IF there’s a PURGATORY...It’s here.

It started with diverting water to farmers. 
Then flooding and a failed dike.
Water flowed and flowed.
Creating a 400 square mile lake in the desert.
The Salton Sea.


Paradise found.
Just 80 miles from Palm Springs, California
Nicknamed  ‘The Riviera of the West’ in the 1960’s 
A playground for the rich and famous.


That ended in the 1970’s
With no outflow and no way to refresh, 
The lake became sick.
Toxic runoff bred who knows what..
Salt levels rose. 25% more than the Pacific Ocean.
Killing fish and birds by the millions.


Today.
We walk along Salton’s beach. 
On the bones of those dead fish.
That crackle beneath our boots.
An almost nauseating smell of sulfur fills the air.


Feels like the end-of-the-road.
The surrounding towns of abandoned buildings.
The down-on-your luck squatters. living among the gloom.


No lovely pelicans flying in formation above the water.
I guess, that was a special moment
Reserved for those that bragged about the photo opps,
Of the Salton Sea.