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chickensoup
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Registered: 2-20-2006
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Laguna Salada
When I was a kid (about 20 years ago), my family went to San Felipe for Spring break. For some reason, I always remember driving down the highway and
there being water on both sides. Is this possible?
Now when I go down, I see what looks to be a dried up lake.
Am I crazy? What has changed? Any photos?
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tehag
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Laguna Salada
When enough rain falls, Laguna Salada is indeed a briny lake. In the late 60s after a hurricane dumped what was left of itself there, the lake was so
full it supported a shrimp fishery for several years, complete with 45 foot shrimp boats. When the water went back down, some of the shrimpers were
left standing in the middle of the desert looking quite out of place.
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thebajarunner
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Yeah, and 30 years ago there was a "brilliant scheme" afoot to make some levees and divert water into the dry lake.
Then they could build lakefront resorts, marinas, etc.
(Does that sound like Grandad of "Escalara Nautica?"
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Barry A.
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Also, in the early 80's there were several really wet years-------
----------in the SW USA and the Colorado river went on a mini-rampage, dumping lots of water out it's mouth, and also back into the Laguna Salada,
making the highway to San Felipe a "causeway" with water on both sides----------that lasted for several years, and turned the entire Delta area into a
wildlife paradise.
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MrBillM
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Winter of 1980
The Winter of 1980 was a very wet one. Because the Authority that manages the Colorado Water Resource for customers down the line had been criticized
in past years for allowing too much runoff creating a shortage for those customers at a critical time, they avoided until the last moment releasing
extra water downstream from Hoover Dam. That error in judgement became critical when it continued to rain and the structural integrity of the dam
would be in danger without a massive release, which they did. The result was the flooding of Laguna Salada and the elimination of the existing
highway which was built only a few feet above the Lake bed.
Although I had been aware of the situation from L.A. News coverage, I hadn't really given the result in Baja any thought. In November of 1980 I took
my (about to be) wife to Baja for her first visit ever. When we reached Laguna Salada, we found a MASSIVE effort going on with a new road bed at a
much higher level under construction. At that point, it existed of a lot of large rock and coarse gravel. Because the highway is so vital, at the
same time they were allowing traffic through. That short stretch in my Toyota FJ55 Landcruiser Wagon took around an hour . When we got to the south
end of the lake, I told her the bad news was we'd have to do it again.
We came through again in February of 1981 and the road was better, but still a work in progress. Very rough, but only about 20-30 minutes across.
The subject was covered extensively in the Los Angeles Times so a search of their data base might prove interesting.
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thebajarunner
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Just curious.
If the road was so grim why didn't you return via Valle de Trinidad and Ensenada?
That is a good track, surely more interesting than the Mexicali-San Felipe run.
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David K
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In the late 70's the plan to make Laguna Salada into Mexico's own Salton Sea recreational mecca failed when the Colorado flowed so heavily and the
levees that made up the new canal into the upper Laguna Salada failed... All that deverted river water flooded the lower Laguna Salada (where Hwy. 5
crosses it)instead of flowing on down to the below sea level upper laguna and deteriorated the roadbed making it a bumpy nightmare.
They built an all new levee for Hwy. 5 twice as wide as before with culverts through it, and that is what we drive on now... People used to park along
that straight run and fish!!!
The Mexican 'Salton Sea' dried up within a couple years and the Colorado hasn't been flooding enough since, to refill it...
[Edited on 4-4-2006 by David K]
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thebajarunner
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Thanks for the addition to my tale David,
I was afraid that I was just "remembering"
It was a typical Baja developmental fiasco at the time,
grandiose idea,
disastrous implementation.
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David K
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Yup... I was just posting my memories, as I went to San Felipe a LOT in those years with my little Subaru... 25 mpg was big improvement over my 401
V-8 Jeep Cherokee Chief that got about 10 mpg!
I made my maps of the area south of San Felipe using that Subaru...
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Neal Johns
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Back in the late 70's, when I was not smart enough to only drive only in the daytime, I was screaming down Hwy. 5 in my FJ-40 and saw some dim lights
ahead. Standing on the brakes, I looked ahead a few feet and saw two dim, flickering oil lamps in front of the bridge abutments for a future bridge
with a drop-off into muddy water. I cleaned out my shorts and proceeded left around the detour. I still shudder when I cross over the small bridge
that lets water flow in and out of the Laguna.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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MrBillM
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David K
The primary reason for the flooding in 1980 was as I stated. If necessary, I am sure research into News archives on that subject and time frame will
verify my version.
As far as Bajarunner's Q: That route to arrive in Yucca Valley is one Heck of a lot farther. I have driven them all.
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David K
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I do agree with you Bill that excess water from the Colorado did flood the lower/ southern Laguna Salada...
