Palm Springs Day 5 - Salton Sea

71/365

(Part of a series of backblips from our recent trip)

After letting the kids have pool time we headed to Salton Sea early afternoon. Ever since we had decided to go to this area for vacation I had Salton Seas on my list to do. I had seen some amazing images in my research. After checking the weather forecast we had left this visit until today as it was forecast to be partly cloudy and we were hoping for some color at sunset.

The lake has an immense history and has to be one of the strangest places I have been to; I felt like I was in an alternative reality for 6 hours. This article describes it perfectly and I have included some of it below:

Deep in the desert of southern California sits one of the worst environmental sites in America, a former tourist destination that has turned into a toxic soup: the Salton Sea. The sea is one of the most unique bodies of water on earth.
Located directly on the San Andreas Fault, the Sea was created by a flood in 1905 in which water from the Colorado River flowed into the area. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea averages 15 mi (24 km) by 35 mi (56 km). It is the largest lake in California.

The lake’s salinity, about 44 g/L, is greater than that of the waters of the Pacific Ocean (35 g/L), but less than that of the Great Salt Lake (which ranges from 50 to 270 g/L). The concentration increases by about 1 percent annually.[1]
The sea was born by accident 100 years ago when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal. Then, for the next two years the entire volume of the river flowed into the Salton Sink, one of the lowest places on Earth. The new lake became a major tourist attraction, with resort towns springing up along its shores. Yet with no outflow, and with agricultural runoff serving as its only inflow, the sea’s waters grew increasingly toxic. Farm chemicals and ever-increasing salinity caused massive fish and bird die-offs. Use of the sea for recreational activities plummeted, and by the 1980s its tourist towns were all but abandoned.

The skeletons of abandoned structures are still there; ghost towns encrusted in salt. California officials acknowledge that if billions of dollars are not spent to save it, the sea could shrink another 60 percent in the next 20 years, exposing soil contaminated with arsenic and other cancerous chemicals to strong winds. Should that dust become airborne, it would blow across much of southern California, creating an environmental calamity.

Erosion and high toxicity levels from farm runoff has left the Salton Sea increasingly contaminated, causing massive fish die-offs, and lake-side towns to become all but deserted.

We arrived at our first location to see a half lived in and half abandoned town; dilapidated structures next to well-maintained homes. Luckily the smell was not too bad and we didn’t need the vicks we brought with us. I have read that in the summer 12,000 fish a day here and wash onto the shores to rot. Little monster refers to this beach as the “fish beach”. We gave the kids with strict instructions not to touch anything and requested they sit in the car and watch their movies. It was very overcast when we arrived and the water had this eerie look to it.

At the time of our visit to the Palms Springs area it was also the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival. When we arrived at the beach there was a musician filming a music video – anyone have any ideas as to who it is?

After taking some photos on the beach we headed to Salvation Mountain, an art installation made from adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. Salvation Mountain was created by local resident Leonard Knight (1931–2014). It encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses. It’s located very close to “slab city”, a free RV oasis. Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during the winter months. There is a group of around 150 permanent residents who live in the Slabs all year round.

We decided to head back to our starting point for sunset; we had to pass through an USA borders control on the way back – this was located in the middle of nowhere and we were quizzed as to why a family would possibly be out here for a visit! I quickly showed him my camera and explained that we were here to take photos. It was all really very strange.

We stayed for sunset but then quickly left after starting to feel at little uncomfortable. Sunset was pretty much a non-event.

This photo was taken earlier in the day when we first arrived. I have also posted some images of some abandoned buildings here.