Salton Sea State Recreation Area — Attraction in Coachella

Salton Sea Campground Review

The only time of year to visit The Salton Sea is during the “cool” months of winter when the temperatures will only be in the mid 80’s instead of 100+!

The Salton Sea is both interesting and creepy all at the same time. You will find wonderful bird watching, abundant fishing (if you like salty/mummified tilapia), fascinating geologic history and thousands upon thousands of fish and bird skeletons ringing the shore of the lake… Sounds a bit revolting I know but it’s really quite interesting if you take the time to visit with the park rangers and learn about the sea and its ecosystem. (..and if you have little kids like I do, they think seeing REAL skeletons is REAL COOL!)

As for camping, there are only two places worth considering (in my opinion): the “New Campground” by the park visitor center at the north entrance and Mecca Campground about a mile further south. Why?...they are the only options that have a reasonable amount of shade! – The “New Campground” is a single loop with camping spots on both sides of the road. The toilets are clean and have running water and pay showers. The campsite is a short walk to the visitor center and kayak boat launch and it also has a nature trail that starts on the south side of the loop. Be forewarned that a very busy train line sits just to the east (across the highway) from the campground (...as is the case with ALL of the campsites in the State Recreation Area…) so you light sleepers may want to bring ear plugs. On the other hand, if you have little children who love trains, then it’s the...

BroTha, SisTa and I were on schedule to take a hike in Mecca one Sunday morning. Quite a drive from the LA area, we decided to make a weekend out of it. Saturday was spent mostly driving, but we were lucky enough to be able to make some pit stops. Our first was here at the Salton Sea. None of us had never been, so when we got out of the car, we were in Ahhhhh!!! Then we realized, YIKES!!! It smells fishy, mouths quickly shut.

Gettin' onour glute workout, we walked through what we thought was course sand toward a vast body of still water, to the Salton Sea. Wow! So amazing, with mountains on the opposite side of us and huge puffy clouds in the setting sun was spectacular. When we looked down at our feet, we noticed we weren't walking on course sand, but crustacean shells, and closer to the water, we saw why he air was filled with the smell of fish. Not just one fish, two fish, but tons o' dead fish all over the place, hence the fishy smell.

Lovers of all things nature, we got a bit emotional at all the death around us. We carefully stepped over and around the fish to look at all the other offerings this sea has.

There's really not much to see here, however, there is a visitors center, which, unfortunately was closed at the time of our visit, so we decided that we will come back another time. In my quest for background information, I found myself in awe, so interesting how the Salton Sea came about and its future. I'm so looking forward to visiting again and checking out the information that is available.

Now off to stop number...

The five stars are for the uniqueness of the place, the beauty of the accident that created it. The people that live there hang on, as the Salton Sea become saltier. There are great plans to revive it, talks of canals to the Sea of Cortez. In the meantime, it's sits nearly abandoned, the smell of dead algae and tilapia redolent in the air.

It is one of the most unique accidental places on Earth. It reminds me of the William Gibson novel, Virtual Light, accidental useless beauty. The center is forlorn on a beach where those tilapia killed by algae, lining the white gravel shoreline. There's a nice quaint visiting center, enhance of the place it was before the city got too salty. There are still alive tilapia to catch, and so many birds to see! I saw white pelicans eating fish, and other birds that I could not identify. Only two locals fish from the shore, and I got the impression they weren't really caring what they caught. It doesn't smell too good, and I think the flies might be murder, later in the season after March, and yet I think it's worth a visit.

Salton Sea might be gone one day soon, it was an accident in the first place that will not be repeated by the Colorado River. That River does not Flow Free anymore and little water will reach it ever again.

The campsites look nice, absolutely nothing fancy though and I believe there's a place to launch boats. The smell's not so bad when your not down by the water, I don't even know if I'm ever going to go back, but I'm glad I went very unique...