Southern California - Road quality around Salton Sea?

Hey SoCal people. I'm a PacNW guy like my location says, but my parents are moving to La Quinta soon here, and I'm interested in hitting some long rides from their home. It looks like going all the way around the Salton Sea would be about 150 miles, which for me is a long, but doable day (especially since it looks almost flat). Biggest question is, will I be sorry when I'm out there riding highways 86 or 111? I just don't have any feel for the traffic flow or road quality in the area. Appreciate any advice.

That sounds like a rich flavor of hell to me. I've motorcycled back around there, and foolishly took my kayak to Salton Sea once. (I think a better name for it would be Foul&Toxic Swamp.)
A better ride around that area would be due west of La Quinta, up the hill to Idyllwild, (though the Pines to Palms Grade is narrow, so I'd recommend hitting that early before the traffic), or down south in Borrego Springs.
A challenging loop could be made out of riding up Montezuma Grade from Borrego Springs, then making a left on San Felipe Road south to the 78-East and watching for the sign back to Borrego Springs.
And if you're a hardcore mofo, you could ride all the way to the 79 south to Julian, and ride down Banner Grade and continue on the 78 East.
Any of those rides would be preferable to riding around Salton Sea.

Wow, that bad huh?

Just to be clear, is it the roads, or the sea itself that make it so awful? The general wasteland of the landscape actually doesn't bug me, for the record.

I went there once, over 20 years ago. I remember it smelling so bad that I resolved never to go there again. When I saw this thread title, my first thought was, "roads are not going to be your problem."

I would stay away from the Salton Sea. The tilapia have no other choice:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Salton_Sea_Tilapia.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Salton_Sea_Tilapia.jpg)

Ok you guys convinced me, I'll stick to some of the other rides mentioned :)

There are lots of great rides around here, without getting too close to the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea stink in rare, fortunately, but it a barren, boring ride. Plus, it would be like riding on the freeway for a good part of the ride, lot's of transport traffic moving very fast.

Do you know where in LQ your parents are moving?

I grew up in Indian Wells. Everyone down in the Desert called it the Salton Sewer.:roflmao2:

I grew up in Indian Wells. Everyone down in the Desert called it the Salton Sewer.:roflmao2:

Yeah, we usually have a couple days (during the summer, of course) where it smells like an unflushed toilet. It's hard to believe that my family used to camp out there and water ski. :eek:

Yeah, we usually have a couple days (during the summer, of course) where it smells like an unflushed toilet. It's hard to believe that my family used to camp out there and water ski. :eek:

Apparently there was a time once when it was pretty nice. The big problem is that it doesn't drain anywhere, so with evaporation & all the runs off, it just keeps building up.

I would love to go there and do some photography. I've seen some amazing shots taken there. It's a very surreal environment much off the beaten path.

There was an organized century that used to ride in that area. You might check the routes that they used.

I went as a kid, too. I don't remember much except that there was a place that I wanted to swim in and my Dad wouldn't let me because he said there was coral growing under the surface that would cut my feet. Could that be true? That there is coral in the Salton Sea?

I would love to go there and do some photography. I've seen some amazing shots taken there. It's a very surreal environment much off the beaten path.

There was an organized century that used to ride in that area. You might check the routes that they used.

I went as a kid, too. I don't remember much except that there was a place that I wanted to swim in and my Dad wouldn't let me because he said there was coral growing under the surface that would cut my feet. Could that be true? That there is coral in the Salton Sea?

Even the Salton Sea Century didn't ride too close. It actually was in Borrego Springs, heading east toward the end to Salton City,then quickly turned around and headed back to Borrego.

Even the Salton Sea Century didn't ride too close. It actually was in Borrego Springs, heading east toward the end to Salton City,then quickly turned around and headed back to Borrego.



I've been to Borrego Springs to go backpacking. I bet the road riding around there would be great, not too much traffic, huh?

I've been to Borrego Springs to go backpacking. I bet the road riding around there would be great, not too much traffic, huh?

I've only ridden there once, and it was nice. The roads are pretty good and there is very little traffic. And it' just a hop, skip and a long climb up to Julian for some apple pie. :thumb:

If anything else, the winds can be a big PIA.

Weekends might not be too bad traffic-wise, but weekdays will see a lot of truck traffic. There's a commercial crossing at Calexico/Mexicali and a lot of carriers take the inland route down S86 because it's an easier truck drive than I8.

Oh yeah: historically, it was a salt flat there, but an earthquake altered some river flow into the basin, which then filled. As others have said, there is no natural outlet, and a tremendous amount of agricultural runoff goes into the "sea."

I used to camp there with my family when I was a child as well. About 28 years ago. It was a much healthier sea back then. There have been efforts to clean it up in the past couple of decades. But there is neither the money nor political will to do much about it.

Great discussion everyone, I really appreciate it. I'm not sure where exactly in La Quinta they will be, guess I'll find out when I visit at Christmas. Now to decide if I just want to send a decent vintage bike down with them when they move, or deal with the hassle of checking a bike as airline baggage.

The lake has been drying up, the runoffs and water diversions need to be increased. But with the drought and higher water prices plus population growth, fans of the Salton Sea better hope for a lot of wet years. Doubt the Salton Sea will be as popular as a getaway destination as it was in the past, but you'll never know.

Here's some pics somebody took of the area last year:
http://www.tamiesie.com/the-salton-sea/bicycle-4_14_84.html
and a short video about the history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKsK13NDkpg

Salton Sea is not much to see. And the roads out there are nothing but boring straight lines.
Better to the west, toward Mountain Center for some nice hills to climb and down toward Julian and that area, and to the west of Julian, toward Escondido, Palomar Mtn. and my favorite road over there, Cole Grade. I was glad to see the ATOC go up Cole Grade.
dc