It was brought to the Highway 5 corridor by the canal built a couple years ealier designed to fill the upper/ northern Laguna Salada.
Without that man made canal, deverting the Colorado, the flood waters could have gone straight into the gulf... that is the natural downhill course,
afterall.
I read somewhere that the canal levee was improperly constructed...
It seems to me that the original Hwy. 5 road was melting/ bumpy from a flooded Salada, before 1980... like '78...? The new, wider levee for the
widened Hwy. 5 across the Laguna was completed in or just before 1984 from my memory.
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Roberto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Without that man made canal, deverting the Colorado ... |
Oye, Baja SpellChecker 
FYI - The verb you are looking for is divert.
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David K
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'divert' is not a Baja word
Puertecitos, Alfonsina's, Guerrero Negro are...
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Barry A.
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David-----
------everything you say here is essentially correct, but there is a little wrinkle you may not be aware of.
I lived in El Centro at the time, and I and my crazy friends made several boat trips into the delta region over the years of flooding, once running
the river in canoes from just below the dam below Yuma to the mouth of the Colorado, and then several motor boat trips down the river from Yuri Muri,
(just north of the causeway) down stream to the vacinity of Montague Island. The main reason that the water backed up into the Laguna Salada was that
the river sediment had built up over the years of practically no flow on the lower river that it formed an enormous dam that stretched for miles
across the delta from east to west in a huge cresent. Until the flood waters were able to breach that natural dam (which took several months), and
wash channels thru it, the water just backed up and overflowed into the Laguna Salada. The incredible dynamics of the delta could really only be
appreciated from an airplane, and we made several flights over the delta to determine what actually was happening. It was amazing. Those were some
great exploring trips. The wildlife on the flooded delta was amazing, especially the bird life that just "appeared" when the lake formed------it was
wonderful for a little while until everything went back to normal and dried up.
Barry
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bajabound2005
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is your were in Sacramento (CA it would be water on both sides for sure this
year!
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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bajabound2005
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oops
[Edited on 4-5-2006 by bajabound2005]
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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David K
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Thanks Barry, I appreciate the additional details!
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HotSchott
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That whole area is due for another attitude adjustment - mother nature style. I remember the years when Laguna Salada was full as some of the most
amazing times for desert trips. The drive through the desert with 90 percent humidity going to San Felipe and Guadalupe Canyon was surreal - so hot
with so much water! Fresh Fish Tacos at shops on the northern end of Laguna Salada at a place below sea-level. The view of the Laguna coming down La
Rumorosa Grade. There were hundreds of people fishing on the causeway to San Felipe and catching loads of fish. There is one place in the middle of
the laguna where all the fish died. It must have been the last spot to dry out - less than ten years ago and there are thousands of fish everywhere
in a setting that looks like the surface of the moon. The salt is up to several inches thick, shaped like potatoe chips the size of toilet seats over
bottomless mud that is still wet - and covered with fish carcasses. It is as unreal as anything I have ever seen under a full moon. By the way don't
drive there - we got lost when we found it and almost left a truck there. Thankyou Mr. WARN...
Whenever I am driving on the Laguna the natural energy there is intense. Coming out of the mountains the wind is usually crazy and the view sublime.
Being the northern gateway to Baja I guess it is appropriate that the amazing natural forces at work put on a dynamic show. All of the energy of the
Sea of Cortez funneled up to a point in the desert. The geothermal energy underground in the area provides all that hot water in the canyons and the
Colorado river would provide regular floods if man were out of the picture. I see pine nuts, fish bones and cool pottery in the canyons and wind
caves all the time - evidence that people were passing through and probably living around the Laguna Salada shores. The metates found along dry
creeks suggest that the area got alot more rain in the past as well.
One thing I do is collect sand and rocks from each trip. I bring a five-gallon Homer bucket full of sand back for my cactus and palms quite often. I
have wildflowers germinate all the time from seed that was in the sand. I have collected sand from the sides of flash flood washes that has probably
been a few feet underground for millenia and had seeds germinate that are different from the regular plants growing now. I remember last year on the
news there was a report of wildflowers blooming in Borrego that had not been seen for years - some thought to be extinct. It all kind of follows some
sort of pattern. Mother nature distributing and cacooning flowers with big bursts of wind and water.
All the stuff that makes that gateway a special place and many people never notice. It is the entire package of subtleties of germinating seeds
against the catasrophic background of howling winds and flash floods that make this area one of my favorite places on the planet. Laguna and then
desert in a constantly dynamic place at the front door to Baja. I can't wait until that place floods again!
$$
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Barry A.
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Hotshott--------what a great contribution to------
-------the conversation and subject, and you are so right-on. I love that place. If you think that the Laguna Salada is fasinating during the flood,
you have got to get into the delta country, especially the portion below Yuri-Muri.
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