Off The Beaten Path...
Looking for an Insta photo op? Want to experience the weird side of the valley? We love that kinda stuff, too! Enjoy.
| Located conveniently off the 10 fwy and adjacent to the Cabazon and Premium Desert Hills outlets, this roadside attraction is a must see! Featuring life-size dinosaurs, a funky gift shop, a quirky museum and did we mention there is an In-N-Out in the parking lot? What more do you need for the perfect day out in the desert. |
| Location: |
50770 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, CA 92230 |
| Phone: |
(951) 922-8700 |
| After arriving in Niland, California, Leonard made several failed attempts to spread his message of love with a hot air balloon. Accepting defeat, he decided he would leave town, but first he would create a small statement. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Each day, Leonard would put a little more cement and a little more paint on the side of a forgotten riverbank.
As his monument grew taller and taller, he would pack old junk he found at the dump onto the side of his "mountain," fill it with sand and cover it with cement and paint. Cement was hard to come by, so he would mix a lot of sand into it. Leonard`s mountain soon grew to 50 feet and higher.
"I used to spend half a day at the dump to find half a gallon of paint of which only half was usable."
One day after about four years of work, with the instability of all the sand undermining its structure, the mountain fell down into a heap of rubble. Instead of being discouraged, Leonard thanked the Lord for showing him that the mountain wasn`t safe. He vowed to start once again and to do it better. |
| Location: |
603 Beal Rd Niland, CA 92257 |
| Phone: |
(760) 624-8754 |
| If you are a photographer, love weird abandoned places, like exploring...then this is the place for you!
We recommend starting out in the morning because the road to the Salton Sea is long and dark and there are no gas stations or eating places around...pack a cooler!
You can make a day out of it by hitting up Salvation Mountain and Slab City on the way there...enjoy!
The Salton Sea was formed between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River burst through poorly built irrigation controls south of Yuma, Arizona. Almost the entire flow of the river filled the Salton Basin for more than a year, inundating communities, farms and the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Continued filling of the Salton Sink was finally halted in 1907, when a line of protective levees was built by boxcars dumping boulders into the breach from Southern Pacific tracks. By then, this inland lake was about 40 miles long and 13 miles wide, covering an area of about 400 square miles.
The Salton Sea is currently 35 miles by 15 miles and can be as large as 40 miles by almost 20 miles in particularly wet years. It has an average depth of 29.9 feet and, at its deepest, is 51 feet. It contains 7.3 million acre feet of water and evaporates 1.3 million acre feet each year. There is a five-mile-long trench on the south end of the Sea that is 51 feet deep. The Sea is currently 228 feet below sea level. Interestingly, the bed of the Salton Sea is only five feet higher than the lowest spot in Death Valley.
Read more: http://www.desertusa.com/salton/salton.html#ixzz4XrX4eOmn |
| Location: |
Salton Sea, CA |
| Phone: |
(760) 393-3059 |
| A few miles east of Niland, California, is an area know as the Slabs. The Slabs have been referred to both as "the last free place on earth" and an "anarchist RV town." The site was the location of Camp Dunlap, a U.S. Marine Corps base activated on October 15, 1942 as a training facility during World War II. Camp Dunlap was used to train the artillery and anti-aircraft units of the Fleet Marine Force. In October 1961, the United States Department of Defense conveyed the land on which Camp Dunlap was situated back to the State of California. Later legislation required that any revenue generated from this property go to the State Teachers’ Retirement System.
There are no rules or fees at the Slabs. The community enacts no laws, and has no running water, power lines, sewage service or trash pickup, giving the place a Mad Max post-apocalyptic look and feel. During the winter months, as many as several thousand campers – mostly elderly retirees – flock there for the warm desert weather and the lack of fees. These seasonal residents, known as "snowbirds," live in a variety of housing structures. Though most come to the area in their RVs, many also squat in abandoned structures such as old inoperative buses, driftwood shacks, abandoned water tanks, or any place that provides a little protection from the elements. A small population lives there year-round, braving the harsh summer months when temperatures can reach above 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Read more: http://www.desertusa.com/desert-california/slab-city2.html#ixzz4XrYG2tKi
Read more: http://www.desertusa.com/desert-california/slab-city2.html#ixzz4XrYBzSHN |
| Location: |
Behind Salvation Mountain |
