Month: April 2019

After the Hopi Reservation, we went on to Saline Valley (part of Death Valley National Park) with an overnight in the parking lot of the Alien Cathouse Brothel / Area 51 Alien Cafe and Truck-stop, which was a surprisingly quiet place to spend the night.

I’ve heard about Saline Valley for years, but this was my first time there. Wow, what a wacky and awesome place! Image a free, clothing optional hot springs resort in the middle of a national park, complete with herd of wild burrows that eat everything in site, including someone’s guitar case while we were there. There are two sets of developed hot springs within a 1/2 mile of each other, each with two really nice soaking areas (around 102 degrees) big enough for 8-10 people comfortably, and some of the cleanest pit toilets I’ve ever seen. Both areas have a bunch of palm trees for shade, and one area had a big lush green lawn. There were probably around 50 people there between both sites the nights we were there, including several families with kids. We were told the Thanksgiving potluck attracts around 500 folks. The entire valley was surround by beautiful snow capped mountains, and we were lucky enough to get a big thunderstorm one of the days we were there.

Sounds like heaven, right? The problem is that its long brutal drive down a rocky road driving 5-10 mph. The gravel road part of the drive took us 6 hours on the south road on the way in, and 3.5 hrs on the north road on the way out. I’m not likely to do this drive again any time soon, and definitely not in a Sprinter. It would probably be much better in a Forerunner or similar vehicle. But 4WD is not required, a I saw few regular passenger cars there. But it’s a good thing its hard to get to, as otherwise the place would be too popular, and the NPS would likely close it down or restrict access.

My photos are here, and more information and history of the springs is here.

Our next stop was 2 nights in Slab City, CA, near the Salton Sea. On the way we stopped off at the “official center of the world“, a particularly wacky roadside attraction.

There is a lot to love about Slab City, and a lot to hate. This article sums it up pretty well. The folk art in “East Jesus”, an art community on the edge of Slab City, is very impressive and worth stopping by if you are anywhere nearby. Every Saturday night the local outdoor nightclub called “The Range” hosts an open mic night, which was about 50% locals and 50% tourists the night I was there. Some were quite good, and some quite awful. I got to sit in a play drums for 4-5 songs with a group of locals. While we were there someone set their neighbors RV on fire, which was clearly full of live ammo.

Then on to Anza-Borrego State Park to meet up with our very good friend Elizabeth. Anza-Borrego is the largest state park in California, and you can pretty much camp anywhere in the park, so long as you are near one of the 500 miles of gravel roads. The amount of plant, animal, bird, and insect life in the park in March is staggering. I got the van stuck in some deep sand, but Mike the tow truck diver had no problem getting us out.

Photos:

• Slab City
• Anza-Borrego