Slab City, CA

 

We had a nice drive through Box Canyon and along the shores of the Salton Sea yesterday.

The sea was created in 1905 when heavy flooding of the Colorado River caused a breach in a dike, forming 2 new rivers which flooded the Salton Basin, a former salt mine. There was no way for water to run out, so the sea remained. The salinity levels are higher than the ocean, so the only fish that survive are talapia. We thought we might camp along the lake, as there is a huge state recreation area, but the camping areas just didn’t look very inviting, and we really wanted to visit Slab City, another 25 miles south.

So we went on to Niland, headed east for 3 miles, and came upon Slab City, or The Slabs. This area was a former WWII Navy base, Camp Dunlap. After the war the camp was abandoned and the buildings demolished. All that remained were the concrete slabs, hence the name.

People started coming and parking RV’s in the area, and soon it became a place for snowbirds to winter, and for other interesting characters to set up their homes. The state of California owns the land but does not maintain it, so there is no charge to camp there.There is also no water, electric, or garbage pick-up, so these people are truly living off the grid. We saw everything from newer RV’s to dilapidated looking ones that were hard to imagine anyone actually living in.

 

Everyone has solar panels, and the permanent residents have 100 gallon water tanks, which someone comes around and fills from time to time. We aren’t sure what they do with their sewage, as many of the rigs don’t look like they could drive to Niland to the dump station. We asked a guy if any trucks came around to pump out tanks, and he said no, this is the desert, with the implication that they just dump it anywhere. If that’s the case, luckily we didn’t notice any odors.

We saw a local bar.

There is also a church and library. The library sign says it is open 24/7, which isn’t surprising after we went in. There isn’t much in the way of walls or a ceiling. Jim picked up one paperback, which he came home and cleaned with Lysol. Most of the books had lots of spider webs, dust and dirt on them. There was a sign that said the librarian had quit because he got tired of picking up dog pooh.

 

This work of art was next to the library. Yes, that is our president’s photo in the toilet seat.

The most famous resident of Slab City is Leonard Knight, who is close to 80 years old, and has been building Salvation Mountain for over 25 years now.

This is his way of spreading the word of God, and you have to admire his passion. We forgot to get his picture, but we met him and toured the mountain. He loves visitors, and gives everyone something. He gave us a video, a magnet, and postcard of the place. He is so nice you can’t refuse! He’s used over 100,000 gallons of paint so far, along with old tires, tree branches, hay bales and adobe. It was fascinating.

  

It was an enjoyable day in an unusual place, and we’re glad we went.

Joshua Tree National Park, Cottonwood Campground, CA

We entered California Monday, land of bad roads and high gas prices. The state also confiscated a bag of clementines from Debbie when we passed through the Agriculture Inspection Station. That’s what she gets for being so honest! Actually we were first, and the woman just asked us where we were coming from. Jim said Lake Havasu, and she told us to have a nice day. When Debbie pulled up, she was asked the same thing, but also if she had any citrus or other produce. She confessed to the clementines, and had to show them to the inspector. Since they were from Chile (via Wal-Mart), they could not enter California. Debbie wasn’t too happy, so the woman told her she could pull over and sit in the lot and eat them if she wanted to before entering CA. What a fine welcome.

We are in Cottonwood Campground, just 8 miles north of I-10 in Joshua Tree National Park, at 3,000’ elevation, one of the lower areas of the park. This is our third visit to Joshua Tree, a lovely desert park. The campground is nice except  the only sites that will fit a bigger RV are just pull-offs along the road. We always get nervous when other rigs pass by so close, but luckily the park is not very crowded so there is little traffic. It is $15 a night, no hookups, but there is water and a dump. We have absolutely no cell or internet, but there are numerous TV stations, although all were in Spanish. Something else we forgot about California.

We did a couple hikes right from the campground, so we didn’t have to go out exploring the park by car. The southern part of the park has no Joshua Trees, so that may disappoint some people, but we’ve seen them before, and it is still pretty country even without them. We walked to Mastedon Peak, a 1.2 mile hike to a nice view of the Salton Sea and an old mine. It was late when we started, and with the time change, it was dark by the time we got back at 5:30. Also it was getting very cold, much colder than the predicted temps. In fact it was 32 when I got up this morning, and had we known it would be in the 30’s we would have stayed somewhere else with hookups, but we survived. Here are a few pics of the trail.

