The maps produced during his expedition are thought to have had an influence on later names of places in the area.
Around 1541, Bolaños was dispatched on a voyage up the west coast of Mexico and Baja California in service of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo's expedition.
Bolaños followed the route of the previous expedition of Francisco de Ulloa, exploring both sides of the Baja California Peninsula, reaching approximately 200 miles north of Magdalena Bay, then returned to New Spain in late 1542.
The maps Bolaños produced were used by Cabrillo in his landmark voyage of the Californian coast.
In particular, Bolaños' name for Puerto de California, located at the southern tip of the Peninsula near present-day Los Frailes, is one of the first uses of the name 'California,' and predates the term being used for the area at large by about 30 years.