Salton Sea

Ever been? No? Really?

You must go! You really really must go! It's a little bit of Hell here on Earth.

Hot! No seriously hot. Like Death Valley hot. Like, well, forget it, you get the picture. It's just wicked hot here. It often gets over 120* in the summer.

We needed to check some property this past weekend. I was told it was in Thermal, not far from SS however when we got there it was just a mile or so from the marina where I used to camp as a child.The Salton Sea is where I camped when I was growing up. It's harsh. It's desert. There is absolutely nothing there. And did I mention it is hot?

We climbed around on these rocks that led out into the bay. If we saw my dad coming we would run out on the rocks to see him. Sometimes we get in the water and have him pick us up.

This looks like a little house but it's the store. You could buy all sorts of things in there. They always had ice cream and candy for the kids. They had those large ice dispensers in the front of the store but they always ran out. You could buy BBQ stuff in there. Flip flops and hats took up an entire row. Sun screen and other desert essentials could be found here as well. The best part was that it was always air conditioned. We never missed a chance to go in with my mom or dad.

The bathrooms. These are the showers. They haven't changed a bit.

This shower has the cold water knob missing. No worries. There has never been any hot water here. EVER!! This is bad bad bad. The water is salty and you really need to wash it off every day or you end up looking like a mummy. I know. I only showered when my mom made me.
Here are the bathroom stalls. There is only one bathroom in the whole campground. Three stalls and the last stall never had a door. It was of course the only one working sometimes. We had to go into the bathroom with a friend and a towel.
This little inlet goes up to the store. You used to be able to drive your boat up to the dock and get out and get your supplies. I don't see the dock there anymore. My dad would always let us drive the boat in here, until we got close. My brother and I would catch mud suckers and minnows here and the water always smelled of oil and gas from the boats. If we caught enough mud suckers we would sell them to the guys going out to fish.

I tried to look up mud suckers and couldn't find them. They looked like small catfish and I've no idea what they are really called.


It's hard to tell from this picture but there are 4 palapas here right on the beach. If we were lucky we would get one of these campsites. Not because that little bit of shade did much, it's still blazin in the shade, but you were at least out of direct sun and the ground didn't scorch your feet.
Here's another little outlet that we would climb all over. There was a picnic table on the end of this years ago. I don't know why. It got so hot you could never sit on it. You could place your fishing gear on it if you dared fishing from here.

Isn't this beautiful? It's so quiet and peaceful here.
There are some birds hanging out on the water.
The Salton Sea is a major bird preserve. I'm not sure if it's protected but no matter what time of year you go out here there are birds.
We decided Maya B needed a road trip. She got to cruise the crunchy shoreline.

The water looks brown like this. There are lots of rocks along the shore. It's hard to see the condition of the rocks from these pictures.
They look like this. Barnacles. Yes, not only is the Salton Sea brutally hot and the water brown salty and smelly but their are barnacles on the rocks. It is crucial that shoes be worn in the water while swimming or just trying to cool off. We always had an old worn pair of sneaks that we kept in the camper for SS. Flip flops are NOT enough. You may or may not protect the bottoms of your feet this way but you will certainly slide around on the slime until your toes look like hamburger. I do know this from experience.
Well Maya B, it's time to head on home.
I was pleased to see that the place hadn't changed all that much. The lake still smells. It has an odor about it. Some say it stinks but I like it. Many times you'll find the shore lined with hundreds of fish. I'm not sure why they die but there will be layers and layers of them. They don't stink and rot as you might imagine. Oh no. It's much to hot for that. Between the salt and extreme temperatures the fish are dehydrated and turn crispy in minutes. They have no time to smell.
You can see those little berms. They are mostly barnacle. The shore is not a soft sandy beach type sand, it's hard and crunchy from the barnacles.
I love you Salton Sea. I don't really know why. I think it's just so beautiful and peaceful. The air is clean and clear. (even if it's too hot to actually breathe) And at night you can just reach out and touch the stars.

On the way home we took the back way. The long way. We drove through Anza Borrego as the wildflowers were blooming. It happened to be Sunday after a beautiful weekend and the tiny 2 lane desert highways were crammed with every truck, camper, trailer and hauler imaginable. We decided not to go into the parks but drove by them cursing the heavy slow traffic. The Ocotillo dot the highways like plugs of hair. It blooms a firey orange that you can see for miles. When we reached the end of the desert we turned off onto the highway that leads to Julian.

Julian is an apple town in San Diego county. The weather was cool and crisp and I was surprised to see it so busy this early in the year. Many times there is still snow this time of year. We had Maya so we decided not to go into the shops. We did however stop at Mom's and order an apple dumpling with caramel syrup and a pie.

Isn't that beautiful?
Yes, it was as tasty as it was beautiful.
And we ate that whole pie for dinner and breakfast. (burp)