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I had go take a road trip to see for myself. Nearby Slab City is a nightmare, but Salton Sea wasn't too bad for a salt lake in the desert. There are picnic tabl

I had go take a road trip to see for myself. Nearby Slab City is a nightmare, but Salton Sea wasn't too bad for a salt lake in the desert. There are picnic tables and campsites. There's a palm tree farm on the north end. In a little town on the water's edge, I found the sign for the the old Bombay Beach Club: https://imgur.com/a/eifJkzB https://imgur.com/a/eifJkzB

sidewndr46 5y ago
Isn't Slab City just a place that people go because they can squat there and no one cares?
- monetus 5y ago
  It is romanticized among other things.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    There are definitely addicts out there but I went with my family and met some nice people a few years ago. The art installation was interesting and the hippies running the library gave my kid a book. I wouldn't want to live out there for sure though.
- suzzer99 5y ago
  There are a lot of artists, and they even have a "club" made up of old abandoned couches where they have occasional outdoor concerts. It's pretty wild.
lizknope 5y ago
I drove around Slab City so that I could see Salvation Mountain. It was... interesting. Bombay Beach was scary and depressing. The smell was fine when I was there but there are frequent massive fish die offs. Something has to be done about it though. If it dries up (irrigation runoff feeds the lake but irrigation is getting more efficient causing less runoff) then the dry lake bed will blow over Palm Springs and other towns in the area. It's full of toxic dust now. Migrating birds also use it as a stopover point because we have gotten rid of so many natural wetlands.
ravenstine 5y ago
I had the opposite experience. I'm normally the kind of person who likes visiting unusual places, but I found nothing appealing about the Salton Sea. The smell was horrendous, there were flies and bees everywhere, and the rural decay wasn't really as impressive as in those artsy HDR photos. It's a horrible place that I vowed never to return to.
- dataviz1000 5y ago
  > there were flies and bees everywhere That's a good thing
  - scyzoryk_xyz 5y ago
    We sat down at a table to eat breakfast there during our road trip and within 10 minutes we were swarmed with a horde of disgusting flies. The entire shore was littered with bones from dead fish. The area looks quite ok from the confines of an air conditioned vehicle.
    - forgotmypw17 5y ago
      "Disgusting flies"? That's pretty specieist... You're just passing through where they LIVE
- okareaman 5y ago
  I think it depends on the time of year. For example, when I drove to Alaska in the spring, I found the wilderness beautiful, but the locals told me if I had come in the summer I would have been assaulted by swarms of giant mosquitos.
  - winrid 5y ago
    Sounds like the locals really liked you. :)
    - okareaman 5y ago
suzzer99 5y ago
I love exploring around the Salton Sea because it feels like a post-apocalyptic version of the US. You're definitely not going for the aesthetics.
tomc1985 5y ago
Slab City is it's own thing. It was probably a nightmare because they are not trying to appeal to you... or anyone I think it's the only semilegal squatting village in California

sidewndr46 5y ago

Isn't Slab City just a place that people go because they can squat there and no one cares?

monetus 5y ago
It is romanticized among other things.
- colordrops 5y ago
  There are definitely addicts out there but I went with my family and met some nice people a few years ago. The art installation was interesting and the hippies running the library gave my kid a book. I wouldn't want to live out there for sure though.
suzzer99 5y ago
There are a lot of artists, and they even have a "club" made up of old abandoned couches where they have occasional outdoor concerts. It's pretty wild.

lizknope 5y ago

I drove around Slab City so that I could see Salvation Mountain. It was... interesting. Bombay Beach was scary and depressing. The smell was fine when I was there but there are frequent massive fish die offs. Something has to be done about it though. If it dries up (irrigation runoff feeds the lake but irrigation is getting more efficient causing less runoff) then the dry lake bed will blow over Palm Springs and other towns in the area. It's full of toxic dust now. Migrating birds also use it as a stopover point because we have gotten rid of so many natural wetlands.

ravenstine 5y ago

I had the opposite experience. I'm normally the kind of person who likes visiting unusual places, but I found nothing appealing about the Salton Sea. The smell was horrendous, there were flies and bees everywhere, and the rural decay wasn't really as impressive as in those artsy HDR photos. It's a horrible place that I vowed never to return to.

dataviz1000 5y ago
> there were flies and bees everywhere That's a good thing
- scyzoryk_xyz 5y ago
  We sat down at a table to eat breakfast there during our road trip and within 10 minutes we were swarmed with a horde of disgusting flies. The entire shore was littered with bones from dead fish. The area looks quite ok from the confines of an air conditioned vehicle.
  - forgotmypw17 5y ago
    "Disgusting flies"? That's pretty specieist... You're just passing through where they LIVE
okareaman 5y ago
I think it depends on the time of year. For example, when I drove to Alaska in the spring, I found the wilderness beautiful, but the locals told me if I had come in the summer I would have been assaulted by swarms of giant mosquitos.
- winrid 5y ago
  Sounds like the locals really liked you. :)
  - okareaman 5y ago

suzzer99 5y ago

I love exploring around the Salton Sea because it feels like a post-apocalyptic version of the US. You're definitely not going for the aesthetics.

tomc1985 5y ago

Slab City is it's own thing. It was probably a nightmare because they are not trying to appeal to you... or anyone I think it's the only semilegal squatting village in California