Salton Sea

The Salton Sea. WOW . It was a huge lake that covered the whole valley. As it shrank the people (Indians) would move down out of the mountains and set us fishing camps. It is CA's largest lake35 miles long, 15 miles wide and 227 feet below sea level. It has no natural outlet, whatever flows in, does not flow out. It is the 2nd lowest spot in the USA (Death Valley being #1 at 228 ft). It evaporates 6.5 ' per year and is 25% saltier than ocean water.

This is the first we saw of it, hazy it just kinda flowed into the mountain. This was a popular resort in the 1950's. Frank Sinatra and his friends had there yachts here and use to party. but, by the 60's the water was so salty the celebrities quit coming. It is still good for fishing but most fisherman just catch and release.
It supports 80-90 percent of the North American endangered bird populations, and great for bird watching. They say it is good for boating because of the salt water the boat sets higher in the water and can go faster. We did not see one boat out there and find it hard to believe that it could support boats. It was just odd to see this large lake in the desert.
We came upon a sign that pointed us to the Fountain of Youth. Had to go you know. Construction workers found these hot springs when they were laying the roads. This is at a RV Resort. It is 131 degrees fahrenheit pumps 600 gallons per minute and is 350' below the ground. They use this spring water to warm all there showers etc. and have a hot springs tub for healing waters some think.
This is a Mud Pot. We had a hard time finding it and when we did it was so stinky I took a picture and we left. It is not doing any thing, but, if it was carbon dioxide gas rises from below the water table and then vents out in holes it forms. These tend to occur along a earthquake fault. Maybe that is why we left in a hurry.

This was an interesting place to see and talk to people who live there. Now on to Mecca.