Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park is a national park in the Mexican state of Baja California. The Park is part of the municipality of Ensenada, Baja California. The area was first explored by Europeans in 1701 by Eusebio Francisco Kino by Dominican orders. The park is known for its pine trees and granite rock formations. Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a mountain range that runs north-south along the middle part of northwestern Baja California, Mexico. with its name Spanish for "mountains of Saint Peter the Martyr. Picacho del Diablo (Devil's Peak) is the highest peak in the park and in Baja California with its summit reaching . Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park is one of the few pine forests that exists on the Baja California peninsula that is important habitat for native Bighorn Sheep. In addition the park is home to the California condor through re-introduction program by several international agencies. The National Astronomical Observatory, built in 1971 on a neighboring peak, Cerro del la Cúpula, is home to Mexico's largest optical telescope, with a diameter of 2.12 meters, and a weight of 40 tons in total. The observatory is the second most important in Latin America. History The first explorations of the region were realized by the Jesuit order during the evangelization era of the neo-Hispanic territories of California. The regions of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir are thought to have been explored by father Eusebio Francisco Kino and father Wenceslao Link in 1701. Later the Dominicans continuing the evangelization movement built the Misión de San Pedro Mártir de Verona in the southern part of the park, but only ruins are left of the site. Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park was officially created by decree on April 26, 1947, in which 72,909 hectares were set aside and declared protected by the Mexican Federal government. The National Astronomical Observatory is located at an elevation of . The observatory was built in 1975, and has several large telescopes, the largest of which is . The observatory takes advantage of the high elevation, along with typically clear skies, low relative humidity, low atmospheric pollution, low light pollution, and low levels of radio interference. Geography Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park is a national park located on the northern part of the Cordillera Baja California Mountain Range, known as Sierra de San Pedro Mártir.