For most people in Southern California including myself we arrive at the Salton Sea and keep on trucking. Either we head out to a destination close by the SS or drive past it never giving it a second thought. Most of us think of the SS as a place of terrible, stinky water and never look beyond that. In actuality the SS is a pretty amazing place. For one, it's the largest lake in California. For two its rich in history and actually carries some amazing statistics that many people aren't aware of. So with that said, we took the opportunity to explore the Salton Sea, make it the core of the trip and give it it's spotlight all its own.
The Salton Sea is home to almost 25% of the entire Pelican population.
The Salton Sea is located in the lower desert in Southern California. Its nestled at 250 feet below sea level in a plain between Truckhaven, Ocotillo and the Colorado River, Mecca, Niland and so on. The SS was formed in 1905 by a huge flood that was cause by a collapse of a dike along the river south of Yuma. The damaged dike took 2 years to repair and in that time the water collected grew so large (35 by 15 miles) that it became a permanent fixture to the southwest.
Two shots of the salt workings before the flood. Yes, these are still under the water somewhere today.
For many years after the great flood happened in the start of the 20th century people in droves started to head out to start some sort of a leisure or resort type atmosphere. They really thought it was going to take off.
People would come for sunbathing, swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing.
Even the army was stationed in the area way back when.
The problem with all this wasn't the people, it was the lake. There was no outlet for the water to escape so it became more salty and then less inviting. Salt ran down from the nearby hills and pollution from pesticides in the area built up as well. That combined with sewage from other rivers in the area it started to turn into a ghost town of sorts.
A shot today.. where the water appears blue and inviting from a distance, but once you arrive its salty, there's dead fish because of the lack of oxygen and the ground is covered in barnacles. It's actually saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Crazy.
So, we planned on camping on the lake to get the full experience so we pulled into a regular campground. One that i didn't even know existed!
On this trip we were excited to be tooling around in a friends truck that had a few overland modification, such as a fridge, drawer system, dual batteries, communications and a Flip Pac camper. It was quite the comfy rig.
Flip Pacs are great, they open and close pretty swiftly and there's hardly any setup. I put together this flash clip to show just how easy they are to open and close. They're manufactured by FRP in Riverside CA.
Friday night came without hesitation. Gotta love those quick sunlight days in the winter. We huddled around the campfire and cooked some fine food as always. Our friend Linda was in the Provan Tiger Astro conversion.
I noticed this old Rover and Apache trailer next to us at camp so i couldn't pass up the cool night shot.
Morning came all too quickly as the bed in the Flip Pac was very cush. This was the view from my coffee cup. I don't know why people assume this place is nasty. Walking around in sandals, 85 degrees while the rest of the country freezes... it's no wonder they call it "Poor mans Baja"
Linda hanging with the pooches. Pepper the Aussi and Dixie our Boston Terrier.
Time for a walk on the beach.
We spotted a T@B tear drop. Check out the room extension on it. Looks like it just about doubles the capacity.
Another shot of the Rover people. They were heading to the real Baja from Death Valley. They have a blog site and their story is here.. http://adventuresofarover.posterous.com/
It's a bird, no it's a plane! No it's both! I actually had the long lens out with the doubler on and caught this photo. With the naked eye it looked like another bird, but it was going way too straight!
Dixie has the roughest life.
Linda getting a big kiss from Pepper, too funny.
Yosh waking up in the Flip Pac after Dixie and my snoring kept her up all night.
After making some breakfast we headed for the Salton Sea Yacht Club, our first stop of the day. Now a restored museum.
The kids didn't want to get left behind..
The museum was recently restored and opened to the public on May 1st 2010. It was better than we anticipated! It was a piece of art!
Around back it was bird photographers paradise. People come from all over to take photos of them.
Believe it or not, these fish were alive and kicking. Just an over abundance is all, all fighting to be top fish!
Yosh enjoying the view out the back landing. Amazing how the lake is surrounded by dry desert and mountain ridges.
There was a great little picnic area where you could relax, eat lunch and check out the bird life. I swear, if someone showed me this photo i would not think "Salton Sea"
We headed inside to check the place out. They really took their time and rebuilt the place nicely.
The view from inside was nothing to scoff at either.
Very cool windows everywhere you look with great views.
Yosh found the best book ever..
Tons of history everywhere you looked. Including the original North Shore road sign. Pretty cool.
After buying some cool swag in the gift shop, we headed on our way.. to see more of the Museum or get directions head to their website http://www.saltonseamuseum.org/
Our next stop down the SS was south on the 111. Bombay Beach. Bombay beach was another resort type community where people would build up later find out a tropical storm would come and wipe everyone out. There are still double wides and campers stuck in the muck here.
Many of the current homes are covered. Possibly in case the next crazy storm hits?
Technology meets the past.
The Bombay Beach Church
Fish Fry's are apparently the "in" thing to do around these parts.
Apparently home to Santa on a stick too.
They even have their own Fireside lounge... and it's for sale!
After seeing there wasn't much to do in Bombay Beach we headed south again.
Downtown Niland. Only imagine what it had been like in it's prime. This was the First National Bank built in 1920.
