The Salton Sea: The Skeleton in California's Closet 

Nevermind the sea potentially being toxic, I got cancer from the fucking comments on this video.

A couple of years ago I got stuck on the beach in my Jeep. After trying to dig out for two hours in 100+ degree heat, a guy showed up with a shovel, wagon, and wood and started helping me dig out. I was exhausted and told him I didn't want to keep him from doing something else. He said, I'm a bum. I don't have anything else to do. He didn't ask for anything and I didn't have any cash. A couple of times a year I send him a gift card to thank him. One of my favorite memories.

"welcome to beautiful sandy shores" -Trevor Philips

Thanks for documenting the areas that GTA V was based on.

Looks like a combination between art gallery and horror film setting.

I really loved that art though. Nobody else really seems to be talking about it! Even if you’re not religious you have to admit that cavern is breathtaking, so many colors and flowery things, it’s like a dream or something! Even the other artists did some great stuff, like the house with eyes or the giant man/monster thingy. All of that is so cool!

It's amazing to see how a desert can preserve human structures. Here in Canada rural towns are taken back by the forest in less then ten years sometimes. Legit entire homes just swelled by plants when left alone.

When my parents and I first moved to California in 1960 you could still swim and boat and fish on the Salton Sea. This is too sad.

Coming back to this video, I just wanted to remark at how beautiful California deserts are. I always say this, but, it's like the sun just shines differently there. It's warmer, and softer.

It looks like a Mad Max kinda world.

I have lived in California for 29 years and never heard of this place. I have family in Riverside and never once heard of anyone mention it down there. This is some nutty stuff.

This felt like something straight out of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’, strange and intriguing.

And the Salton Sea is just a few miles away from Palm Springs, California with some of the wealthiest people living in the World.

My mom used to take me and my brother to the Salton Sea pretty often when I was young, back in the '60s, so I really enjoyed this video. She would spontaneously decide to go for a drive in the middle of the night, and I would fall asleep in the car. When I woke up, early in the morning, when the sun was just coming up, I would discover that we were parked at the Salton Sea. It was a lot of fun, actually. Excellent video! And great narration, too.

I was there last year to visit a friend at Palm springs. That beach wreaks of death and rotting fish corpse. The most surprising part is that the ground you stand on is not Sand. Each step have a crunch sound. It's the bones and scales of the already decayed fish corpses.

This is so sad, in the 70's I truly enjoyed this place

This is such a bummer of a video. I grew up in So Cal and the Salton Sea was a destination place to go in the 1950's. In 1958 I remember flying oiut to the North Shore air[port and it was a jumping place. Lots of fishing, sailing and just plane sunbathing. It was great. I remember water skiing and having a great time. My last visit was in 2000 and it was like visiting a cemitery. What a mess. Nothing but druggies and alcoholics walking around. The air stinks and there is NOTHING to do there. Just so sad!!!

My grandparents lived in a trailer park community called Salton Sea Beach.. my cousin still lives in that trailer on El Centro Ave. I remember going there as a child in the very early 70’s. The lake was just starting to turn bad, but it was still a very lively place with boating and fishing on the lake, and dune buggies and 3wheel ATVs in the desert. It really was an amazing place. We went back to visit grandma in 2009... very few ppl left in the community. It looked exactly like the area in this video. Sad to see it decay like this. :(

Anyone else get that GTA 5 vibe from 3:45 to 3:50? All I could picture was jumping that shit on the quad. Yes, I'm aware this is probably what it was modeled after.

I went there during spring break. Felt like I was in Fallout 4.

I will retire to the Salton Sea at the age of 23

When I was a teenager in high school at La Puente High School my dad had a lot down at the Salton Sea in the 70s, had a trailer there and a dune buggy and a boat and the place sucked then it's stunk like seaweed and dead fish all the time. The only time I like being at the Salton Sea was when I got on that dune buggy and drove out into the desert and got away from the water.

This was beautifully put together

My family used to go camping there in the late 1960's. It makes me sad to see this.

I went to Bombay Beach last February but I missed these other locations. Thanks for making this!

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of camping and skiing at Bombay beach. My parents owned a lot at Salton City for many years before abandoning it to the tax liens. I hope that some day Salton Sea will once again rise up to at least it's former glory. But no hope of that occurring in my lifetime. Goodbye old friend!

1. Bath in the water 2. get skin problems 3. sue 4. profit

Great mini doco, very well filmed and entertaining. Brilliant job mate.

The man who created the god hill, started working on it in the 80’s, and passed away in 2014. But his artwork will live on forever ❤️ and the people who live in slab city are probably the nicest people you’ll meet, from other videos I’ve watched. It’s their art❤️

In Maryland, our Salton Sea is called Baltimore.

Places like the Salton sea strangely don't get mentioned when people talk about government stewardship of water resources.

One of the better videos I’ve seen for this topic! Loved it!

Dude how do you not have more subscribers? Keep up the great content!

