(see 1 min video under Joshua Tree)
Our cousins came to visit and we checked out the Salton Sea (half of the adults and cousins even swam in the salty toxic water!) It is the largest lake in California.
According to Wikipedia “The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake on the San Andreas Fault at the southern end of the U.S. state of California.” It is salty because 4,000,000 tons of dissolved salts enter the Salton Sea every year. That is the equivalent of approximately 13,500 train cars. The salt comes from agricultural drainage and tail water and the Colorado River itself.
Hundreds of tiny bugs attached themselves to the kids as they came out of the water so luckily we found an outdoor shower to rinse off.
MECCA WILDERNESS
Just south of Joshua Tree National Park you’ll find the Mecca Wilderness with Painted Canyon and many other hikes. (Within Painted Canyon is the Ladder Canyon and Rope Canyon – and yes, you guessed it they have ropes and ladders to help you up or down steep holes and crevaces of the canyon.)
The rock formations, canyons, and views were just awesome. I’d say this place is definitely a hidden gem!
Below are examples of the many ladders that helped us get to the next level. It was pretty fun but coming back down was even scarier.
It was appropriate that we chose to do something scary on Halloween. Driving down this 4 mile sandy road was definitely nail biting. At times pretty fun though because it was bumpy and all of us were flying out of our chairs.
