Americas Version of the Dead Sea

Day 260

Unsure on where to start exploring, I remembered a conversation we had a few weeks ago with a couple who mentioned they wanted to visit the ruins of Salton Sea if they ever travelled this way. Lori and I remembered This place from a tv show we watched and decided it would be a great place to start. 

The Salton Sea is a large body of water located south of Palm Springs, and is an endorheic rift lake (a drainage basin that collects water and allows no outflow). The Salton Sea was accidentally created  in 1905 when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal during natural flooding and began to flow into the Salton Basin. For two years the Colorado River drained unabated into the area, along with the run off from the local agriculture. 

By the 1950’s, the luxury resort of Bombay Beach was established and people from all over the world came to visit. Celebrities such as Bing Crosby, The Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra where know to frequent the resort. As time went on, the flow from the Colorado River abated and the chemicals from the agriculture runoff  slowly began killing the sea. The lack of adequate water replacement meant the salinity in the lake grew to 50 percent greater than that of the ocean, with a high concentration of other chemicals to boot. At this level of toxicity, the lake was unable to sustain life; fish began to die and birds eating the fish followed suit. 

Bombay Beach’s decline began in the 1970s when it became apparent the Sea was struggling to sustain marine life. By the early 1980s the odour of dying fish was so great, people feared for their life and completely abandoned the area. Despite efforts by the government to mitigate the issue, Salton Sea is known to be the biggest environmental disaster in California History. 

We first headed for the abandoned resort of Bombay Beach. 

There was a little smell of decay around but nothing horrible. 

Not much is left of the resort. 

The resort is no longer abandoned and has become a gathering ground for artists and hipsters who have turned the area into a bohemian art gallery. 

We stopped at a beach for lunch about halfway back to Palm Springs. When we walked out too what we thought was a sandy beach, actually turned out to be mountains of dead barnacles, fish and bird bones. All these photos are of barnacle casings and bones. 

All bones and barnacles. 

We passed several date farms along the way. 

It rained a little on the way home

Another attempt at cooking Yorkshire Pudding in the Rv oven. I think Lori has mastered it.