Salton Sea & Bombay Beach

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

Thanks to the Roadtripper app again, we discovered a place called Salton Sea & Bombay Beach. I read a few articles I found online about the area as we drove. 

Nobody much lives here or comes here anymore except people passing through - like us! But the story is that this area was created by accident, back in 1905. 

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

From a distance, it looks like a nice shore and lake.

But up close, the shore is literally made up of the bones of fish that have died.

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

Water came from a flooding in the Colorado River that happened for a period of 18 months and created this area called Salton Sea.  The water is very salty and because the water can't flow anywhere, the only choice is for it to evaporate into the air, leaving behind minerals and salt.

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

The water is actually not very pretty up close

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

Fact: The Salton Sea is 30% saltier than the Pacific Ocean.

In the 1920's it was a tourist destination full of activity.

Apparently in the 1950's, more people came here than to Yosemite!

However, by the 70's any resorts and tourists that were there, disbanded. 

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

This person wrote a really good article about it with lots of information to fill in any gaps I left. 

Tony thought the area was stinky, I didnt think it was that bad.

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

We also drove around Bombay Beach which is pretty much a ghost town. A few people live there (pop. 295 in 2010) and it was really creepy to drive around and see all the abandoned houses. I'm not sure why anyone would want to live here??

However, out of curiosity, I looked up house prices in the area, and it's actually quite affordable if you are willing to live in that area and the conditions. 

Photo by Tony Hoxsie

Crazy cactus in someone's yard. 

Wow. Just wow. I had no idea such a place existed! I'm really glad we checked it out despite the sad history.