Hey guys!
So this week, my friend Matt and I took a trip down the Salton Sea and let me tell you,
it was quite the experience.
The lake is basically a 115-year-old engineering mistake that has arguably turned into an ecological
disaster.
If you’ve never been before, I highly recommend checking it out as it will make for a truly
unique and surreal experience.
Anyway, here’s a short video I made documenting our adventure.
Our first stop was on the North East shore at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area.
For some reason I assumed that the lake was closed off to the public for health reasons,
so I was surprised to find that the state Recreation area was very well maintained with
a series of picnic tables under newish looking wood canopies.
When we got out of the car, we were immediately hit with the Salton Sea’s infamous obnoxious
odor.
Algae blooms occur periodically on the sea and are fed by various chemicals in agricultural
runoff from the surrounding farmland.
These blooms reduce the oxygen levels of the water and create a bacterium that emits hydrogen
sulfide.
In laymen’s terms, it smells like rotten eggs.
We walked out onto the beach toward the water, which I imagine came up much closer to the
campground years ago before evaporation took its toll.
The sea doesn’t have any bottom feeder fish like Carp, so anything that dies in the lake
ends up washing ashore.
In fact, most of the beach was comprised of pulverized fish bones from the many fish die-offs
that have occurred throughout the past.
When we were walking back to the car, I spotted a brand new looking visitor center and thought,
“oh we have to go inside.”
We walked in and were greeted by a lone park ranger who looked like she hadn’t seen visitors
in years.
She was eager to show us a short informational film on the sea, so we walked over to a little
movie room in the back and she popped in a DVD.
Here’s my rendition of what we watched:
“Welcome to the beautiful Salton Sea, where over one hundred thousand visitors flock to
every year to experience the lure of the sea.
Recent studies have shown that bathing in salt water actually has several health benefits.”
Yeah, that's right.
The propaganda-ish film we watched,
produced by the state of California last year actually encouraged bathing
in the Salton Sea because of its possible health benefits.
I’m sorry, but I won’t be jumping into that smelly bowl of soup anytime soon.
We hopped back in the car and headed south to our next stop; Bombay Beach.
Once a thriving resort in the 1950s and 60s, Bombay Beach is now the scene of a mostly
abandoned post-apocalyptic trailer park right out of a Walking Dead episode.
The town is home to some 300 residents as of the most recent census in 2010 but from
what I observed, I’m willing to bet the population is half that at most today.
Abandoned manufactured homes and trailers line the streets, meeting their demise at
the hands of vandals and becoming a canvas for amateur artists.
I ventured inside one of the old trailers and got an uneasy feeling, so I didn’t stay
very long.
We drove to the west end of the town and over a dike that was built back in the day to prevent
flooding from the fluctuating lake levels.
Past the dike were ruins of old trailers destroyed in two great floods in the 70s, a make shift
pirate ship assembled from the rubbage, and an eerie art display of painted fish bones
nailed to what I assume was the old Bombay Beach pier.
On our way out of town, we drove past the Bombay Beach Drive-In which was lined with
shells of old cars and boats including an AMC Pacer which had quite an impressive VHS
collection glued to its interior.
Our next stop took us to the Southeast corner of the sea, just outside the city of Niland.
A place called Salvation Mountain.
This art display is literally plastered onto the side of a hill and is covered with Christian
sayings and bible verses themed around the Sinner’s Prayer.
I walked into one of the caverns and instantly felt like I was transported into a Dr. Seuss
book.
It was in here that I found a humble shrine to the creator: a single laminated photograph
of Leonard Knight stapled to a corner.
Knight passed away in 2014 and ever since, the site has been cared for quite diligently
by a group of volunteers.
I observed one of the curators, a bushy-haired middle aged man in jeans, shouting at tourists
who were walking too far off the established pathway and being disrespectful to the art.
He was working diligently to repair and paint a massive hole that had formed toward the
middle of the mountain.
On the outskirts of the property sat an old Jeep Wagoneer and flatbed truck plastered
with similar bible verses and Christian themes.
Just past Salvation Mountain lies a series of vacant concrete slabs, the only remaining
vestiges of a dismantled military facility dating back to the 1940s.
It’s now become a sort of haven for the downtrodden and those seeking to escape modern
society.
An experimental art installation located within Slab City known as “East Jesus” is assembled
from discarded waste and is constantly growing.
The art on display range from social commentary pieces to just downright bizarre.
Interestingly, when the land was given to the State of California by quitclaim deed
from the Department of Defense in 1961, new legislation required that all revenue generated
from the property be transferred to the California State Teachers Retirement System.
Sorry teachers, but I wouldn’t recommend quit your day job quite yet on account of
this place.
For our last stop, we headed up the west side of the sea toward Salton City.
But first, we took a detour off of highway 86 and onto an old paved road which leads
to the old Salton Sea Test Base, a remote facility used by the military in the 40s for
weapons testing and then space capsule parachute drops in the 50s.
We passed a US Border Patrol truck on the road and eventually reached a 40-foot sand
drift that had cut off the remaining mile of road leading to the old base.
Although we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle, we decided not to take a chance of getting caught
in the soft sand so I sent my drone up to travel the remaining mile.
It appeared not much was left of the base other than a small test building, remnants
of what appeared to be an old boat dock, and testing pools lined with tarp now inundated
with sand.
Finally, we reached Salton City.
Developed in the 1960s with an extensive infrastructure of roads, sewer line and power grid, the city
never really took off due to its isolation and lack of job opportunities.
According to the 2010 census, 81% of the surveyed lots remain undeveloped and 38% of the habitable
residences are unoccupied.
Driving through the city, you’ll find remnants of what once was a luring resort community.
The Salton Bay Yacht Club attracted many of the well-to-do of the 50s and 60s and featured
prominent groups like the Beach Boys.
Flooding destroyed the marina and the yacht club was eventually demolished in the 80s.
All that’s left of it now is remnants of its parking lot and dead palm tree trunks.
The first nine holes of the PGA Salton City Golf Course opened in 1963 and attracted celebrity
golfers like Desi Arnaz, Frank Sinatra and Dwight Eisenhower.
What remains is a barren desert landscape with paved golf cart paths.
Tourism began to diminish in the 70s due to the Sea’s rising salinity and flooding problems.
By the 80s, the local economy of Salton City along with most of the other lakeside communities
had crashed, causing homeowners and businessowners to abandon their properties.
All that’s left now is the skeleton of a place that was once called “a miracle in
the desert.”
Well that’s about it for my Salton Sea adventure, I hope you’ve enjoyed this video and I look
forward to posting some more soon.
And just a reminder to never stop exploring because a new adventure always awaits.