Salton Sea-Slab City-Casper’s Wilderness Hike/Knife play, Mountain Lion country

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bearthedog

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May 17, 2006
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Busy weekend for me, finally took a trip out to see the Salton Sea and Slab city before a hike in one of the most mountain lion inhabited areas of Southern California.

First was a trip out to see a couple of places from the movie, Into the Wild. Well, the Salton Sea was just mentioned, but Slab City, namely, Salvation Mountain is what I wanted to see. First stop was the Salton Sea. This is by far one of the strangest, creepiest places I have been to. The pictures say it all.

The Salton Sea is a saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault in California's Border Region. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside Counties in Southern California. Like Death Valley, it is located below sea level, with the current surface of the Salton Sea at 226 ft (69 m) below sea level. The deepest area of the sea is 5 ft (1.5 m) higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. The sea is fed by the New, Whitewater, and Alamo rivers, as well as a number of minor agricultural drainage systems and creeks. The lake covers a surface area of approximately 376 sq miles and is the largest in California.
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There were thousands of dead fish during all stages of decomposition. It really set the tone for this place, that and the smell.
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Onto Slab City and Salvation Mountain
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Interior
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Sunset over Slab City
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Casper’s Wilderness Park
Casper’s Wilderness Park is an 8,000 acre protected wilderness preserve nestled among the river terraces and sandstone canyons of the western coastal Santa Ana Mountains. The park's many fertile valleys are overtly complemented by specimen groves of native Coastal Live Oak and magnificent stands of California Sycamore. These areas are further accentuated by seasonal wildflower displays and running streams (seasonal). Wildlife is abundant and can be readily viewed from any of the parks numerous trails. There are lots of Mountain Lions here and there have been a few attacks over the years.
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Animal Trails were prevalent
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Super dry stream bed
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Gear/Bush Play
This is what is in my pockets, pack, and belt loop.
The Gatorade, knife sharpener, rain poncho, and Adventure Medical Kits emergency bivvy go in the pack. The passport, mini-kit, space blanket, extra camera battery all go in the cargo pocket while the carabineer containing the SAK, TOPS Firestarter, whistle, TOPS Dog Tag Signaling Mirror, and LED light ride on my belt loop.
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After I did the initial sawing…she did the rest.
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Making her first spear
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Great pics as usual. The Salton sea sure does look desolate, but has an eerie otherworldly beauty to it as well. You always inspire me to get out more too.
 
Salton is a crazy place. We do some offroading out there, just can't get used to the smell though.
 
The Salton Sea has to be the nations greatest ecological disaster! "Environmental" groups get themselves all worked up over some endangered fly or whatever....yet Salton Sea sits there unnoticed. This is a major stopover for migrating waterfoul, and it dies a little more every day!
 
reconranger said:
The Salton Sea has to be the nations greatest ecological disaster! "Environmental" groups get themselves all worked up over some endangered fly or whatever....yet Salton Sea sits there unnoticed. This is a major stopover for migrating waterfoul, and it dies a little more every day!
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Greatest ecological disaster? Really?

The Salton Sea is an unintended consequence of human water engineering (only a hundred years old), and its increasing salinity is also due to the human-induced water shortages in the region. There are plenty of groups working to restore it, and it's not going unnoticed. There's no easy answer, short of diverting a bunch of water to it.

Water, all over the Southwest, is a major environmental problem -- that's what happens when tens of millions of people live in a desert. They use up water that once supported thriving ecosystems.
 
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