The Inland Sea

Up by daybreak, I head west as far and as fast as the one lane road with an infinite number of oversized RV’s, commandeered by white haired retirees, will let me.

By sunset I reach the great Salton Sea. A sea much less inviting than the photos above will have you believe.

The temperature is still 102 degrees…and now I am wondering if I am cut out for the tropics as I keep hopping back into my car for a quick blast of a/c.

The image above is more likely what you will see here. This inland sea is dieing, though it was once very alive. Created by accident in a flood of the Colorado River into farmers’ irrigation canals, the sea has slowly turned into a toxic saline mixture. Fish die en masse and wash up on the shorelines. Fertilizer runoff from nearby farms creates huge algae blooms that process the elements and give off sulphuric gasses as a byproduct. So, as you can imagine, this place isn’t the most wonderfully smelling of campgrounds I have ever stayed in. Luckily for me tonight there is an offshore breeze keeping the fresh desert air in peaceful coexistence with my nostrils.

Why The Great Salt Lake of Utah works like a charm while this one rots away into gaseous sludge, we may never know, unless of course the lesson is to not f#!% with mother nature.