My husband and I hit up the visitors center on the way back from Palm Springs. We walked out to the beach and the smell was horrifying. There were a couple of people actually FISHING there. The whole thing was nasty, but the sea was an interesting site there in the desert. The beach being totally comprised of shells and bones was really interesting. Fun fact: did you know that the New River from Mexico runs into the sea? Raw sewage is dumped directly into the river near the border and further up and it runs north into America. At some point it hits a sewage treatment plan, but then it continues on INTO THE SALTON SEA. Yes, that is treated sewage running into the sea.

I think the camera work was great and so was the narration

Absolutely fascinating and beautifully put together!

Fantastic video I loved it ❤️ Thank you for posting.

Great cinematography

My family and I visited The Salton Sea when I was a child in the early 1960's. I have never forgotten the smell.

Captivating video. The music, cinematography, editing and narration all combine to create a superb piece. Oddly enough I have fond memories of fishing there with my Dad many moons ago; later, in young adulthood I went back and it was just as you described. Again, captivating and many thanks.

Thanks for the tour ! Very good videography and narration !

So glad you went. So I never do.

leads in with the line "150 your old engineering mistake". never mentioned engineering again. after googling, this sea is below sea level. and to the south is a massive possible flood plane that used to be the delta of the colorado river. while the sea itself is nearly 200ft below sea level, the earth barrier to the south (the ancient delta), is only 30ft above sea level in some places. easily low enough for a tsunami to over-run, should the gulf of california see an earthquake in the right place.

Very well made - editing, photography, commentary and music. Nice work!

Great video! Thanks for your hard work on this. I want to see this place in person.

Reminds me of a Fallout scene! All it needs is a nuka cola machine.

I just spent the entire day following your footsteps from this video. From the Salton Sea Visitor center to Salton City, I had an awesome adventures and would highly recommend this as a day trip for anyone in the area. Thanks for this awesome video and inspiration

Fantastic video!

GTA V “Sandy Shores” is modeled after this Saltan Sea

Hey that's the lake in gta5. Wow the trailer park looks just like it and that art thing is in the game as well

Looks like a post-apocalyptic future akin to Mad Max.

Visually Stunning! Very Nicely Done! Gods Speed in your travels 👍🇺🇸👏

Well done video! You did an amazing job. I enjoyed seeing everything without having to drive in the hot weather and roads!Thanks!!

I used to live in San Diego and would take the back roads to Laughlin, NV, for a break sometimes. There was a diner in Salton City that served up a great burger in what looked like a scene from an old sci-fi horror movie. They closed in the summer though, so had to make do with a date milkshake from the Arabic-sounding towns to the north. On the trip between the Salton Sea and Laughlin were other noteworthy stops like the abandoned town of Rice, and there used to be the Shoe Tree. The story behind the Shoe Tree is pretty sad. It was a joshua tree and people would put old shoes, among other things, on it. It was totally covered eventually. Then on one trip I went for my visit to see what new shoes had been added and someone had burned it down. The tree was probably hundreds of years old, perhaps over a thousand, destroyed in an instant by someone who could not understand what they were doing. California attracts some pretty horrible people.

... the gallows humor of the narration coupled with a matter of fact tone set against a current day post apocalyptic Southern California landscape makes this documentary an absolute joy and must watch.

I actually just went to all these locations last weekend. Amazing! The best word I can sum up is "wonder". Post apocalyptic wonder of what it was like back in the 50s. Do you have any recommendations of a nearby adventure like this to LA?

Wow your videos are beyond amazing. I remember going to the Salton Sea as a kid in the 90s. It smelled so bad and had dead fish all over it beaches. Your video shots make this place look better than it is in person. Beautiful work!

When I lived in L.A., I had no idea of the history of the place. I think it was like 2002 I decided to ride my motorcycle to it for a nice ride. Needless to say, I was blown away when I got there and the first thing that came to mind was exactly how you described it: "A post-apocalyptic wasteland".

I've been to the Salton Sea many times. That place has always fascinated me. ☺

Awesome job on that little mini documentary

Nothing about how it was accidentally created?

Literally took a trip to the Salton sea the other day (I live close by) I went with my best friend, he used to live there. N he was telling me all about, I voiced out how I wanna learn more about it. Fast forward to now, this video pops up on my recommendations.

This narrator could make a trip to the restroom interesting.

Very well done. Thank you for posting this.

All the locations here look so surreal! Thank you for sharing this!

Your narration reads like a man terrified of leaving his comfort zone.

Random thought, but did anyone else get any GTA V Sandy Shores vibes from this video?

Great mini tour, thank you!

6:45 “West Satan” lmao

This video kept popping up in my recommended list. I was going to click Not Interested (the Salton Sea has been done to death and most of the vids are quite boring), but managed to click on the video instead. Turned out to be one of the most interesting vids I've seen on the subject. Good job.

