Another early morning with the "Punky" alarm going off at 6:15 AM. With the sun shining through the windows it promises to be another great day, so we got up, took the kids out for their walk, gave them breakfast and then took care of our own morning routines. After breakfast I went over and shot pool while Tina did a few chores and read.
After lunch we drove to El Centro, fueled up and got the car washed, then turned north towards the Salton Sea. We were headed for the Wister Mud Pots located nine miles north of the small town of Niland. After we passed through the immigration check point we turned east toward the Coachilla Mountain foothills on Hot Mineral Springs Road. We passed several big RV Resorts and ended up at a new KOA at the end of the road.
We hadn't seen any signs or evidence of mud pots so we stopped to ask directions. When I talked to the manager, he said the only active site he was aware of was back at the south end of the Wister Wildlife Refuge. So we headed back the way we'd come making a stop at the Wister NWR first.
We pulled into the ranger stop and registered our intent to do some bird watching. Leaving the parking area we drove onto the unpaved road (in our newly washed car) and turned on one of the levee roads to try and get to the shore of the Salton Sea. We saw lots of birds but unlike in Florida, most of them are very skittish and fly off as soon as we get close. 
Eventually we had to turn around and head back for Davis Road which runs parallel to the Salton Sea.Turning south again on Davis we continued along a very rough dirt road, passing many intersections finally arriving at our intersection with Schrimpf Rd where we parked and walked out onto a big mud flat covered with Mud Volcanoes, some of which were 8 or 9 feet high. The smell of steam and carbon dioxide gas flavored with sulfur was quite strong.
There were probably 25 large mud volcanoes covering an area 300 feet on a side. Many were actually small depressions filled with water, with gas bubbling up from underground. Some make rattling sounds like old steam radiators, others gurgle like someone trying to clear their throat. The temperature of gasses coming out of the vents seemed to be warm but not hot. The water was cold or ambient temperature. The mud percolating out of the towers was very fine and sticky likely a silty clay.
Returning to the car we headed south again until we reached the access road to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR where we stopped and walked up to the top of the viewing stand. It's interesting, this whole area is part of the Pacific Flyway, a major North-South route for migratory birds, at the same time it is a major geothermal energy source. We passed at least nine very large geothermal energy plants owned by SoCal Edison, an example of nature and technology existing side by side.
Leaving the Salton Sea we headed south on secondary roads passing huge agricultural fields where several vegetable crops are grown including broccoli, lettuce, carrots and surprisingly, hay and alfalfa used to feed huge dairy herds. Several fields were filled with equipment and workers harvesting what looked like onions.
We arrived home around 5:30 PM in time to get the kids out and fed, then Tina put the chicken on the barby for our dinner. Later we watched the Olympics and relaxed.
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