Salton Sea
Lake · Mecca, California
California's largest lake by surface area, and an accident — in 1905 the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal and poured into a desert sink for eighteen months before anyone could stop it. It became a resort in the 1950s, then hypersaline and shrinking, and is now simultaneously a major bird migration site, a public health problem and a place artists have colonised.
100-225 State Park Road, Mecca, California, 92254, United States
Open year-round. Visit November-March. Summer heat exceeds 110F.