The Desert Tower, El Centro, Salton Sea, Slab City, and Salvation Mountain, CA

Me and Salvation Mountain

It is truly the desert now. Before this I don't think I have ever been in the desert except maybe driving through Nevada. I have never spent time in the desert and it is an adjustment for me. The people here are different, the scenery is different, and the feeling of civilization is different.

Scenery as we make our way to Campo

Two of my biggest loves

We left SD and finally began our trek eastward. Our first stop on our way to Arizona was Campo. On our drive we came so close to the Mexican border that my phone actually thought I was in Mexico! The road was windy and there were some significant downhills and uphills. Fortunately, I had seen much worse as we traveled Highway 1. Maander tackled it like a champion as we headed deeper and deeper into the desert. The terrain became more and more foreboding. We sent off some post cards in Campo and I started to speak to a local. I asked him what there was to do in Campo for fun and to site see. He said well the railroad museum the observatory and a casino down the way was basically it. Well, the railroad museum was only open on weekends and I couldn't find the observatory. We weren't interested in a casino so off we went to our campsite.

Some of our view on our hike
around Sacred Rock

The Desert Tower

We stayed at Sacred Rock Reserve. It is a nice RV park and seemed to have many campers there that were staying for quite awhile. The man who welcomed us was a camper earning his stay there working the counter. He told us about all the different hikes around the camp and gave us a site that he thought was nice. We went on a hike and this was our first real foray into the desert. The plants and rock formations were very unfamiliar. We saw some great sites and the hike was pretty easy. From there we basically hung out and enjoyed our food.

Amazing View

Maander chillin' while we
are at the top of the
tower

Climbing through the caves

We kept going east after our stay at Sacred Rock and first on our itinerary was to go by The Desert Tower. It is supposed to be this huge lookout/monument where you can see a ton of the desert. We had to take this back road to get to it and some of the people that seemed to be camping or living out there were very eccentric. When we got to the tower we started talking to the owner. He was unquestionably unique. We talked about where we have been where we plan to go. He suggested that we go see the Chocolate Mountains and some Sand dunes out a little north of Yuma. We said OK but didn't really plan to go because it wasn't on our planned route and we don't want to take a route we don't know anything about and then find ourselves in a predicament.

Hey I found this bandanna on our
hike I like it :)

Very weird, eccentric, crazy people
live out in the desert

Sup?

The Desert Tower was pretty cool. We climbed to the top looked over the desert. I just imagined the pioneers or the explorers in the 17 and 1800s going through there. There would be no chance I would risk trekking into a land where all I could see is desolation, desert, nothingness. It seemed like nothing lived there or should live there. We then took this other hike that brought us through these caves then to these, "hot springs." Turned out the hot springs were actually metal springs set out in the sun. The owner of tower and caves is quite the jokester.

These are the Chocolate Mountains
We actually got to see them
We should pass the dunes as well

Onward to El Centro. We knew there would likely be nothing in El Centro and it would merely be a place to rest our head as we go to Yuma. That is basically what it was. There was a Walmart there that allowed camping and that is where we stayed. We saw a movie while in El Centro called Country Song which was excellent. After our long drive from The Desert Tower to El Centro, Maander never really got hot but when we tried to restart him the starter wasn't activating. We ended up push starting Maander when a gentleman helped me push Maander while Anna popped the clutch. We have noticed this pattern, I am now convinced that the transmission is what gets hot on these longer drives and that has an effect on the starter. I don't know exactly how to fix this problem. Not sure if I need to get a brand new starter or if there is a trick I can do to get the starter to work after a long drive.



Me fooling around in the downtown area of El Centro. The downtown are is basically a ghost town. Very depressing to go through there.

Anna and the Salton Sea
You may see dead fish on the ground if you look closely

While marinating in El Centro we started looking at our maps and decided we would take a slight detour and go up to the Salton Sea and see what that is like spend the night at a KOA and head back to El Centro afterwards. It was Sunday so we went to a church in Brawley

Once the service ended, one of the gentleman from the congregation was admiring Maander. I said, "I see you have found our humble home :)"

He said he was into VWs as well. We talked car talk for awhile and he offered his garage and tools if I needed anything. I wasn't in need of anything I knew of at the time so I just thanked him. We got to talking about the city and the surrounding area. He told me about Slab City and Salvation Mountain. He mentioned that both were in the movie Into the Wild. I immediately knew what he was talking about and was very excited to see them. They were near the town of Niland just about 20 miles north of Brawley. We shook hands were on our way.

