We left Yuma and drove into California. On the way we passed several BLM (Bureau of Land Management) areas where people were camping or "squatting" on  the desert. We don't need hook ups but we could tell this kind of essentially free camping isn't for us, so we will remove a visit to Quartsite from our list of things to do.

We drove to the Salton Sea.

I know it's a parking lot but you will notice the table, tree and view. We even plan to return here for January. Why you ask, because it's desert and it's warmer here then elsewhere in California. We could go back to Arizona but didn't find anyplace that appealed to us.


You wouldn't know it from looking at the largest inland surface body in California but it was created by accident. In 1900, businessmen began developing a series of irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River to the Salton Basin. Then the Colorado River floodwaters overflowed its banks and smashed through the diversion channels. It took 16 months and several failed attempts to restore the Colorado to its previous channel in the meantime a 45 mile long 20 mile wide inland sea filled the Salton Basin.


The red ridge in the picture is an above ground manifestation of the San Andreas fault. We passed it when we went for a drive on a dirt road leading to a back country hike. We didn't complete the hike because we don't do ladders.

We were planning to go to Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend before going to San Diego for our visit with Susan (flying out) and our Thanksgiving Holiday but when we called the park we were given misinformation about programs and camping. As a result we stayed at Salton Sea and drove over for the day.

In the meantime we had an interesting day trip to this unique high desert location. Maybe we will camp
there when we leave the Salton Sea in February.

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