My Birthday: History, A Sea & The Full Moon

Oh man, what a weirdly eclectic and wonderful birthday.

My first coffee as a 59 year old was here. Pretty magical, indeed. Onward!

After touring the General Patton Museum on our last road adventure, we need a trip to Iron Mountain Divisional Camp was something we had to do.

From 1942 to 1944, tanks rumbled across the remote cactus- and shrub-studded southeastern Mojave Desert, where over a million soldiers trained for combat during World War II. They were housed in 13 divisional camps – massive military tent cities, each with a central command post – within the maneuver area. The camps were established at locations from Desert Center to the Colorado River in Arizona. Camp Iron Mountain is the best-preserved divisional camp today.

At 18,000 square miles, Desert Training Center, a simulated theater of operations – also known as the California-Arizona Maneuver Area – was the largest training ground in military history.

A large relief map has been preserved (this is one of those things you need to see in person). The map is 200 feet by 175 feet and represents the entire Desert Training Center/California-Arizona Maneuver Area to scale.

Built by the Army Corps of Engineers, the map covered the area from Phoenix to Indio and from Needles to Yuma and was complete with small wooden signs indicating topographic features, railroads, mountains, cities and other Desert Training Center camps. So dang cool.

The men who endured the desert’s harsh conditions, rough terrain and inhospitable climates were among those soldiers who would eventually invade Normandy, fight in the Battle of the Bulge, and tussle with enemies in the Aleutian Islands and other battle zones across the world. For some, faith was what got them through. Iron Mountain's chapel is one of only two which remain. Breathtaking.

The camps, plagued by a shortage of supplies and equipment was abandoned in 1944 when war shifted in the Allies’ favor. They are now on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. And while a challenging drive to get to, these camps, and their history, are so worth visiting.

The Salton Sea has been a desired camping destination for years. It was the ideal location for my birthday night.

This is a birder's dream and a surreally peaceful spot to just be.

The sea — a lake, actually — was created by accident in 1905 when flooding from the Colorado River into irrigation canals eventually led a 40-mile stretch of desert known as the Salton Sink to fill with water, thus creating the lake.

Because its waters never discharge into the ocean and just seep into the ground or evaporate, the water has a high salinity level that just goes up as the years roll on.

Its salinity level was much lower 70 years ago, however, and the area quickly became a vacation spot, drawing tourists to the area year-round. At the Salton Sea's peak, it was pulling in 1.5 million visitors annually, more than Yosemite at that time.

The area's reputation for fun on the lake and fishing didn't last long and by the 1970s the fish population had begun to die. With a dwindling fish supply and water that had rising salinity levels as well as fertilizer runoff, tourism quickly dried up. I have to admit, to be on the shore of a massive lake and not be assaulted by constant boating noise was a delight.