Mulegé)
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2019 Trail of Missions Recon (Episode 2: San Borjitas, Londó, San Bruno)
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2019 Trail of Missions Recon (Episode 3: Visita de San Pablo)
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2019 Trail of Missions Recon (Episode 4: San Francisco de la Sierra)
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2019 Trail of Missions Recon (Episode 5: Bahía Concepcion, Volcán Tres Virgenes)
Our epic 2010 trip to Mission Santa María on video, from HB Murphy & Zoom.
Three Tacomas, one 4Runner, one Dakota, and a 4×4 motorhome!
- Video #1 is coming down the Widowmaker in the lead Tacoma.
- Video #2 is my Tacoma followed by the rest of the gang, coming down the Widowmaker.
- Video #3 is the first Tacoma going through the bog (be sure to have the volume up).
- Video #4 is Teddi Montes (‘Baja Bucko’) singing a Baja love song at our campfire.
The trip photos: https://vivabaja.com/msm2010/
These two short videos (~1 min each) were produced by Robert Marcos to help me share my passion for Baja California and my book, Baja California Land of Missions…
***BAJA CALIFORNIA MAPS (1685-2021) click here for 200+ maps!***

A biography about David and how he connected with Baja California
Lost Mission Ruins?: Found! 1966 & 2009
LINKS to interesting Baja California Sites including Baja Travel Sites; Baja Locations; Tide Charts; Home Pages; Book Authors; Contributed Photos…
HISTORIC IMAGES OF BAJA CALIFORNIA
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J. Ross Browne from 1868
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Margaret Brown Baldwin Photos from ~1900
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Margaret Wood Bancroft Photos from early 1930s
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Margaret Wood Bancroft 1934 Lost Mission Search
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Peveril Meigs’ Northern Baja Photos (1925 to 1936)
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*Marquis McDonald’s Color Mission Photos of 1949-1950*
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*Correction Guide to the enlarged Marquis McDonald Color Photos.
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Marquis McDonald’s Entire Baja Photos Collection of 1949-1950
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Howard Gulick’s Baja Photos Album (1950-1967)
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Howard Gulick’s Entire Photos Collection of 1950-1975
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1963 Chevy Baja Run TV Commercial and log book
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Harry Crosby’s Baja Photos Album (1967-1992)
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Harry Crosby’s Entire Photos Collection of 1958-1992
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Harry Crosby’s El Camino Real Article (1977)
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Harry Crosby’s El Camino Real Road Building Details (1977)
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Harry Crosby’s Mapping El Camino Real Article (1977)
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Erle Stanley Gardner’s 1960s Baja Expedition Photos
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Choral Pepper and the 1960’s Gardner Expeditions (from Choral’s camera)
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Baja California articles in Desert Magazines (1939-1993)
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Jack Swords’ Mission Photos (2000-2004)

CLICK HERE to quickly find photos of specific Baja locations (1999-2022)!
My Baja California Travel and Camping Photos (1965-2022):
- 1965-1999 Photos “David K’s Old Baja Photo Album”
- 1999 – 2004 Baja Trip Photo Albums (28 albums)
- 2005 – 2007 Baja Trip Photo Albums (28 albums)
- 2008-2010 Baja Trip Photo Albums (15 albums)
- 2011-2014 Baja Trip Photo Albums (10 albums)
- Apr. 2015: The 1942 Pole Line Road
- July 2015: Shell Island, San Ignacio, Bahía Concepción, La Magdalena
- July 2016: Shell Island and Mission San Fernando
- Sept. 2016: The Baja Extreme Tour
- Jan. 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #1 (S. Felipe to Pta S. Francisquito)
- Feb. 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #2 (S. Ignacio to Loreto, Comondú)
- Mar. 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #3 (Mexicali to S. Felipe, Matomí)
- Apr. 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #4 (Remote Pacific Coast +)
- May 2017: Shell Island family trip
- June 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #5 (El Arco, El Barril, Bahía Tortugas +)
- August 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #6 (San Ignacio to Cabo San Lucas)
- October 2017: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #7 (Tijuana to San Quintín & San Pedro Mártir)
- Aug. 2018: Baja Bound Road Guide Research Trip #8 (Hwy. 3, 5 & Sierra Juárez)
- Feb. 2019: America Unearthed TV Show Baja Trip
- May 2019: Trail of Missions TV Show Recon Trip (Missions Guadalupe, Mulegé, San Ignacio; Visita Londó; San Bruno Colony; Caves San Borjitas, Ratón; and more!)
- Trips planned in 2020 & 2021 were cancelled because of Covid travel restrictions.
- Mar. 2022: Baja Lifestyle & Travel Expo in San Diego
- Mar. 2022: Mission Santa María, with friends

David K’s Viva Baja Party Photos:
- A Message from Choral Pepper
- October 2000 Viva Baja #1
- May 2001 Viva Baja #2
- February 2002 Viva Baja #3
- February 2003 Viva Baja #4
- November 2006 Viva Baja Cactus
Contributed Baja Photos & Stories (click here)
Please allow me to help you find fun and adventure in Baja California as I have for TV shows and documentary films! Email: info@vivabaja.com





EMAIL Questions or Comments to DAVID: info@vivabaja.com
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