What do a traveling mud volcano and outsider art have in common? Niland, California. That’s what.
When you’re in a geologically active area and hear about a mud geyser that’s been traveling across the desert at nearly 10 feet per month, who wouldn’t want to go pay it a visit? Meet the Niland Geyser, a.k.a. W9, a.k.a. The Slow One. It’s not technically a geyser, because it isn’t hot, but it’s an upwelling of water, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide which has been on the move since 1953. Since 2016 it’s been moving a lot.
If this mud volcano were moving peaceably across the desert and minding its own business, it would most likely be interesting only to a small number of specialist geologists. However since it’s moving peaceably across the desert minding its own business along a path that intersects an active railroad, a state highway, and a gas pipeline, a great many people are very interested in W9.
In the face of this irresistible force, the Union Pacific tracks became a moveable object, diverted onto safer ground behind the geyser. Today, the Niland Geyser is working its way under California State Route 111 which like the railroad, has been rerouted to avoid this force of nature.
Why does it move? Unclear. The San Andreas fault and its many branches are near neighbors, but the Niland Geyser is moving perpendicular to the fault lines. Of all the true geysers and mud pots known and studied, this is the only one on record as having the urge to roam.
While in the neighborhood, we also visited the remains of a WWII marine corps training camp that was dismantled after the war, leaving only the concrete foundation pads. This unincorporated area has become a home to permanent community living off the grid in a settlement is known as Slab City. One outshoot of Slab City is an outsider art colony called East Jesus which set up in an old rubbish dump, and hosts what I can best describe as a post apocalyptic sculpture garden.
Just outside Niland, on the odoriferous shore of the Salton Sea, is the remains of Bombay Beach. Before the Salton Sea was thoroughly fouled with pesticides and agricultural runoff and the many years of drought dropped the water away from the shore, Bombay Beach was the California Rivera in the desert. Today… not so much…
