Paradise Lost & Found (California)
We stood abandoned in the empty parking, the still air heavy in the 40°C heat. The visitor centre, shuttered on a bright sunny mid-week day, left us eerily feeling as though we were in a post-apocalyptic episode of The Walking Dead. This was classic off-season travel in the southwest.
It’s challenging to absorb the full emotional impact of the Salton Sea without knowing a bit of the history of this accidental sea. It’s easy to write it off as a smelly shoreline without knowing the misfortunes leading to hundreds of broken dreams. And still appreciate it as one of the most unique and productive wildlife habitats on the planet. A place that should be close to the top of everyone’s bucket list.
In prehistoric times this shallow, saline body of water lying over the San Andreas Fault was part of the Gulf of California. As the delta of the Colorado River grew it closed off the valley leaving a salty depression 69 m (227 ft) below sea level after the water evaporated.
In 1904, the California Development Company was constructing an irrigation canal to divert the water from the Colorado River when high spring flooding forced a breach in the canal. In the 18 months it took for them to repair it, the Salton Sink became the Salton Sea – 72 km (45 mi) long by 32 km (20 mi) wide.
They were heady days from the twenties to the fifties as California’s largest inland lake saw resorts and yacht clubs being built to take advantage of the swimming and boating. The high salinity of the lake resulted in above average buoyancy and was perfect for hydroplane racing, resulting in some of the fastest times in the sport. In 2008, a three-day event saw 18 world records broken.
In the fifties, thousands of Californians flocked to the Salton Sea Recreation Area in their Airstreams for boating, fishing and water skiing. It was so popular they had to install a 15-lane boat ramp.
In the late sixties, a downward spiral began. There is no natural inflow or outflow to the sea and it evaporates at a rate of 2 m (6 ft) per year. The little rain that falls, combined with the agricultural drainage, maintains the lake’s level. With agricultural drainage comes fertilizer, which results in massive algal blooms that deplete oxygen levels in the lake resulting in fish kills – in the Salton Sea it’s in the millions, subsequently decimating bird populations. The aroma at this time is pungent. This has been a recurring phenomenon for years. On our visit, we were enthralled as we approached the beautiful white sand beach at the visitor centre. Once we were actually on it, and looked more closely, we realized it wasn’t sand at all but bleached, ground fish bones.
In 1976 and 1977 came the floods, two once–in-a-hundredyear storms hit within two years. The shore side homes, marinas and yacht clubs were washed away. The heydays were clearly over.
The calamities of the past make for an otherworldly paradise for the photographer and nature lover of today. The once thriving resort town of Bombay Beach remains only half flooded behind the protection of a large dike. Remnants of past homes tilt at unnatural angles; the true nature of salt encrusted dock pilings is barely discernable, and all of them spring from the earth in stark contrast to the beauty of a sunlit shoreline next to an azure sea. As I write this, a wonderful installation of images is on display at the Palm Springs Art Museum – but you can create your own by pointing your camera in any direction.
The lake is a perfect stop for migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway. The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge was created to protect the wetland habitats used by over 400 species of birds. It’s estimated that on any given day 3.5 million birds are here. Development in California has destroyed most of the natural wetlands. “The Salton Sea serves millions of birds, not because it is the best habitat but because it is the only one left,” says Thomas Kirk, executive director of California’s Salton Sea Authority.
The sea is still a popular place for campers, boaters and anglers during the winter months. Fish from the Colorado River originally populated the lake but ever increasing concentrations of salinity destroyed these freshwater species. In the fifties, the California Department of Fish and Game introduced a number of different fish from the Gulf of Mexico resulting in a current fish population estimated at 100 million. Tilapia is the most abundant species and was introduced from Africa in the 1960s to control mosquitoes and weeds in agricultural drains that flow into the sea.
If you are staying in SoCal, the Wildlife Refuge is a 60-min drive east from The Springs at Borrego RV Resort in Borrego Springs, CA and a 30-min drive from The Fountain of Youth Spa and RV Resort in Niland, CA.In addition, California State Parks maintains the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, a 22 km (14 mi) strip of the northeastern shoreline for RV’ers to set-up camp and enjoy this wonderfully unique place – you should be one of them – for a few days.