Land around the Sea

I guess development never took off
in Niland

As we went to the KOA we passed Niland but saw nothing that suggested a route to Slab City or Salvation Mountain. We knew we would pass by there the next day so we just said lets get to the campsite. The campsite was nice and we showered up and washed our dirty clothes. We enjoyed the free Internet and basically made it a simple pit stop. They had a pool and hot springs but we decided not to enjoy them.

First stop the next day was to Bombay Beach. This was right on the Salton Sea. As we headed into the town we were absolutely struck by the conditions in the town. Ever since we got north of Brawley it seemed the preferred way to live was in a RV. At Bombay Beach the home were mobile homes with most being in complete disrepair. It truly looked like a third world country. I realized that in my little bubble that I live in I always thought that everywhere in America it was relatively developed. This place was in worse shape than villages I have been to in Mexico.

Some more of the ground around the Sea

These littered the shore

We kept on and parked Maander to go to the edge of the Salton Sea. As we made our way a gentleman with his dog were walking just a bit behind us. I decided to say hello and asked if he was a local. He responded, "No, what do you need?"

I was like, "Oh, well I don't need anything just wondering." Well the conversation went on from there. He is somewhat of a traveler as well. He had traveled to this area before and knew tons of information about the Salton Sea, it was amazing to hear. So this Sea did not exist until the 1910s when a levy on the Colorado River broke and the overflow came to what was then called, "Salton Sink" it is below sea level and the run off just went to the lowest point. It took 2 years to fix the levy and now the sea doesn't have a feeder river so it is just shrinking slowly. They put some fish in that flourished but I believe they aren't good for fishing because of all the Salt and sediment that exist in the sea. As the sea dries up the fish have no where to go and the shore is absolutely littered with dead fishes. While its not a pretty site it is really captivating. The salt also crystallizes into these barnacle like structures on the beach.

Talking with the gentleman (named Dave) was great. He wanted to know all about the places we have been and gave us tons of suggestions on what to see. He talked about some of his travels as well it was great. We told him about our blog and he said he had a website as well similar in purpose to ours. A link is here if you want to see who we met and his travels.

I wish we had a better picture of Slab City

Onto Niland and Slab City and Salvation Rock. The night before we went online and found the exact road to get to the places. We went through the town of Niland which was another town where most homes were mobile homes that were breaking down and it just felt like another land. The sheriff's jail looked to be from the 1880s. Slab City was a ways out of town and is right next to Salvation Mountain. Salvation Mountain was great to see but was even more amazing was Leonard, the guy who built it. He has been working on it for 30 years. He landed in Slab City because his car broke down and he said he liked the weather, and the people so he stayed. He said he had only planned to make a small monument to Jesus until he got his car fixed but that never happened and he just kept making more and more. We took pictures and I just asked him about his life and how he came to be where he was.

Leonard was painting earlier and
Anna fell victim :)

Slab City is a community that exists where a military camp used to be. Apparently during World War 2 the army used all of this desert to train millions of troops for battle. After the war they didn't need the area anymore so they tore down all the building and all that are left are slabs. People camp here for a living and they don't have to pay a dime. You will find many eccentric people there. I can't decide whether it is white trash or just people looking for a different way of life. I started theorizing with Anna and I think if you choose to come way out here in the middle of nowhere it just feels like you are running away from something. Whether psychological or some action it just seems like you are trying to escape something. There is basically no police not anything out here so it feels lawless and I just wasn't sure how truly safe someone could feel out there. People seemed friendly as we drove through many waved at us but we never stopped to walk around. It was an experience I will never forget and I love that I got to experience it. I never imagined seeing something like this and it seemed like it was by accident.

Me and Leonard
I won't forget this

Now we are back in Brawley camping out in a Walmart ready to make our exit to Yuma tomorrow. Finally we will get out of California and onward. We will see friends in Phoenix and Tucson. I was looking over just a general idea of all the places we will go on the trip God willing and it seems pretty dope. I know I haven't spoke about Walden in a long time. I haven't been reading and I will try and find time to do that. I don't want to force anything and if that book just doesn't end up getting read so be it. Love all y'all Peace :)