Oddities in the Sonora

Today was our last full day here. We wanted to explore an area that we had not been to before, but as we had the left the jeep at home, we needed to stick near roads.

We found our first oddity while still in Borrego Springs.

While on the outskirts of town, we looked up and saw the giant sculpture of the eagle, feeding a snake to it's young. From there,about a hundred yards away, we could see the herd of wild horses and a half mile away, we could see the herd of elephants.All were out in the middle of huge vacant parcels of desert land. Of course we had to stop and photograph these amazing sculptures. We spotted another herd of animals on the horizon and we headed that way.

We later found out that a gentleman named Dennis Avery owns numerous large parcels of vacant land in and around Borrego Springs. Mr. Avery commissioned Ricardo Breceda, a southern California artist, to create and install about 100 sculptures on these parcels of land. This project was started in 2008 and is still in progress.

It is a truly impressive project. We only saw a few of these sculptures and were impressed by the beauty of the art. More information about the project can be found HERE.

After viewing the sculptures, we spent the next few hours exploring an off-road recreation area and several small towns. Toward the end of the day, we found ourselves on the shore of another Sonoran oddity, a huge inland lake called the Salton Sea.

This edition of the Salton sea was created in 1905, when floodwater breached an under-construction canal, causing the Colorado River to flow into the Salton sink. Water flowed into the sink for over two years, forming what is now known as the Salton Sea.

The Salton sea is about 35 miles long and about 15 miles wide at some points. It covers 376 square miles. That's a pretty big Boo Boo. It was once a recreational mecca, but increasing salinity, fish kills and other issues have caused the area to become somewhat of a has-been.

What was once an engineering failure is now an important habitat for migratory and permanent water birds. The Feds are fixing to spend bajillions to stabilize the sea and restore it to it's glory days. Thanks America,
the Salton Sea could sure use a break.

It was a great day, we saw a lot and learned a lot. Tomorrow it's back to reality and Christmas shopping.

My posts should start returning to more fire related stuff, I hope to catch Hometown FD, Local FD and the KBFPD in action. Sculptures and birds make nice photos, but nothing says photograph like flames!

Til then - thanks for reading,
A rested Schmoe