An oasis in the desert

I know I just blogged yesterday, but I had to write again today because today was an awesome day in the desert! Alex and I went to Salvation Mountain. Some of you may not know where or what that is, but if you've seen the movie, "Into the Wild" then you have an idea of what I'm talking about. We actual never intended on going to Salvation Mountain, but we went to a church service on Sunday at Valley Baptist Church and we mentioned to one of the member's there that we were going to the Salton Sea. He told us about the whereabouts of Salvation Mountain, which is only a small detour off the hwy through the small town of Niland on the way to the Salton Sea. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the place.

The crunchy ground

We decided to go to the Salton Sea first and then hit up Salvation Mountain on our way back to Hwy 8. So, first I'll tell you about our experience at the Salton Sea. It is not a the prettiest place in the world. It's a huge body of salt water in the middle of nowhere. It is slowly drying up and the ground around it is very dehydrated. As you walk to the water you can feel the ground crunching beneath your feet. Hundreds of dead fish surround the shores. As Alex and I were walking up to the water, we were hypothesizing how the water got there and what the pioneers thought when they discovered this undrinkable water in the middle of desert. How devastating would that be to finally find water after not seeing any for hundreds of miles only to find out that you can't even drink it! I would be pretty bummed out. Well, we eventually found out the real story behind the Salton Sea from a man we met along our way to the water. In 1914 there was a break in the levee on the Colorado River. The Salton Sea is 200 feet below sea level, so the water from the river flowed down to where it is today. It took two years for the levee to be fixed. So, the water had a pretty long time to accumulate there. The water became salty due to the rich minerals in the desert. The fish were put in the water by man and since the Sea is slowly drying up that raises the salt concentration, thus causing the fish to die. So, my image of the pioneers finding the Sea never happened and someday the Salton Sea will be no more. I was glad that guy was there to tell us the story about the Sea. He was a pretty interesting guy, an ex-hippy. He has is own blog about his travels at www.godavidfrancis.com 

You can see the salt in this pic

The Salton Sea

A few of the many dead fish

Okay, now to Salvation Mountain. You can tell from the pictures why this place got it's name. We parked our car and as soon as we got out an old man, probably in his mid 80s, greets us with in a squeaky, raspy, old man voice, "Whyyyy Hellllooo!" His voice was so classic and matched is appearance and demeanor. He welcomed us and told us to feel free to explore the place. He had paint on his hands and told us to be careful of wet paint as we explored the place. Well, I guess I wasn't very careful because I stepped in the paint:/. The place is painted very colorfully with bible verses everywhere. Not only has he created beautiful art on the mountain, but he has also created a "museum," as he called it, with tree limbs, hay stacks and scrap from cars and junk. 30 years ago he broke down at that spot and he only planed on staying there a week. During that week he decided to create a monument to Jesus. That week has never ended and he is still continues to add onto his monument to the Lord, hoping it will bless those who pass by. He was such a neat guy. His art is truly an oasis in the desert.

The creator (Leonard) and Alex

The entrance to the "museum"

Wet paint, oops!

Inside the "museum"