The phrase "skeleton in the closet" suggests something bad that is being hidden, and yet you never give any explanation about what this place is or was, what happened, or really any context at all. I don't even know where in California this place is! Including a link to someone else's work explaining crucial details is lazy at best. The camerawork was pretty, but I got no substance from this because there was no "why."

I passed through the Salton Sea area a couple times, back in the early 1980s. It was scorching hot and hauntingly beautiful.

Thanks for the video. Heading here later this year while on holiday in LA. Can't wait to explore the area!

Thanks for the weird trip man. Sort of depressing though.

You went there so I don't have to. Thank you.

This video is awesome! I just found your channel and this is the "exploration" done right. Beautifully shot and colored.

This is a really well made documentary! Best one I’ve seen on the subject. You deserve way more subs!!!

I've watched probably over fifty RU-vid videos about the Salton Sea for I live about 30 miles from it and I have to say this video has been my favorite. Good job!

Great documentary. Nicely done! Posted the following as a response to a comment below but felt like posting it separately as well. All of which sounds just about right. So you definitely get an A+ for research! But may I add: It's also a geologic disaster waiting to happen. Or, from another perspective, a really long-term opportunity... The Salton Sea is located at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault system. However, instead of being a strike-slip fault (the Pacific Plate is sliding by the North American Plate) like the rest of the SAF, this area is spreading. Which means that the Salton basin is actually getting deeper such that one day the Gulf of California will come pouring in. Not just from a tsunami, but as a new extension of the gulf. And, of course, rising sea levels will only accelerate that process. Which kinda means that all those resorts built around an evaporating, man-made catastrophe were actually not a mistake. They were just really premature. But I believe that the engineering mistake that the narrator mentioned (and I too wish he'd expanded on...) was the actual creation of the Salton Sea itself. This happened in 1905 when an irrigation project gone wrong allowed the Colorado River to flow into the basin for a couple of years. Anyway, it's a fascinating story and a very surreal place to visit. If you want to know more there's always the interwebs. But if you have an interest in more of the meta picture of how the West got green and why water matters I strongly recommend the book "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner. Prescient and a damn good read don't do it justice. Cheers!

I went camping there in the 60's when I was a kid.Caught fish,paddled around in the sun.It was really nice.

VERY beautifully filmed travelogue of a modern-esque ghost town! I've heard of this place, saw photos and there's even a few books, but when you see this video it feels like you're there, too! Keep up the great work!

You deserve so much more subscribers, I thought I was watching a video from a big channel. This video was high quality and very well made.

Amazing. Thanks for sharing. I had no idea this existed. It was certainly worthy of your exploration.

It really is a beautiful place. I was just there in December with some friends from San Francisco who haven’t been and we all saw the weird beauty in it for the first time I met a lot of the locals and had such great conversations with them. It really is a weirdly remarkable gem in a very misunderstood state

Thanks for that! I've always been very very intrigued by the story of the Salton Sea.

I've bicycled along it's shores before, camping at the SRA. Bicycled to Niland to Slab City and through Glamis twice. One of the strangest but most interesting places in the country.

Really beautiful photography. Wonderfully told, first piece I've seen on the Salton. Thank you for your fine work!

Thankyou for this Fabulous Account Of The Salton Sea!! I have learned a lot! And will become a Subscriber now!!

When I was a little boy my grandfather took me and my dad fishing on the Salten sea. I’m 63 now so this was about 1964.. He owned a 40 foot boat that we towed over from San Diego. The fishing was great . I hooked up before my bait touched the water. So many fish it was amazing. I don’t remember the species but we kept enough for both families and let the rest go. Every time I get near the Salten Sea I remember of what it was. It stinks horribly now. Dead fish rotting on the banks. Sad but true.

Why didn't you relate more of the history of the formation of the Sea? The video itself is interesting, showing many of the sights around the Sea, but you're a little snarky about the reality. Those ponds at the SSTB were part of an experiment around 2000, to see if salt could be removed from the sea by accelerated evaporation. Wasn't efficient enough to continue.

Man i feel bad for that park ranger girl

Amazing video! We were just out there last month and were in awe of the whole area. Again, fantastic work! Subbed!

Thanks for this very interesting video. I've heard of it for years but had no idea what the Salton Sea really is. As an amateur photographer, I'm naturally attracted to offbeat public art and decaying buildings, and I would now firmly believe the Salton Sea area to be a mecca for folks like myself. Thanks again, I really liked and learned a lot from your video.

Great video. I loved the vintage footage at the end.

That was really nice brother I’ve seen a few documentaries about it but I still enjoyed yours

This is beautifully shot. I'd happily watch hours of your footage with some hypnotic music.

Thank you for sharing!

Good video. I clicked on the link out of curiosity not expecting to watch more than a couple of minutes. Ended up watching the whole thing. Fascinating history.

I subscribed and was all excited to watch your videos but you only have a couple 🙁 Can't wait to see what's next! The way you edit and narrate.... I would totally Netflix binge ur shows.

As a kid in the late 1950’s we use to drive from San Diego to picnic. It was a nice place back than.