Now you sea it, now you don't

Cathedral City, CA – We had our challenges touring about today, but it was a good day.  Our destination was the Salton Sea, a large salt-water lake at the southern end of the Coachella Valley, about an hour’s drive from here.  Well, an hour on a good day.

We were well on our way, traveling south on Highway 111, when we saw red brake lights of cars up ahead coming to a stop.  We realized the road was closed because today was Presidents’ Day and opening day of the International Date Festival at Indio, where we had just arrived.

On the side street where we’d been directed to go, cars were parked solidly down both sides and crowds of people with kids in tow were excitedly heading to the fair.  We, on the other hand, were scrambling to find our way around the tie-up.  Finally, we got back on track, leaving the city behind.

Orderly rows of date palms stood by the highway, filling acres of land that, but for an irrigation system, would be sandy desert.  Further along the road, huge fields of green vegetables flourished under the strong California sun, while nearby more barren tracts provided a stark contrast.

Finally, I caught sight of the glitter of water as the Salton Sea came into view.  Thousands of years ago, this land basin filled with water from the Bay of California.  More recently, it became a freshwater lake that supported the Cahuilla Indians for many generations.  In time, its waters receded and reduced the size of the lake by two thirds.

In the early 1900s, a couple of entrepreneurs decided to help Mother Nature by building canals off the Colorado River to divert water into the Salton Sea.  Then they snuck into Mexico to build another branch for even more inflow.  In 1905 the Colorado flooded and water kept flowing in to the sea for 16 months! It washed out roads and railways in its path as well.

By the 1950s the Salton Sea had become a huge tourist mecca.  However, in the years since then, evaporation has reduced its size, and run off from agriculture to the north has increased its salinity to the point that fish are dying off and migratory birds are less able to find sustenance in its waters.

When we arrived at the state recreation area, we could see that its heyday was past. Large parking areas only held a few cars, even on a holiday Monday, and a strong odour of rotting fish and vegetation hung in the air.  To the eye, it was an attractive place, but not so much to the other senses.  Still it was interesting to learn about this region and the many phases it has passed through.  Whether there will be a sea in future generations is a difficult question.

After our picnic lunch, we continued our drive around the sea, passing more desert, irrigated fields, date groves, feed lots with thousands of cattle (and another type of country fragrance!) and a couple of small towns.  On the homeward stretch, northward on the I10, traffic slowed to a crawl for about 45 minutes as we inched our way to an exit. Later we learned this was standard congestion with people heading back to the big city following a long weekend. We were fairly certain they hadn’t been to the seaside.