Yesterday we ventured out to find “Salvation Mountain” on the southern end of the Salton Sea. We drove about an hour and a half to the wrong location, Bombay Beach because the GPS was wrong! Now you are most likely thinking, Bombay Beach sounds nice, fun….nope; it was dismal, extremely depressed with spray painted abandoned RVs and mobile homes! We googled again and we were about 18 miles from Salvation Mountain!
Salvation Mountain was created by Leonard Knight (1931-2014) in the California Desert near Slab City a Squatter/Art Community. The “mountain” is made of Adobe bricks, discarded tires, windows, auto parts and thousands of gallons of paint.
The Folk Art Society of America declared it “a folk art site worthy of preservation and protection”, in 2002 California Senator Barbara Boxer described it as “a unique and visionary sculpture…a national treasure…profoundly strange and beautifully accessible and worthy of the international acclaim it receives.
The mountain is in the heart of the desert and visited by many! It is in Slab City an equally strange place where off -the-grid living takes place. Mostly there are varying degrees of RVs and Trailers in this unincorporated squatter community and got it’s name from concrete slabs that remained after World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down. Slab City is known for a lifestyle that contradicts ordinary, civilized lifestyles. In the winter the population balloons to about 4000 and in the summer (when average temp is 107) to about 150. The community is divided into two major “neighborhoods”, East Jesus and Slab City! The Slabs are often patrolled by Border Agents because it is only 50 miles from the border of Mexico.
Our outing was a fun day but Salvation Mountain and the Slabs took us way out of our comfort zone. The day was thought provoking to see these sites!
Wew!! Out of your comfort zone…. you say!
Interesting in a very weird way.
It was surreal…it did not look to be very appealing, even for the down and out. This was featured in the movie, “Into the Wild”!
You sure see some weird shit out there, right!! You would of never know it was there though!!! That’s how we feel with our trips in Nevada and Idaho and Utah. People really fo live off the grid.. be safe!!
😳…however you made it there and back, stories to tell pictures, somewhat colorful, to show! 😊 Now you have been there, done that!! 😅
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Hmm. Interesting area. I don’t think I’ll be putting that one on my bucket list.
Interesting but definitely not bucket list material!🤣
Strange but interesting. Thanks for going and taking pictures so we don’t have too, LOL.
Glad you got there and out without any situations!
Exactly! This area was in the movie into the wild.
Weird is” maybe equal to this place, but to me a pile …but interesting too…pulls you in with its strangeness.. colors and just -well just not a lot of much…its the 15 minutes of huh…who would do this…only the west coast Californians? …funny how some enjoy there time and artistry..I would sit some distance away with a glass or two of some JD, sip till it looks better and then just ride away… LOL… enjoy your travels, were in snow here…be glad your somewhere other than here..