As we begin our Adventure through California, leaving from Yuma AZ; we couldn’t help but make a few day stop at the famous Slab City. We have heard so much about this place-mostly negative, and yet it still kept our interest.
So we parked in what we would say was the Middle of Slab City! Just about every thing that you have heard about this unique place be it Internet or word or mouth is probably true.
As you come into the town of Niland (a very run down and poor community) you turn East onto Main Street, go over two sets of train tracks, past an electrical power center and then you begin to see RV roofs.
Your first sign that you are getting close is this:
go a little farther and then on your right you can’t help but notice Salvation Mountain:
Then what we would call the “community” of Slab City:
Some folks call the entrance to Slab City, Poverty area, in our opinion-majority of Slab City is Poverty area, with the exception of a few.
Questions are: Were we afraid to be here? Have we been intimidated by those that live here?
To answer both of those questions. Once we picked a spot that wasn’t either trashed or occupied by someone else, we noticed that two deputy cars were driving around. Not sure at first if this was routine or if they were looking for someone or something. We later learned that there is suspected drug activity going on and they are trying to locate the drug trafficking. On our second day a deputy drove around us, and then was stopped by a gentleman across from us. The deputies followed him over to his area and then got out and appeared to be writing a report; with one of the deputies going inside his motorhome.
We did have a lot of folks, looking a bit on the shaggy side, walk near our campsite, but no one really ever bothered us. We had one lady that walked by and tried to get close to Leah, and Leah just wasn’t buying that she was on friendly terms. So we did tell her that she might bite. The lady after that still walked by several different occasions-but stayed far enough out of Leah’s reach.
Brian met one of the “locals” of Slab City and he stated that no one will really bother another camper, for fear they don’t know if they are packing any kind of weapons. Those that do live out here year round and have been here for many, many years, usually are loners and don’t bother no one.
I think that the trash was more disturbing than those that live out here. There is a group that is trying to clean up Slab City, but not sure how far they really are getting. The biggest fear we had was getting a tired punctured from God only knows what on the roadways, tons of broken glass.
There was a little stench to the air-but tolerable. Many signs of where other campers had dumped their gray and black water anywhere they wanted to.
Remember one thing-there really are no rules or regulations out there; it’s no-man’s land. No speed limits-so many drove like bat out of hell or the devil was chasing them. Dogs off leash running rampant and not sure if up to dates on shots. But one thing for sure-those dogs were loyal to their owners, and looked to be feed much better than their human companions. No noise control-although I have to say during the nights was still quiet. In fact any noise we got was mostly from the military base on the other side of the canal when they were bomb practicing. A few times it actually shook us. Once in a while a woman would scream and then be quiet-never figured that one out.
We now can say we did Slab City. Will we do it again? Probably not. Not because the people “scared” us, but because of the trash that is piled around. Just made us feel “dirty”. But with that said, don’t judge this place unless you at least spend one night out there. These folks have their reasons for being there, and it’s not up to us to judge them or to treat them negatively. You at least need to learn to appreciate “Slab City” and then be Thankful for what you do have.
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