Los Algodones, Salvation Mountain, Slab City and the Salton Sea

Sunday, February 9, 2014


The last few days have been busy with new experiences. We spent a total of four nights at American Girl Mine Road. I finally got on my bike and joined Greg in exploring the mines and tailings piles. We watched various aircraft, current and vintage, fly over us day and night from all the military bases and test, bombing, and gunnery ranges nearby. We'd hear the occasional, “Thud, thud...,” in the distance.

Kyanite mine abandoned in 1940. Marine copters practiced night landings on the upper left bench 1/2-mile from us.

Abandoned gold prospect on old jeep/dozer trail

Thursday we drove to the Mexican border to go to Los Algodones for lunch. The area is part of the Cocopah Indian Reservation. They have a huge parking lot at the border. We paid $7 to park and walk across to Mexico. Los Algodones exists for Americans to avail themselves of inexpensive dental, optometry, and prescriptions. Thousands of snowbirds and others living in the region get work done for one-third the cost of the U.S. The doctors are all well trained from Mexico City universities and certified in Mexico. Some also have practices in the U.S. We ran into a couple we met at our rally at Quartzsite returning from their morning dental work.

Dental campus - Algadones-style. Margaritas in the waiting room?

Greg and I didn't need work done, but wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Actually, if we didn't already have cleanings scheduled for our visit back to Maryland in March, we might have gotten a $35 cleaning. The town was crowded with Americans, practices, shops and restaurants. We got a quick immersion into the bargaining culture as soon as we crossed over. But, instead of just offers to sell us merchandise, they wanted us to use “their” dentist, optometrist or pharmacy. And everything was “almost free!”

Greg took advantage of a $3 haircut. We wandered a bit, and then got lunch and margaritas at El Paradisio, an outdoor restaurant in a large courtyard with a live band and dancing. The food was okay, the drinks better, and it was fun to just sit and soak up the craziness of snowbirds letting their hair down in Mexico!
It took us about 20 minutes of waiting in line to go back through the U.S. Border, which we were told was really fast. It usually takes well over a hour. Still feeling the margaritas, we decided the short drive back to American Girl Mine Road was wise, so we stayed a fourth night there.

Their grandchildren never see them act like this!

Friday morning we drove west, further into California. I-8 has a rest stop with a water hook-up for RV's, so we filled the rig and jugs. A short way after the rest stop, we got off and drove north into the Imperial Valley with it's huge irrigated vegetable fields. I still cannot reconcile the idea of lush green fields in the parched desert. They would not exist without the series of canals siphoning water from the Colorado and Gila Rivers. No wonder the Colorado never reaches the ocean in Mexico!

Our destination was Salvation Mountain and Slab City. They are both just southeast of the Salton Sea, on an old military base, hence the slabs from old foundations. The land is still government land, but no one administers it, so anyone can use it.

We arrived first at Salvation Mountain as we drove east out of the small town of Niland. You can see it from a distance as you approach it. It was started in 1984 by a man who built it for the glory of God, to spread the message that God is love. Constructed on a low mesa or rumbling rock, it is reinforced with tires, trees, adobe, and straw, and painted with donated acrylic paints. He died in the last few years, but a foundation continues his work. Paint is still donated and volunteers continue to work on it. It was declared a national folk art treasure worthy of preservation in 2001. I was amazed by the love and dedication, (a lot of people would say craziness), that was poured into this project. The desert can do that to you!

Salvation Mountain

National Register of Folk Art

Salvation Mountain was a preview for the Slabs. Part of the population lives there full time. The group started a live music stage, internet cafe, coffee shop, church, a solar business, newsletter, and other loose-knit organizations. People live there free in old campers, cobbled together shacks, vans, buses, cars, and co-exist with the snowbirds and boondockers that show up. We drove around a bit, the street signs are still up from the base. Eventually, we found the area with the snowbirds and found a spot to settle on for the night. It was near the fenced in Coachella Canal and the Chocolate Mountains with their gunnery range. We stayed away from the permanent residents figuring that we didn't want to infringe upon their “space” or their dogs. There seemed to be a good mix of ages, old hippies, new hippies, and lots of people just living life peacefully on their own terms.

Old guard shack

Since there are no facilites, or utilities, that also means no trash pick-ups. That was the only real mess we saw. The nearby town of Niland has water, an RV dump, and groceries, so it is possible to live there fulltime. The weather is always good, except for the really hot summers. It was interesting to camp next to the big fancy rigs across from the burned out travel trailer!

Our neighbors

Saturday morning Greg had a hankering for a diner breakfast, so we drove back into Niland and went to the surprisingly crowded Buckshot Diner for breakfast. Good mix of local, mostly Hispanic people, and snowbirders. It was run by a man who appeared to be retired military, and was generous with the coffee refills! Then we left Niland and drove north to the Salton Sea.

The afternoon found us camped on the shore of the sea in a California State Recreation Area at Salt Creek. For $8 we got a waterfront spot and access to a water spigot. Quick history- The current sea was formed after canals dug to control the Colorado River for agriculture, at the beginning of the 20^th century, flooded. Once the Salton Sink filled up, there was no putting it back. Later developers seized on the recreation potential and built communities and marinas. With no natural outlet, and the agriculture in the area draining off the pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers into the Sea, it started evaporating, and filling up with chemicals. Then the fish die-offs started from the overgrowth of algae.

Salt Creek Campground

Today the area is fairly desolate. We drove through Bombay Beach, a 50's community filled mostly with retirees who can't sell their houses. It was pretty grim. The sea itself is beautiful to look at with mountains across the water. This is an important stop in the bird migrations, so we decided to walk along the beach to see what birds we could identify. What appears to be a white sand beach is actually drifts of barnacle shells and fish bones from the die offs. We had to wear our hiking boots to navigate the broad beach. There were flocks of endangered brown pelicans, white pelicans, various seagulls, ducks, stilts, and avocets. Later in the day, the Santa Rosa Mountains across the sea provided the backdrop for a beautiful sunset. We were fortunate to visit when there was no odor from the fish die offs!

California Gulls, Black Necked Stilts, Ducky things

White Pelicans

Great beach for toddlers to dig in - Not!

New Marina with authentic pelicans

Today we traveled north around the upper part of the Salton Sea and back down the western shore as far as Salton City. From there we headed west on S22 into the desert, badlands filled with campers and people driving ATV's all over the desert in the Ocotillo Wells area, and into the mountains of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Just before the town of Borrego Springs we drove north toward the Clark dry lakebed into a popular boondocking area on Rockhouse Canyon Road. We were surprised by the number of rigs scattered about in the desert. This is the high season for boondocking in the desert Southwest. We staked out a spot where we still had cell and internet service with a great view of the mountains. Around dusk the wind kicked up and we found a high wind warning issued for this area. Greg made short work of grilling our dinner, stowed the grill and table back into the rig, and we buttoned up for the night.

ATVers camped at Ocotillo Wells

Clark Dry Lake and Coyote Mountain

 Tonight we are rocking and I can hear the windborn sand hitting the rig. The wind seems to be constant instead of just gusting. Predictions are calling for 35 mph winds, but gusting up to 60 mph. It's hard to know just how high the winds are when you are sitting in the rig feeling it shake and listening to the vent covers flapping. The winds are not predicted to die down until later tomorrow, so I guess there will be no outdoor activity until then. Neither of us needs sandblasted skin!