day 179: salton sea

Photos from the Salton Sea, the giant environmental catastrophe just south of Joshua Tree National Park. This body of water was created when the Colorado River flooded a dry lakebed. For a few decades, the lake was a hot spot for vacationing Californians and celebrities, but it quickly soured. Pollution and fertilizer from surrounding farmland in the Coachella Valley, not to mention the recreational activity in the area, killed the fish, killed many of the birds, and killed the towns around the lake. We visited the remains of Bombay Beach, one of the ghost towns on the North Shore, which looks peacefully apocalyptic in the desert sun.