Boiling Mud Pots of the Salton Sea

Last updated: Thursday, October 24, 2013 By 12 Comments
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If you are wanting to see something really unique in a area full of unique things ( Salvation Mountain and dead fish on the beach anyone?) make sure to find your way over to the Salton Sea mud pots. I do have to put a disclaimer that people have said the ground is not to hard in some places so watch your step and I have no idea if it is public property but I didn’t see any signs stating otherwise. So here is the info.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 10

Details

  • 3 mile drive down a dirt washboard road
  • Located in a big field on the corner of Davis Rd and Schrimpf Rd. You can out those two streets in your GPS

Salton Sea Mud Pots 14

I found out about this place from Yelp as I was in the area checking out a lot of Salton Sea attractions and looked up what was around me. Needless to say, an area with boiling mud pots was enough for me to want to stop by and check it out.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 13

I know little to nothing about this area and couldn’t find much about why it is happening online but there were lots of foot prints out in the dirt so apparently lots of others visit as well. When you are out there you will see the mud literally boiling and popping. I would definitely not touch this water.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 7

We drove a Toyota Matrix down the road and while it made it, the road was very rough washboard and I wouldn’t drive that car down it again.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 1

When you get to the intersection you will notice a massive field on the right with a power plant off in the distance, and some mud shaped mountains in the middle of the field. These are the mud pots.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 2

I made my way over to them quick to make sure that the footing I was stepping on was safe then took a couple minutes just taking it in. It is really strange to hear the popping sounds that come from the water as the boiling mud literally bursts.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 6

Some of the mud pots are boiling really good while others are only going a little bit. The mixture of the water with the unique white cracked ground below is an awesome thing to take photos of though.

Salton Sea Mud Pots 4

All in all it was not worth the trip on its own, but if you are in the area it is a unique place to visit that is worst seeing. Check it out after Salvation Mountain and East Jesus. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Get Directions

 

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Filed Under: Natural Wonders, Southern California, Strangely Awesome Tagged With: , , ,

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  • so awesome! wish we stopped by there… we went to salvation mountain, but didn’t end up stopping there bc it just looked like a regular lake from far away.

    • Ya there are some crazy parts of that lake. There is an entire beach that is full of fish scales and heads and stuff, very strange. I will have a post on it soon.

  • Jeffrey B George

    Visited this weekend to find the area clearly marked with “No Trespassing” signage. 🙁

  • Shawn Johnson

    There is another boiling mud place in the Salton Sea area. This one is in the middle of Octotillo Wells OHV park. The mud is actually quite cool and a pretty awesome site if you are in the area with off road capabilities

    • Thanks for sharing, sounds fun to check out!

  • I was just at Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain last week (going again tomorrow!) – i knew about smaller mud-pots, but had no idea they got his big!

    • Thanks for the comment, they are big!

  • GregChick

    I saw the name Laura chick in the title , I had an aunt Laura and I think she was born in El Centro… Chick rd. in El Centro is from my uncle Amos. anyone know these folks?

  • Mike

    Hey Josh- the boiling mud in this spot is from the geothermal power plant near by. They inject water into the ground to produce power. Other places the aquifer naturally boils over and pushes out.

    • That would be incorrect. The mudpots near the Geo plant are part of a string of geothermically active vents that go all the way out to underneath Salton Sea. About 1 mile west there is another, much larger, more active mudpot field, and several more smaller mudpots in a direct line out into the water (search youtube for “salton sea new mudpots”) … This area was mapped in an 1856 survey, before salton sea even existed as “active mudpots”.

    • THIERY Vincent

      3 Jun 2017: warning all around that the mud volcano area is private, any entrance to the spot would be reported and fined… Nice bubbles anyway. Thanks for your blog!

      • Unless they have posted signage and started some new enforcement policy in the last few months, your comments would be wrong.
        The mud volcanos at Schrimpf and Davis are a common, open, public area.
        The “New Mud Pot” field about a mile away has recently been closed due to experimental dust-mitigation projects that IID is conducting. There is now a half-assed gate and a sign – but nobody for miles to report anyone going in.