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Published: December 16th 2010
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After seeing it featured in a several movies and watching a documentary on it, we were inspired to go check out the Salton Sea and see what this area, that was only like 3 hours east of San Diego and nobody in SD seemed to know of, was all about.
With camping equipment and dog in tow, we headed to the Anzo-Borrego/Borrego Springs Desert to camp for the night. The campsite we found was virtually dead with only a few other stragglers staying there. One guy in particular only had a backpack and was just sleeping on the picnic table. Convinced that he was going to murder us in the middle of the night, I eventually had a conversation with him to help ease our paranoia...it really didn't. Apparently, he was on holiday and his idea of getting away was to spend a week wandering in the desert by himself...yes! Anyways, we couldn't hike much because it was way too hot for the dog. We walked about a 1/2 mile and I had to carry him back cause his paws were burning. Before the day was over, we saw coyotes and scorpions...camping in the desert was serene and peaceful.
Next day, we took our Tour De Salton Sea. First, we headed to Bombay Beach...on the way through a checkpoint, an police officer asked us where we were going, and when we told him "Bombay Beach", he just laughed and asked us why? and sent us on our way. Hmmmm, are going to get murdered here? BB was liking being on a different planet. The sand was made up of millions of little fish bones and all around were delapidated campers, RV homes, and random structures, some half way in the water with an odd green foam forming where the water meets the "sand". A little further inland from all of this was actually a town. The town was only a few streets and occasionally you may see somebody driving their golf cart around. Not sure what people did here for a living? Or was it a retirement community? Either way, it seemed like they probably appreciated their privacy from the rest of the world. Post apocalyptic fo sho.
We then headed to Niland to check out Salvation Mountain and Slab City. On our way to Slab City, we were worried that we wouldn't see Salvation Mountain, but then
it just appears out of the desert like a mirage. The man who created this astonishing landmark, Leonard Knight, was there in person to give people tours and hand out free DVDs of a documentary that was made about him. I was able to speak to him shortly and get my picture with him. Normally I don't do that sort of thing (the picture), but for some reason I felt drawn to the notion...I'm not religious or anything, just saying. Anyway, Salvation Mountain was straight out of a Dr. Seuss book and it would be perfect to explore on acid.
For our final stop, we made it to Slab City. It was less crowded than usual because apparently most people spend the winter there and head up north for the summer. We checked out the outside performance stage and we were befriended by some gentlemen that were very excited to talk to me about the shows they did on Saturday nights. One of them wanted to sell me a pipe that he makes with "SC" on them for Slab City. I didn't buy one, but he did trade me one for some pot that I happened to have on
me. We were going to camp, closer to Julian, but because of Memorial Day it was packed so we just headed home.
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