Hey folks, I'm heading south between xmas and new years in search of warmer paddling and am thinking about the Salton Sea. So I wanted to see who had paddled there, any advice you can give me. Ideally I'd like to string together enough miles for a self-supported 5-6 days. I've been able to find info on birding but nothing on paddling thus far. So give me all your stories and trip reports: also logisitics: fresh water availablility, private property shorelines where you can't camp. I've heard stories about the water quality too but these seem to indicate that it's mostly a problem in the summer. Thanks much for the help! Neil Portland, OR [demime 0.92b removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat] *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Neil, I once had to do some work by the Salton Sea, and as I drove by it, I was amazed at how big and beautiful it looked from the road. I began to imagine crossings and a circumnavigation. I wondered why I hadn't heard of anyone kayaking there. I also wondered why all the jet skiers from the LA area bothered to go to the Colorado River instead of the Salton Sea, which was much closer. So I asked a local. He told me that the water quality is terrible because raw sewage pours into the sea from a city just over the boarder in Mexico. He asked me if I remembered a terrible smell as I crossed the bridge coming into town, and I did. I could be wrong about all of this info about the Salton Sea, but I would recommend that you check into paddling at Lake Mead or the calm lower Colorado River in California/Neveda/Arizona Duane So Cal *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 11/15/2000 1:45:44 PM Pacific Standard Time, neil_at_solv.org writes: << I'm heading south between xmas and new years in search of warmer paddling and am thinking about the Salton Sea. So I wanted to see who had paddled there, any advice you can give me. Ideally I'd like to string together enough miles for a self-supported 5-6 days. I've been able to find info on birding but nothing on paddling thus far. So give me all your stories and trip reports: also logisitics: fresh water availablility, private property shorelines where you can't camp. I've heard stories about the water quality too but these seem to indicate that it's mostly a problem in the summer. >> Neil, I have never paddled there but I go birding there from time to time. Up to 120 degrees in the summer and smells like a sewer. I have lost car windshields there to sandstorms. It's flat for miles around so wind can cause large dangerous waves, there is a flashing red light on the northeast shore that warns boaters to get off the lake. The lake is 35 miles long with an average depth of 10 feet, 360 square miles in area, 228 feet below sea level. Some areas on the west shore are more mud than sand. Birding in winter is good from the south end of the Sea south toward Brawley and El Centro: American White Pelican, thousands of wintering Snow and Ross Geese, White-faced ibis, Sandhill cranes, desert species like Verdin, Gila Woodpecker, Abert's Towhee, Inca and Ground Dove, Mountain Plover, Peregrine and Prarie Falcon, Burrowing Owl, and it's the only place in the U.S. to see Yellow-footed Gull. If you would like I can photocopy a list of addresses of marinas and campgrounds. Just send your mailing address off-list directly to me. Tony Niilus *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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