Passing through Niland we had to stop for a train headed to what we assumed Mexico with car frames on it for assembly. Not surprising really.
Next stop was Salvation Mountain. I've been wanting to see this place for a while now.
It's a trip. A collection of painted hill art, along with hay bails and automobiles that spread the word of Jesus. I can't really explain it too well, but if you get a second the man that created it all will happily chat with you.
The man, the myth the legend.. Mr. Leonard Knight. And in fact he was proudly showing off his new plaque he was given by Barbara Boxer. The man has been noticed as well he should.
The Folk Art Society even acknowledged him too.
The man has time for anyone. He shares no beef with anyone. Almost Saintly.
The place is bigger than it looks from the road.
There's almost a maze of twists and turns and all made in the name of art and God.
Mazes of tree limbs.
Follow the yellow step trail Yosh!
The automobiles are interesting too, nothing goes untouched around here.
Did i say nothing goes untouched? I meant it. Even boats... yeah a boat in the desert.
For more information on Salvation Mountain and how you can view this interesting place visit their website at
http://www.salvationmountain.us
Just east of Salvation Mtn is Slab City. Slab city is a another interesting place, that's for sure.
For lack of a better way to describe it, i'll take a bit of Wikipedia to describe it for you.
"Slab City or The Slabs is a camp in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California, used by recreational vehicle owners and squatters from across North America. It takes its name from the concrete slabs and pylons that remain from the abandoned World War II Marine barracks Camp Dunlap there. A group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since, although the number of residents has declined since the mid 1980s."
Interesting tidbit: Into the Wild" in 2007 was filmed here also.
Many of the people living here use these huge covers to add shade, is what we're thinking.. almost barracks like.
Their community bulletin board.
This is there "goodwill" or donation store as it were. People drop off clothing, shoes etc here and others more in need come by and pick up what they need. We literally watched a person come by, grab a pair of sandals, toss them on and drive off.
Solar is key in these parts.
They have their own Church. Apparently they have their own AA meetings too. We saw many signs for this.
Anyone want to live in a bomb shelter or missile silo? Really, i don't know what it was used for originally, but it's private property now (If it really was, we didn't want to test our luck finding out)
If you're a local you probably hang out at the Range on a Saturday night.
The Tundra drove like a caddy through Slab City on the washboard roads.
They even have their own radio station.
One thing we noticed was the large amount of trash that was in the area. Apparently their starting awareness programs to stop such trends but it still looked pretty bad to us. To learn more about Slab City and to see how you can get involved with cleaning it up visit http://www.slabcity.org/
Once again, we were ready to head south. Our next stop was the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge. Yosh was excited to check out the place. I personally, again.. didn't even know such a place existed!
The entire refuge was named after Sonny in 2003.
This area and along the SS is known as the Pacific Flyway for over 375 different types of bird species. It's known as the "Bird Highway" This habitat protects them in the winter.
The deck they made for this place was incredible. I'd kill to have it in my backyard.
Yosh looking cute as always.
The view from up top was pretty nice.
The supplied binoculars for spotting.
The view of Rock hill with the binoculars.
There's a trail that takes you out there. It's a mile one way and isn't too hard, but i was in flip flops and we were cramming in a ton of stops in one day so i bailed out on walking out.
The bird quantity was intense!
They had a small museum/research facility on site and we checked that out. Showed all the different types of animals/species you can find on the refuge. It was pretty nice and very informative.
If you want to stop by and visit the refuge and need directions, here's the website: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=81631
After a quick lunch on the tailgate we headed around the south end of the lake and up the west side, where we've been many many times. We stopped off in Truckhaven for fuel and a snack then back to camp for the day. We had a jammed packed day and we were ready for a cocktail.
All this for three people? And beer? We had quite the selection to choose from, that's for sure.
I made Jambalaya on the stove and we settled in for the night.
The next morning we packed up and headed out to one last spot. A place i used to go dirt bike riding as a kid. Painted Canyon. I didn't want to leave..
Pulling off Box Canyon road onto Painted Canyon
Dixie ready to rock and roll!
This particular area we used to come to when i was young. We used to camp just below the foothills. Brings back great memories. All closed now, go figure.
Wonder why land gets shut down?
The canyon walls are pretty well cut. The camera does not do them justice.
There are some sandy sections that a normal 2wd car may have problems with if they're not aware. As a matter of fact there was a stuck Nissan in the back of the canyon we came upon.
The place is pretty epic.
The parking area at the end of the road. People hike into the canyons from here.
The colors are stunning.
For more info on Painted Canyon check out the BLM website at http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/wilderness/wa/areas/mecca_hills.html
After heading out of Painted Canyon we headed for home. It would be a short drive. Especially in the Tundra. We're used to towing our trailer at 55mph everywhere. This time we could do 75mph no problem without trying.
Big thanks to Linda for letting us test out her setup. All in all it works great and is very convenient and the entire setup is easy to manage. That combined with plenty of cargo room and being stealth i think it's definitely a great setup for most overlanders out there. We had no problems to speak of whatsoever and wouldn't hesitate to tour the country in it.