The Salton Sea

Our day exploring the Salton Sea was quite surreal. That a place can be so polluted, so toxic, and yet so beautiful and peaceful at the same time is a bizarre juxtaposition.








Most of the birds and fish are diseased from the toxic, high-salinity water. All along the shore there are thousands of dead fish & fairly regularly you'll find dead birds. After reading about the toxic water, we were shocked to see people fishing on the shore.









I saw this gnarled tree hugging the shoreline about a mile off the highway. John could tell I was hoping to check it out. He sighed, pulled over, and waited for me... he couldn't join me because he was still on crutches at this point. He's grown so patient over the years of putting up with my random roadside explorations.















What was not apparent from the highway was that this tree was a nesting ground for these huge egrets. There was a massive colony of them offshore on a sandbar. Most of the trees in this area have been eaten away by the salts and toxins in the lake. This tree was the sole survivor, and hence, all the nests (5 in this tree).












Not sure if you can see how white the earth is surrounding the tree. All the dirt around the Salton Sea is covered in dry salt, similar to badlands in death valley. Lucky for me, however, as I trapsed out to this tree in flip flops.... this particular section of earth had about 2 inches of bird crap layered on top of the salts. It was very... earthy.












Few people live out here, so far removed from jobs, necessities, society. It's barren desert and life is harsh. The few who do choose to live out here seem to be very, ummmm, eccentric.


This picture captures the white crusty salt formations along the lake's rim.




The Salton Sea was formed due to a man-made environmental disaster in 1905. A canal bringing water from the Colorado River to the SoCal desert was breached, and massive quantities of water drained into the desert for a period of almost 2 years before it was (finally) repaired. The result is one of the largest man-made bodies of water on earth, and certainly the largest accidental lake. It is one of the most taxis, bacteria-rich, and stagnant bodies of water in the US.

The Salton Sea is 220 feet below sea level, only 5ft higher than badlands in Death Valley... which is the lowest elevation on earth.








This bizarre, beautiful ecological disaster area is one the curious photographer in me could spend lots of time exploring. I hope to get back there soon.