Constitución de 1857
The Hanson Lagoon, and a wild landscape of stones, caves, boulders, and forests that seem always reaching for the sky and just that one special time, you get to reach it too.
Constitución de 1857 is a big national park in the heart of the Sierra de Juárez, in the state of Baja California. The park is a natural and wilderness area of striking mountainous landscape that teems with wildlife, coniferous forests, and several magnificent bodies of water. Established as a national park in 1962, the protected area covers some 5,000 hectares and represents one of the most important forest ecosystems in northwestern Mexico.
Long known for the Hanson Lagoon, the park itself is sometimes more simply referred to as Laguna Hanson. The seasonal lake rests surrounded by stunning pine and oak trees and always a scattering of the white boulders for which the park is famous. The area offers an ideal setting for camping, hiking, mountain biking, and bird watching. The lake will sometimes freeze over during the winter marking a stark contrast with what you probably think of the deserts of Baja California. During the spring and summer, the fields are filled with wildflowers and wildlife, including deer, coyotes, eagles, and various species of reptiles.
People come to celebrate the park's ecological value. Home to many endemic species, it's also an important source of ground water. The park's altitude ranging from 1,600 to 2,000 meters above sea level, giving it a creates a unique micro-climate on the peninsula. Much of the biological diversity is quite rare indeed. Simply hiking here feels like a privilege that makes one glad to be alive.
The park is named for the liberal 1857 Constitution which sparked the Reform Wars that consumed Mexico until after the country was again consolidated by President Benito Juarez some ten years later. Most guests will get to the park from Ensenada on the Pacific coast. The entire drive is just under two hours. But after the turn off after the Ensenada-San Felipe Highway (Highway 3) you begin about 35 kms of mountainous and forested territory that leads to the lake. There are a number of lodging establishments, especially cabin rentals, but also a variety of eateries and novelty stops along the way.
