San Diego - Salton Sea - Barstow road trip

[ziphius]

Took a few days off work and did a big loop drive through the backcountry with the Ace 250. I tried to stick to the backroads and old highways as much as possible. I didn't find any old coins, despite searching some interesting places. Did manage a skull ring from a drive inn theatre outside of Barstow, and an odd pendant in the San Diego backcountry. Stopped by the tourist ghost town of Calico, CA, which had silver mining in the 1880-1910 period. No detecting there, but I did find a 1998 clad quarter! The Salton Sea area is pretty interesting, talk about a ghost town. The real estate rush of four years ago reawakened interest in this area, which quickly fizzled. Same thing happened in the 1930s apparently. The beaches along the Salton Sea don't have sand....instead, the beach is composed of ground up fish bones from the millions of dead fish. Salton Sea has some severe pollutant and salinity issues. Thanks for looking. - Jim

[attachment 74554 Ring10Hwy58Dec12007NearBarstow.jpg]
[attachment 74555 PendantPotreroCountyPark.jpg]
[attachment 74556 CalicoGhostTown1.jpg]
[attachment 74557 DixieInnOldHwy58.jpg]
[attachment 74561 SaltonSea2007.jpg]

 

[awhitster]

Nice ring. I saw an article about the Salton Sea a while back and was wondering how the detecting would be.

 

[ziphius]

There are lots of interesting spots around the Salton Sea and I only hit one small area near the old marina. I expected a lot more in the way of coins at 'Salton Sea Beach' and maybe some jewelry on the west shore, but the buildup of fish bones on these beaches is so thick [from persistent fish die-offs] that it likely covers anything that has been there for awhile. There were a few land sites that I was tempted to check out, but I felt uncomfortable with the prospect of trespassing, even though most sites aren't posted. A little more research and another visit perhaps. Had a good time though. - Jim

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

Thanks for sharing the photos. I enjoyed the trip. Seems like you should have found something.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah the Salton Sea ain't what it used to be. We used to fish for sauger there back in the fifties and it was nice and clean then and unpopulated. It was also a great swimming hole. Hundreds of years ago it was a giant inland sea that covered five states, connected to the Sea of Cortez. Then the opening closed and it dried up over the years and they used to mine salt out of the bed of the old sea, Then in 1913 the Colorado River broke out of its banks and flowed into the dry bed and created the present Salton Sea. If you look up high on the Chocolate Mountains you can still see the waterline from the old sea. Somewhere around the Salton Sea are a couple of old Spanish ships loaded with pearls buried in the sand that sailed into the old sea from the Sea of Cortez and became trapped in there and the crew had to make it back to Mexico on foot.. I wrote an article about it many years ago. If I can dig it up I'll post it..

Bill