2006 01 NV CA

2006 02 19 Barstow to Salton Sea

This was another long driving day. I went south from Barstow on CA247 south across the Mojave Desert into the Lucerne Valley, which is quite beautiful. It's only about 60 or 70 miles from downtown Los Angeles, but it seems like it is 500 miles away. Even though the San Bernardino Mountains to the west are 10,000 feet tall and very rugged, I don't think they will keep the huge pressure from the LA basin from eventually spilling over into this very nice valley.

I stopped just to rest for a while and took some film of this old farm structure, but I was chased away by a thunderstorm with hail and very cold rain that came out of the mountains.

The bottom two photos above are Cholla cactus in Joshua Tree NP, and the first of innumerable Union Pacific trains I saw along highway 111 on the east side of the Salton Sea. These tracks run from Riverside, California to Yuma, Arizona, and have to be the busiest train tracks I have ever seen. Since you can see the tracks for 10 or more miles in each direction at all times, I don't think there ever was a time I could not see at least one mile long train.

I have seen photographs of the above structure before, and I could never figure it out. I think I have now. This is about 400 yards from the Salton Sea current shoreline. It's just off CA 111 in the northeast corner of the lake. It's near what is now Salton Sea State Recreation Area and Mecca Beach. So, to me this thing looks like what is left of a beachfront concession, changing area, and shower. (Salton Sea has been quite salty for some time.) The tank at the top of this tower looks like a fuel tank from an aircraft, and it's just been perched up there. Inside the little shelter are pipes and faucets that definitely make it look like this was a shower. But it sure looks odd from a distance, especially with the tank falling over a bit.

The abandoned wood frame trailer is something you see all over ths Salton Sea shore. This is the way trailers were made in the years prior to the recreational environment going bad. The shelter is for protection from the sun, someone may have even lived in the trailer. I will write more about the history of the lake later.

I stayed in the town of Calipatria, which is a few miles south of the lake, but the closest good motel. (Actually I stayed in quite a nice place.) Just north of Calipatria is the town of Niland, which is all about agriculture. The following three shots are an abandoned packing plant just north of town and about 3/4 of a mile from the lake.

So, more later from the Salton Sea. I should be here for at least 5 days, maybe a week.