The Salton Sea

Our goal today was to see the Salton Sea, since none of us had ever seen it, except from a distance. We left camp around 8 AM, picked up Tom and Joan, and drove out of the park and west on I-8. We turned north just beyond El Centro, and headed toward the east side of the Salton Sea. Our first stop was disappointing, as the state park was closed, and the town was ramshackle, so we kept driving. The next state park was also closed, so things looked bad. We stopped at one place that was nothing more than a parking area near the shore, where we had lunch, but it was not attractive. What looked like a sandy beach was the shells of barnacles.

We finally made it to the Salton Visitor Center, where we found friendly volunteers, a good bookstore, an educational film, a very nice campground, and exhibits. We felt that we really learned about the Sea. The Sea is slightly saltier than the ocean, and was formed due to the failure of the headgate on the Colorado River, filling up the basin, which had been dry. The Sea is 228 feet below sea level, and can offer good fishing. It is threatened by pollution from agricultural runoff from the Imperial Valley.

We continued on to the Anza-Borrego Visitor Center in Borrego Springs, where we saw a film on a family that lived a primitive life in the park during the Great Depression. Marshall South was a writer, so their life became famous. Their experiment came to an end after the Second World War. The park volunteer we spoke to was very knowledgeable about the various hiking and 4WD trails in the park.

We dropped Tom and Joan off at their camp after sunset. The photo shows the moon, Venus above the moon, and Jupiter just above the mountains. The photo was taken without light pollution, near Bow Willow Campground.