Love those rocks.

The Salton Sea off to the right.

It was a lovely sunset and fortunately we didn’t get eaten by desert creatures after it got dark.

Yesterday we hiked to Lost Palms Oasis, a 4 mile trail to a fan palm oasis. It was a gradual climb most of the way, but there were more ups and downs as we approached the oasis. We didn’t actually make it all the way to the oasis, just to the sign and the view of it, since again it was getting late and this time we wanted to get back before dark.

The trail starts at Cottonwood Oasis, which you can drive to.

More rocks we saw along the way.

 

 

And finally!

 

There must be water down there somewhere, but it was another 2/10 of a mile down into the canyon and we just couldn’t muster the energy to go find it. Jim is convinced I’m trying to kill him with these hikes, but so far it hasn’t worked.

Today we are moving on to the Salton Sea area where it is below sea level, and we hope much warmer.

Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday we drove about 7 miles south to the Bill Williams River NWR. We visited it last year and decided to go back and see if there were any other hiking trails. This is a beautiful spot on the Colorado River, which the Bill Williams River flows into. We walked the trail out to a scenic point. There were quite a few people fishing.

And this boat which appeared to be cleaning debris out of the water.

Debbie and I went over to ask the volunteers about other trails, and spent a long time talking with Darren and Joyce, a very nice couple from the Tampa Bay area, who’ve been fulltiming in their 5th wheel for a year.

Jim did some bird watching while we were socializing.

They told us to take a drive on Planet Ranch Road, across from the Visitor Center. It’s a 3 mile dirt road through the refuge, with some exciting ups and downs..There were nice views of the refuge, and we only saw a couple other vehicles. It felt really remote.

At the 1.5 mile marker, we stopped and hiked into a short slot canyon.

When we came out of the canyon, we were surprised to see red rocks and Saguaro cactus.

After crawling on hands and knees under a barbed wire fence, we were stopped by thick vegetation, mosquitoes, and flies as we got closer to the river, so we had to turn back. Those bugs just love to bite Jim!

Today we’re heading off to California, and the south side of Joshua Tree National Park.

Hiking Around Lake Havasu

There are lots of opportunities for hiking near Lake Havasu City. Cattail Cove State Park has a nice trail that starts near the campground and goes to a boat-in campsite on the lake.

It follows the shoreline along the bluffs, where there are many beautiful coves.That is actually California on the other side of the lake. Lake Havasu was created by a dam on the Colorado River about 10 miles south near Parker.

There is also a nice recreation area called SARA Park, just south of Lake Havasu City. We did several hikes there last year, and decided to do “The Crack” again. It’s a short slot canyon, which is accessed by walking about a mile down a big wash.

We remembered there was a place we had to slide down on our butts, but it looked like a bigger drop than we recalled.(The trail guide says it’s a 7’ drop.) Jim had visions of broken ankles, so we chickened out and decided to try to scramble up to another trail on a ridge. We probably put ourselves at more risk of falling trying to get up where there was no trail.

But we made it safely and had a nice view of the lake, and a different route back to the car.

Cattail Cove State Park, AZ

We moved 15 miles south of Lake Havasu City this afternoon to Cattail Cove State Park, where we spent a couple weeks last December. We don’t have a view of the lake, but we do have water and electric.They raised the rates to $26 a night, but they are offering the Pay for 5 nights, get 2 free, so we are essentially paying just a bit more than we were at Windsor Beach but at least we have hookups. Since it is supposed to get up to 90 the next couple days we will enjoy the A/C.

We have no TV here, but our internet connection is great, which makes Jim very happy. He was getting pretty grumpy having to drive somewhere to find a signal just to download our e-mail the past week.

We haven’t been doing a whole lot, just taking walks, riding our bikes, and enjoying the views of Lake Havasu, especially the sunsets.

We did forget how annoying the sound of the casino boat was, running until late at night, and the weather being so nice there were lots of loud, fast boats going by, especially over the weekend. The noise didn’t bother Oreo and Quincy, though. If only we could sleep as well as they do!