Stop at the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV resort of course!
We travelled in the rain all day from Quartzsite. If you were watching the news around Jan 22 you would have seen a lot of flooding etc. in the California area. As we were heading closer to the Spa, the roads did get a “little” dicey having a lot of dips to allow runoff into the Salton Sea, which is really a lake, and deserves its own paragraph (which is below).
Here are some pics of the ride in, was a tad dicey as the flooding in the Valley was concerning in some areas. But we made it through.
Now some info. On the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea, which is not a sea at all. The Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water at the southern end of the state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault. Over millions of years, the Colorado River had flowed in this Valley and deposited alluvium (soil) creating fertile farmland, building up the terrain, and constantly moving its main course. For thousands of years, the river alternately flowed into the valley or diverted around it, creating a salt lake. The Salton Sea was formed from this inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. This lake is 24 km wide and 56 km long and has a surface area of 824 km. In the 50’s and 60’s the area became a resort destination, and communities grew with hotels and vacation homes. In the 70’s, scientists issued warnings that the lake would continue to shrink and become more inhospitable to wildlife. In the 80’s, contamination from farm runoff promoted the outbreak and spread of wildlife diseases. Massive die-offs of the avian populations have occurred, especially after the loss of several species of fish on which they depend. Salinity rose so high that large fish kills occurred, often blighting the beaches of the sea with their carcasses. Tourism was drastically reduced. After 1999, the lake began to shrink and the lake bed became exposed, which sent clouds of toxic dust into nearby communities. In 2018, local agencies declared an emergency and , along with the state, funded and developed the Salton Sea Management Program. In 2020, Palm Springs Life magazine summarized the ecological situation as “Salton Sea derives its fame as the biggest environmental disaster in California history”. Back in the day all the Hollywood stars came to this location, now….its a bit of a ghost town.
The Fountain of Youth Spa has been here since 1966. The pools and hot tubs are all naturally heated with 133 degrees of mineral water. They are then cooled down depending on the pool and hot tub. There is one hot tub called the Lobster pot which is heated to around 106, although one day people said it was too hot for anyone to go in. The pools are glorious and sit at around 85-90 degrees. FABULOUS! Some pics of the place.
There is no shortage of things to do here. Yesterday we were out from 9am to 6pm enjoying the amenities, including biking around the mountains.
One thing we also did yesterday is shop at the Veggie Guy market. A truck comes into the park and sells almost everything you would want. We came out feeling like we could be really healthy while we were here! We have to say you really don’t need a car for grocery shopping as there was a restaurant on site as well with good food.
We made some friends at Fountain of Youth Spa (FOY as the locals call it). K&E from Washington were parked right beside us. Very friendly and on day 2 took us into Bombay Beach for lunch at a local pub. Now remember, Bombay Beach was hopping in the 50’s and 60’s, but is really a very depressed little village now. We weren’t sure what to think, but we really wanted to see the Salton Sea and the surrounding area. The State is really trying to clean up the Sea and they are using hay bails to create a compost to allow for fertile soil. Not sure how this is going to work, but we’ll see. We were shocked at the state of the little town/village. In fact some places looked uninhabitable. There were interesting art works everywhere though, in peoples yards and on the beach. The most surprising though, was the pub we went to eat at. Outside looked VERY tired and worn down, then you open the door and “WOW” nothing we were expecting. The food was also VERY good, a welcome surprise.
