Desert bloom (week 5)
The Saguaro disappeared just as suddenly as they had appeared. We crossed the Colorado River, seeing our first palm trees. We'd heard of a rare occurrence: heavy rainfall (the heaviest in the last decade) triggered a flower bloom in much of the area, so we drove up to Joshua Tree National Park, a big park straddling both the Colorado and Mojave deserts, to find a campsite for the week. It was busy busy busy - but we found a decent spot, not too close to others and with a good view of the weird giant boulders, yuccas, and joshua trees.
We opted for a day trip to overrun Anza Borrego, one of the best places to see the bloom (though Joshua Tree also had most of the same species of blooming plants). We passed by the Salton Sea, a smelly, super salty lake surrounded by salt encrusted dirt, mostly abandoned industries, and a fair bit of poverty. In the early to mid 1900s, after the sea was accidentally created by an irrigation accident, resorts and idyllic little towns were popping up on its shores. All efforts to make it a desired destination crumbled, leaving only a wafting smell of dead fish.
Turns out we weren't the only ones thinking a Monday morning would be less crowded; we parked the car on a side street and walked through the flowering meadows, taking many photos. After a couple of hours, we continued around the southern end of the Salton sea, stopping for surprisingly delicious tacos and a date shake in Westmoreland, of all places. Our next stop was Slab City.
This is possibly the new 'idyllic' Salton Sea destination - built on an abandoned military base, the residents of Salton enjoy a tax free existence. They are not an official city, rather officially squatters - plots of land are claimed as newcomers arrive, campers are parked permanently and covered in dirt, tarps, or paint, signs pop up, and art is built. It has become more popular in recent years; I'd first heard of it in a short documentary, and its biggest and impressive work of art, Salvation Mountain, is featured in various odd travel destination encyclopedias.
This is possibly the new 'idyllic' Salton Sea destination - built on an abandoned military base, the residents of Salton enjoy a tax free existence. They are not an official city, rather officially squatters - plots of land are claimed as newcomers arrive, campers are parked permanently and covered in dirt, tarps, or paint, signs pop up, and art is built. It has become more popular in recent years; I'd first heard of it in a short documentary, and its biggest and impressive work of art, Salvation Mountain, is featured in various odd travel destination encyclopedias.
We got a bit too much sun wandering around Salvation Mountain and had a long drive home, so the next day I indulged in a whole day of quiet time around camp.
Which was good, because at night the wind picked up, battering the tent, flattening it on our faces, whipping the sides around. They were the gustiest gusts I've ever experienced (maybe apart from that time my tent, with me in it, almost got flipped upside down and down a steep hill in Gabon), even more so than in White Sands, but our sturdy little tent held up. I didn't sleep, and Luis barely did either; we spent much of the next day resting in the tent.
The day after that, the weather finally cleared up. We hiked around, spotting some horny lizards, looking at tracks (mostly coyote and lizards) along the washes, and exploring weird shaped rocks.
Then to LA, to visit our friends over the weekend. It was a little weird driving into such a huge city, full of people, traffic, noise, and smog. We arrived all disheveled after two weeks without a shower, but feeling great! :)
Which was good, because at night the wind picked up, battering the tent, flattening it on our faces, whipping the sides around. They were the gustiest gusts I've ever experienced (maybe apart from that time my tent, with me in it, almost got flipped upside down and down a steep hill in Gabon), even more so than in White Sands, but our sturdy little tent held up. I didn't sleep, and Luis barely did either; we spent much of the next day resting in the tent.
The day after that, the weather finally cleared up. We hiked around, spotting some horny lizards, looking at tracks (mostly coyote and lizards) along the washes, and exploring weird shaped rocks.
Then to LA, to visit our friends over the weekend. It was a little weird driving into such a huge city, full of people, traffic, noise, and smog. We arrived all disheveled after two weeks without a shower, but feeling great! :)