Salton Sea - Mecca, Bombay, East Jesus & The Slabs

Mecca, California

Corvina Beach Campground 

From Palm Springs we headed south to the Salton Sea to spend some time on the east side of the lake.  There are a few BLM campgrounds on this side.  We chose the smaller, Corvina Beach campground.  You can pull up alongside the lake.  Well, about 100 feet or so is about as close as you can get in these campgrounds. $8 per night, Senior Rate. No utilities.

Rick and Angie are set up behind us.  It was warm out and not much wind at all so we took a walk along the lake.  It appears sandy but the beach is made up of crushed barnacles, shells and fish bones.

The sea was formed between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River was tapped near Yuma to allow irrigation waters to flow into the Imperial Valley.  Storms and high waters broke through the canals and the river flowed almost unchecked into the Salton Sea.  The breach was closed in 1907.  There is no natural inflow/outflow and the only water the lake receives is from rainfall and run-off from agricultural areas.  The lake is saltier than the Pacific Ocean and almost as salty as the Great Salt Lake.

You can only get so close as you will sink in the soft muck if you get too close to the water.  The Salton Sea is 15 miles by 40 miles long with the deepest point being 51 feet.  The lake itself sits at 228 feet below sea level.

Looking back at our rigs from the lake.

There are a few palm oasis out here too.  We visited the Dos Palmas area and hiked the short San Andres Trail.  It's well kept and easy to hike in the sand.  

The fun part is that you get to walk into the palms in the middle of the oasis.  Really tropical and humid inside.

These are all California Fan Palms.  Above is a picture of the fruit/seeds they produce.  There was a small pond of water in the middle but it was swampy and smelly.

Rain was coming so we took a short drive to the Visitors Center to look around.  There wasn't much to the Visitor Center and the rangers didn't off much information or film about the area either.

It rained heavy and made the "beach" a muddy sticky mess.  Even walking from rig to rig was a sloppy, slippery event.

We had a couple indoor days so the muck could dry up.  Glad we didn't have to drive anywhere.

The rest of the time was warm, sunny and dry.  Just a few miles south is Bombay Beach.  This was once a popular getaway for beachgoers in the 1980s.  Once the draining and increased salinity happened, most of the businesses closed and homes were abandoned making it mostly a ghost town.

Since 2018 it has somewhat of a rebirth with an influx of artists.  The population is around 200.  Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys and Bing Crosby hung out here too until the smell of decaying dead fish chased most everyone away.

The Bird Nest Home

The Old Drive Inn

There are plenty of sculptures over the levy nearer the lake too.

An actual church with services.

A popular billboard from days long past.

The Fish Plane

Salvation Mountain and Slab City are nearby.  Unless you're a Fulltime RVer or live nearby, odds are you've never heard of these places.  I never really cared to visit but since we were so close, we did.

Salvation Mountain was started in 1984 as a temporary monument to God's love by Leonard Knight.  It became a worldwide phenomenon.  He used only what he could scrounge from the local dump.  It's mostly adobe bricks, sand slurry and thousands of gallons of paint.  Leornard is now passed but volunteers keep up his vision.

It was impressive to see and I'm glad we went.

Then it was down the road to Slab City and East Jesus.  This wasn't impressive at all.  Mostly a dumpy place with a few imaginative areas.  It's an unincorporated, off-grid, alternative lifestyle community.

Prior to World War II, this area was a marine training ground for anti-aircraft artillery units from Camp Dunlap.  It was dismantled in 1956 but most of the slab foundations remain.  You'll find all kinds of make-shift "homes'.  

Some artistic sculptures and murals dot the area.

Apparently, the folks of The Slabs don't like to be compared to those in neighboring East Jesus.

Well, it was interesting to see.  I'd never boondock out here though.

We had some beautiful sunsets and a full moon.

Our last adventure was a 4 mile hike to The Bat Caves up in the Buttes.

The landscape was varied and got more colorful and interesting as we climbed.

At the top was a bench and a US flag offering a nice place to sit and rest while enjoying the view towards the Salton Sea.

There were several small caves to explore.  The longest is about 90 feet.  Not much inside except the smell of bat quano.

Turn up your speakers and you can hear the bats chirping away in the crack of this cave.

It was a great hike and a nice visit to the Salton Sea.  Next we'll be heading to Quartzsite, Arizona.