One of my cousins and I did a little 2-day road trip this past weekend, from San Diego out to Cibolla, Arizona and back, to visit another cousin who has a compound out there. The cousin who was riding with me had never seen some of the more "interesting" sites along the Salton Sea, so we took a long meandering route to Cibolla.
First up was SR-78 through the mountains from San Diego and in to Anza Borrego, where we found a nice field of cholla cactus in the morning sun.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
From there we headed over to the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, our first stop was Salvation Mountain, just east of Niland.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Leonard (the man who created all this with donated paint, hay bales and scavenged desert "junk") gave us a short tour of the place.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
We walked up to the top of the mountain where the cross is. The mountain is made of an adobe like mud over hay bales and old tires.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Leonard is working on his latest addtion, Noah's Ark, based around an old boat he found someplace.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
The Salton Sea is an interesting place, where dreams have been born and died, where towns have been partially buried in storm surge salty mud, and where it's but a short drive from Salvation to Doom.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Next stop was Slab City, the site of an old WWII Marine Corps base. The concrete slabs, and some old water tanks are all that is left. RV'ers use the slabs to set up on in the winter, some stay year round. Many looked like they didn't want their pictures taken.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
This is one of two large concrete water tanks at Slab City. They are decorated with all sorts of artwork. This one has a combination dinosaur / weapons of war theme. The other, well I can't post pics of that one on this family friendly site. You'll have to go see for yourself.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Not too far up SR-111 is Bombay Beach. I think some people had big plans for this little beach front town when it was first laid out in a perfect grid pattern on the shore of the Sea. A massive storm surge in the early 80's inundated a portion of the town in mud, and a dike was hastily formed to protect what was left. The section up against the shoreline has been left to decay, it looks noticeably worse than when we saw it in February.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Further north is the remains of the North Shore Yacht Club. It has a nice view out to the west in the late afternoon. Lots of birds this time of year, and the water was actually pretty clear with no sign of dying fish this time. The smell was pretty strong though, like dried salted fish.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
It was getting late so we left the Salton Sea and continued north towards I-10 by way of Mecca and Box Canyon Road. Along the way we took a short detour up unpaved Painted Canyon Road, and a short walk at the end of that through one of the canyons.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
My cousin's 1943 Willy's at his place in Cibolla.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Some interesting artwork in Cibolla.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
We headed back to San Diego on Sunday afternoon, taking SR-78 south through Glamis and out to I-8. We took the back way out of Cibolla, crossing the Colorado River and traveling a few miles along the levee trails before getting back on the highway. The river level was real low.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
Glamis was not as crowded as I expected, but is was late Sunday afternoon. All those white things are trailers and RV's.
Cibolla, AZ Road Trip: 12/27-28
