Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Salton Sea

While at the Slabs decided to take a short trip to see the Salton Sea. Reviewing google maps it appeared that Niland County Park, and Marina was a mere 14 miles up the road. I immediately envisioned bikini's, boat's, and beaches. Half an hour later we had arrived! It was not exactly what I visioned. Candy, me, and a bunch of seagulls were the souls in the area. Still a very interesting area though. Heres a few pics..




The Salton Sea, which isn't a sea at all, but California's largest lake, is said to have been formed in 1905 when a flood broke a dyke on the Colorado River, and for 2 years flowed into the Salton Sink. Creating a lake that is 35 miles long, and 15 miles across, this area is also said to be home to Ancient Lake Cahuilla.


In the 1950's the lake was stocked with fish. Modern resorts, and towns sprang up all over. The Salton Sea had become a favorite vacation spot to millions of people, but all that changed by the the 1970's. because the lake has no outflow, besides evaporation leaving behind all the salts and fertilizers, that are picked up in irrigation canals which now flow into the lake. Salinity level's got to be so high, it killed birds, and fish by the millions, the people left, and the towns suffered.


The sea is believed to have vanish and reappear several times over the last few thousand years, it is currently vanishing once again. If it disappears completely death valley will no longer hold the record for being the lowest point in the U.S.

Walking on the shores its not sand, but bones.
The Turtle at the Sea, and Candy laying in the front seat. 
One of the many remaining structures, at this once thriving county park. This one appears to have been the bathrooms?
Bombay Beach one of the small towns still in existence in the area. Overall the trip was very interesting. Wish  I would have done more research before visiting  there's a lot of mysteries in the area. Perhaps on my next visit I will do a lot more exploring. Thanks for visiting!

15 comments:

  1. I always wanted to take up metal detecting as a hobby. Im thinking this place might yield some decent older coins. Like silver quarters and dimes. I read one van dwellers blog who seems to do quite well with it, supplermening his expenses.

    Also I find abanoned places like this more intersting then active places.

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    1. Ive wanted to take up metal detecting as well. This would be a great area seeing how its vanishing yearly. You know where he was detecting?

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    2. It's been some time since I've seen his video blog (videos use too much Gigabites, and my plan limits me to 8 a month at this point). I don't remember where he detected, sorry. But I would think that anywhere where people used to gather then later abandoned would be a decent place to find older coins. If you look on ebay, something as simple as a pre 1964 quarter can fetch a hundred times it's face value, depending on the quality. Even if it's not valuable, heck, one can just use the change. If I remember right, he averaged around 5-10 dollars an hour, which might not sound like much, but one is getting exercise, has a chance of finding cool stuff, and there's the thrill of the hunt itself.

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  2. Beautifully desolate. I love the 2nd photo.

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    1. Great place wish I would've known more of its history before I left. Next time I'll be prepared:-)

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  3. Looks like you are seeing lots of great places! Thanks for following my blog, how'd you find it ^_^! Nice to follow you here!

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    1. Great places indeed! Not sure how I stumbled across it in the blogosphere. Thanks for following.

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  4. There is beauty there and I agree metal detecting would be cool there. Pawn shops would be a great place to pick up a detector. Would be neat to see if you picked up anything. Great detour, this was! Sorry you missed out on any bikinis...

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    1. May have to give it a shot one day. As far as the bikinis go at least I know its not a spring break destination

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  5. I'm all caught up reading your blog. Happy it wasn't years worth hahah.
    Great places we have to explore here in the SW. Really enjoying your blog.

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    1. Wish I would've started blogging when I started traveling. SW is a beautiful area. Glad you are enjoying it. Thanks!

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  6. From the pictures, i can almost smell what's left behind. Probally not a good one. Is there an odor?
    Pictures are great. Am sort of suprised there are not campers around. Any idea why there are not?
    Really enjoy your blog, especially the pictures. Keep up the good work

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    1. There was no odor the day I was there, but from what I've heard it can get real nasty. There were a few campers at the entrance to the park. Be interesting to explore more, and see if there is a lot of free camping on the shores? Its 50 miles from any populated town as well. Thanks I'll do my best

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    2. Love your train pacing photo,I am a Ferroequinologist, or Train fancier,have been known to chase and photograph more than a few trains.Love to read your other blog if you can put us on your permission list Thanks, Be safe out there. Sam & Donna....

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    3. Thanks for the comment. There's nothing in my other blog just reserving the name :) Trying to figure out how to hide it?

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