Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
AROUND ANZA-BORREGO
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
SALVATION MOUNTAIN
strange sight indeed: a 100ft-high hill of concrete and hand-mixed adobe slathered in col-
orful paint and found objects (hay bales, tires, telephone poles) and inscribed with reli-
gious messages, surrounded by chapel-like grottoes. The work of Leonard Knight
(1931-2014) was 28 years in the making and has become one of the great works of Amer-
ican folk art that's even been recognized as a national treasure in the US Senate. It's in Ni-
land, about 3 miles off Hwy 111, via Main St/Beal Rd and past train tracks and trailer
parks.
Salton Sea
Driving along Hwy 111 southeast of Indio, it's a most unexpected sight: California's
largest lake in the middle of its largest desert. The Salton Sea has a fascinating past, com-
plicated present and uncertain future.
Geologists say that the Gulf of California once extended 150 miles north of the present-
day Coachella Valley, but millions of years' worth of rich silt flowing through the Color-
ado River gradually cut it off, leaving a sink behind. By the mid-1800s the sink was the
site of salt mines and geologists realized that the mineral-rich soil would make excellent
farmland. Colorado River water was diverted into irrigation canals.
In 1905 the Colorado River breached, giving birth to the Salton Sea. It took 18 months,
1500 workers and 500,000 tons of rock to put the river back on course, but with no natural
outlet, the water was here to stay. Today, the Salton Sea is about 35 miles long and 15
miles wide and has water that is 30% saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
By mid-century the Salton Sea was stocked with fish and marketed as the 'California
Riviera'; vacation homes lined its shores. The fish, in turn, attracted birds, and the sea re-
mains a prime spot for bird-watching, including 400 species of migratory and endangered
