Has anyone volunteered at the Salton Sea?   I would like to know how your experience was at the visitor center.   I may be looking at Feb - May for 3 months.

Thank you

We've volunteered a lot for national and state areas.  We would never consider Salton Sea.  It can be very smelly at times & Feb-March will be hot.  It wouldn't be very busy as it's not a destination anymore.  Not much around there.  There is birding if that's your interest.  Have you ever been there?  I would recommend doing that before a 3-month committment.  Just our take.

  On 9/11/2019 at 7:35 AM, 2gypsies said:

We've volunteered a lot for national and state areas.  We would never consider Salton Sea.  It can be very smelly at times & Feb-March will be hot.  It wouldn't be very busy as it's not a destination anymore.  Not much around there.  There is birding if that's your interest.  Have you ever been there?  I would recommend doing that before a 3-month committment.  Just our take.

I think I once read MX used to use it as a sewage lagoon?

they still do.

there is a small "river" crossing the boarder flowing north from mexico into the USA, that is very highly polluted and it dumps into the salton evaporation pond. (no outlet so the toxins get to stay there).

i say avoid this area if at all possible.

want to stay there,  bring in everything including lots of water,  and never buy from any source within 100 miles of the place.

a generation back it was the place to be.   but not now.

Avoid the area. It is way past it's prime.

  On 9/11/2019 at 7:35 AM, 2gypsies said:

Have you ever been there?  I would recommend doing that before a 3-month committment.  Just our take.

Mine also. 

Same as several other posters have stated, check out the area first before doing a commitment. Also check to see how far a grocery run would be. We use RT 86 sometimes from El Centro to I-10 and at times the odor is bad. There was a housing development started on the west side of RT 86, cheap lots and very few have sold.

I have been there and it was not smelly when I was there.  Sounds like it is not a healthy place to be for any length of time.  I knew that from my visit for the wildlife but it is extending to us humans too.    Hope other natural places do not end up like this.

Salton sea was created by accident, and continued on as a downhill accident until it became a disaster.

Yeah the Salton sea is anything but natural

Salton Sea; the complete story: https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/salton-sea/california-far-from-solutions-as-salton-sea-crisis-looms/

other references: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Salton+sea&t=ffcm&ia=web

Edited September 14 by Ray,IN

I just travelled past each side of that place and there is nothing interesting enough that I saw, that would have caused me to stop, let alone want to stay and RV there for any length of time.  Just an FYI.

But I guess that would depend on what your interests are.

OH, except for 1 thing.  The casino had the cheapest gas around and I purposely planned my trip to take advantage of it.

I camp at Mecca Beach every winter.  During the cooler winter months it's not smelly. I hate seeing it neglected and just allowed to get worse and eventually evaporate.  If that happens, a lot of people are going to be in danger from airborne pollutants.

We volunteered for Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge 2014 May-July,  Visited friends in San Diego, day trip to see condors, relatives in Imperial.  Boiling mudpots, Buckshot cafe, Salvation Mountain, plenty of birds added to our life list. Yuma Prison, Marine Air base Gala, Slab city, Blue Angels practicing overhead.

Elevated board walk always in need of staining.  Remote unit vault toilet and trash pickup. Rodent control around Hqtrs and Volunteer pad an on going issue  The RV pad then was between buildings right behind visitor center and uncovered.  We visited since then and I think they put in a cover.  A second pad site out back by the fields was planned and would be more desirable.

There are feed lots in the area which can smell but I think the sea smell must go blind after awhile because It is not a factor that would prevent us from going back.

Our last night there a 4.1 tremor rolled thru.  Centered about 2 miles away. Glad it waited until the end of our tour.