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Salvation Mountain

This part of our visit to Slab City was sure a colorful surprise!  This 50 foot high mountain made of straw, adobe and lots and lots of paint is constructed into a hillside near the entrance to Slab City.  It is amazing what can be constructed with enough time and effort.  This mountain is the creation of Leonard Knight.  We were able to meet Leonard while we were there, he was very friendly and passionate man who was nice enough to take the  time to give us a nice tour of Salvation Mountain.  For a photographer like me who is attracted to bright, bold colors, this spot was a dream!    Below is a photo of Leonard while leading the tour.Read More

Slab City, California.

Personally, I think those rims are a bit over the top, but that’s just me.  🙂

Slab City  is an interesting place.  It is a formal military base not far from the Salton Sea.  It really isn’t a city, there aren’t any services, utilities or city government, it is pretty much just a collection of snow birds and squatters who are attracted to the free parking, and, well the lack of government.  I have a friend from Seward who told me he used to hang out here.  Now that I have seen the place, I have lots  more questions!  There were some interesting things there, but photogenically speaking, it was Salvation Mountain that really stood out – but  I will save that for tomorrow.

Abandoned trailer, Salton Sea, California.

I started talking to an old timer who was walking his dog through this abandoned waterfront trailer park – he explained that back in the day, you couldn’t find a spot in the campground without an advanced reservation.  Today, there are just empty spots along with this trailer which he tells me “druggies” removed all the good stuff.  He also said that from the 50’s through the 70’s Salton Sea received more visitors then even Yosemite!  I found the same stat on the Internet, I don’t know if it is really true, but sounds possible.  Supposedly movie stars hung out at the yacht club and and the fancy hotels.  Today, there vacant, dilapidated buildings and empty roads, it is really eerie  just how far this area has fallen.

I converted this to black and white, I thought it better reflected the mood on the area.

In addition, after upgrading to the latest version of my blog software WordPress, it seems my blogs feeds stopped being sent as emails or RSS.  I think I have now fixed it, we will find out with this one.  If you want to see what you might have missed, take a peak at:  my photo blog website.

Dead fish and bird remains along the shore of the Salton Sea, California.

The Salton Sea can be very beautiful, I tried to convey that in my last two posts.  In addition to its beauty, it is a wonderful place for birds.  Not only is it a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway bird migration route, but it also is home to over 400 species of birds, a number only exceeded by one other place in the U.S. (the Gulf Coast in Texas).  Many of the bird species that use the Salton Sea are threatened on endangered.

But, the lake is plagued with problems.  Since it is below sea level, there isn’t an outlet.  As salty water flows in and evaporates, only the salt is left behind, which is slowly raising the salinity level.  That coupled with diseases and other problems has lead to some large die-offs of birds and fish, the remnants of which were visible along the shoreline when we visited.  There are no easy solutions to the situation, most are expensive and controversial.  Here is a website that goes into far more  detail on the Salton Sea for those who maybe interested.

This is my first post with version 2.7 of Word-press – I have my fingers crossed, so far so good!

Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, California.

This is from the east shore looking west at sunset – it was a wonderful sky!  For comparison, – in yesterday’s post, I was on the west shore looking east at sunset, one night earlier.

Salton Sea, California.

These pelican seemed like they were glowing against the pink water thanks to the reflection of this wonderful sunset.