When you stand on the shores of the Salton Sea, it takes a while for your eyes to adjust to the strange, misty mirror of the water.
Your nose will twitch at the smell of decay, and the heat bouncing up from the milky white bones covering the ground is oppressive. Watching gulls waddle over a seemingly endless field of desiccated husks, you wonder how anyone could ever live or play or love here again.
The reality is, they won't.
The salinity of the water that's killing the fish and wildlife is not the only bringer of death here. The incredible heat of California's spring and summers is baking away the lake itself; where brackish shallows recede, alkaline mud is exposed to shrink and crack. The wind picks up the toxic dust and sweeps it inland, towards civilisation — the county has the highest rates of hospitalisation for asthma in the state. (This is a very, very cool Atlantic article, minus that whole horrifically collapsing ecosystem thing. You should read it if you get the chance.)
the original version of this panorama is over 30,000 pixels wide, and it is kickin' rad. When it's small like this, you can really see the fog rising off the water.
As I stood in the sucking sludge, with the water lapping around my ankles, I flicked back through the photos I had just taken. In each, the unmistakable haze was there... a pall hanging over the water and the destroyed town; a visible sign of the wrongness of the place. But I'll be damned — I just kept thinking how pretty it was, you know, outside of the unwavering stench of the inevitable death of everything.
When I got back for the night, I found out that the haze isn't just a trick of the eye, or dust motes playing havoc with the sunlight. It's actually hydrogen sulfide, and it's adding to the already out of control smog issues in the state. It's coming from the rotting corpses and plant matter still trapped under the water, and it will only get worse as this whole terrible, fascinating, beautiful process continues. And yeah, it really, really smells.
I honestly don't know why I liked Salton so much. Is it possible to feel sorry for a place? Because that's what I felt there. Wistful. Nostalgic. Humbled. And, as one of the reasons I chose these pictures today, a bit blue. If you want a better look at the sand-that-is-not-sand-but-bones, then I have a previous (already paid out) post with some neat pictures in it that you might like.
A glassy lake under a cloud of misery; lifetimes from now, it may live again.
But we'll have to watch it die, first.
All of these photos are my own, taken on my travels all over this pretty blue marble of ours. I hope you like them.
Beautiful photos, so simple and clean
thanks for stopping in to comment! I'm sorry I didn't get around to it sooner, was a wild Sunday. I really appreciate it.
Just discovered your blog. Great read, and phenomenal photography. Must admit, your writing is some of the more impressive on the site. Greatly enjoy it. Thanks for putting the world out for us in very interesting form, visually and in written word. Looking forward to more.
that is some seriously high praise, and I thank you truly for it. I was worried when I first got here, because my posts aren't anything like any of the people doing really well, or even like most people. It was nervewracking to start putting my thoughts and my feelings and my personal photos out there... but I'm glad I did. The feedback and thanks I've been getting really makes me feel like others are being able to see the world through my eyes, and it touches my heart <3
You do have a unique perspective, and that should make for much success here, coupled with quality writing. Very descriptive and rich.
I can relate to the tentative-ity of being on the site. This is my first foray into the world of the Internet myself, so took a bit for me to be 'out there'. Still not out in front of my writing or photos, maybe someday...
Have a nice day.
Simply stunning. I never knew this place existed. Thank you.
Thank you so much! I appreciate you 😊 It's one of those things... it's not exactly advertised, you know?
"COME TO CALI! We have a lake that smells like farts and has dead fish floating in it! Spread your beach towel on the crunchy beach made out of bones and weird leathery fish skin next to a post apocalyptic 1950s vacation town — NO SUPERMUTANTS HERE, PROMISE!"
That being said, I think there's a lot of beauty to be appreciated in the decline of things, not just the growth.
This is FOR SURE the best description I have ever come across. Are you a writer? Love it.
I don't write in any official capacity, but I like to anyhow.
This has been a powerful experience for me — these are my photos and my thoughts and all of the little pieces of me that have had nowhere to go for a long time. I hope that people do really honestly get a bit of joy out of my posts.
Also, I'm a huge fallout fan.
pure zen...
can't believe I've not been following you yet @crimsonclad!
high praise! thanks so much 😘
very nice photos and well written, thank you for sharing. Do you think that this is all part of the natural cycle of life though?
thanks so much 😊😊 I believe it is. I think that's why I appreciate it so much. In my previous post, I gloss over the cycle of the lake draining and refilling (about every 500 years or so, it seems.)
It's to be expected, but we've never experienced it at this point in the rotation with this capability for recording it, and especially not with the scientific knowledge we have now.
I wonder how long until we try to "fix" it and muck it up even worse.
that is bound to happen lol, It is human nature to want change something to what we want even if it is doing just find by itself. Sometimes we make things better, sometimes we don't. I would guess especially in California too ;)
Nice shots, I love the colors. The last one is almost painterly.
thanks! They are completely unedited in terms of exposure and color — painterly is a great way of describing it. The way the haze smudges the edges of everything at any distance from you gently.... it's a strange and wonderful, horrible place.
Amazing pictures as always
thanks, friend!
@crimsonclad your photos of the area certainly bring awareness to the topic. Thank you for sharing!
thanks! as photographers, I think mostly, we just want to document... whatever happens, happens, don't you think? So far, thankfully, nothing like the Carter dilemma for me.
Very nice post I vote you plz you interested in nature and tourism visit my page to support me thanks again
It is really sad to see the environment is effecting the health of the people there. I hope that it will revive soon.
Is there anything done to try to revive it? Or let nature do its work?
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