Algodones Dunes CA-78 (#0754)

The Algodones Dunes, stretching for 40 miles from southeast to northwest across the eastern side of Imperial County. There's only two roads crossing, CA-78, which is in this picture, and I-8. On CA-78 in more or less the center of the dunes is the Osborne lookout point, which is the only spot to stop and take pictures. In the winter and on weekends in the summer the dunes are abuzz with dunebuggies, but there were none on this weekday (temperature 105F). They dunes are impossible to explore on foot due to the softness of the sand, but well worth viewing. Per Wikipedia (link below), the dunes are a comparatively recent (15th century) result of sand from a lake formed in the Salton Sink by the meandering Colorado River. The name 'Algodones', though Spanish for 'cotton' is considered to be a derivative of an Indian word. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes