Slab City and the Salton Sea 3 day tour.

Apr 03, 2012 03:15 AM #1

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale

a tale of a fateful trip,

that started from this desert port,

aboard this tiny ship (we took an Altima).

The mate was a mighty bearded man,

the Moab Ninja brave and sure,

Steve was chased by bees,

on a three day tour,

a three day tour.

Day one was spent Driving, Eating, Trespassing, and just having a great time.

Our first official stop was just outside of Niland CA. We took some pics of an old bunk house water tower and granary.

Back on the road for a few miles and we had lunch at a small place called Buckshot Deli and Diner. They had Ok food and less than ok pie.
Not far from there we got kicked out of a building before we even got out of the car. Spanish farm hand "Mine."
Mike "can we take pics?"
Farm hand shakes head no then follows us out and down the road.

Apr 03, 2012 03:20 AM #2

We hit the spa

Then we got a mud bath.

We moved to our first camp spot. We had a great fire and some guy time then crashed out under the stars.

Apr 03, 2012 03:48 AM #3

Awesome!

Apr 03, 2012 04:42 AM #4

Epicositynessness.

Can't wait to see more!

Apr 03, 2012 07:31 AM #5

Day two:
We headed over to the town of Bombay beach
Im not sure if the town is making a comeback or if the pics we see online dont show how many people live there.

Old boat launch... Just nasty water

Then we made a trip to Salton beach

I sat on this...

Apr 03, 2012 07:44 AM #6

After a great lunch we headed to Red Hill marina.
The wind was a good 50mph.

Found this.... Just couldn't make it fit in the trunk...

We took pics

Mike made it look easy... It wasn't easy...

After pics we looked for a place to camp out of the wind. We found something that sorta worked. we used the car to block most the wind and then built a wall out of camp gear.
The sun and fresh air and mud gave us strength we never knew we had...

We made fire and then made an attempt to get some sleep as Slab City was next on the list.

Apr 03, 2012 01:00 PM #7

Killer pics!

Apr 03, 2012 02:17 PM #8

Very cool! Love the Humvee

Apr 03, 2012 03:09 PM #9

Great pics and epic narrating

Apr 03, 2012 06:25 PM #10

This was a good trip. Half planned and half seat of the pants. Worked out well.
Beach camping with no neighbors for miles. Wolf pack. Mud. Sun. Fire. Water. Wind. Beard.

Apr 03, 2012 07:00 PM #11

The Sea was created by a accidental man made flood in 1905, in which water from the Colorado River flowed into the area. In the 1920s, the Salton Sea developed into a tourist attraction, because of its water recreation, and waterfowl attracted to the area. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea averages 15 mi by 35 mi. In 1921 people left the area en mass when they realized it looked like a giant dong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_sea

attachment

We spent most of our time around the right ball

Apr 03, 2012 07:32 PM #12

fatbob309 wrote:Day two:

very cool trip guys.

Paul, what does this say?

Apr 03, 2012 08:14 PM #13

It's not Deafening is it? I don't know what that last one is at all.

Apr 03, 2012 09:37 PM #14

I think you are right. It's hard to tell with the mickey mouse hands.

Apr 07, 2012 08:54 PM #15

The Mudventure

One of main stops on our fungenda was the Mud Volcanoes. It's really in the middle of nowhere down some dirt roads. When we showed up there were two people there with instruments. We walked up and the first thing they asked was if we were geologists too (Bob's beard is like a free pass into everywhere). We explored around a bit and as our new friends checked the temperature of each opening they reported to us 120deg here and 160deg there. We left after poking around and continued down the rutted road down to the sea's edge. As we were looking out at the water, I believe I said something like, "Look guys, just hear me out, I have an idea." Next thing we knew we were hauling butt back to the mud. That is where the trip had it's first dirty turn.

Mud Volcano Field (one of the geothermal plants in the background utilizing the heat from the fault line)

IMG_1839 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

IMG_1700 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

IMG_1707 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

IMG_1740 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

IMG_1754 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

IMG_1828 by Skatchkins, on Flickr

Mud Men by Skatchkins, on Flickr

When we were walking back to the car, the woman geologist came up to us and asked if she could take our picture for herself. :) The mud was mostly dry at that point and we were walking around like frankensteins and trying not laugh or crack too much. We drove back over to the sea where we now had to figure out how to wash off. This proved to be interesting in itself since the "cleanest" water access point provided only about a foot of depth and required laying in the mushy bottom or on fish bones. But it was all worth it. I would have so regretted not doing it, like the way Sweathog still regrets not jumping into the ice lake in CO. Glad I did that too 8)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2bWfxS7W9s

Apr 07, 2012 11:45 PM #16

As we approached the last city between us and the Salton Sea, we kept our eyes peeled for anything in the distance not on our schedule that still looked interesting. We spotted the water tower and flipped around to find a way to it. It turned out to be a pretty cool warm up spot for our our s'ploring feet and cameras.