Thinking of taking a day trip to Salvation Mountain? Here’s what to expect when you get there…
Have you heard of Salvation Mountain?
The first time I came across it was on Instagram – there was a blogger I followed, standing in a candy-coloured fantasy in the middle of the California desert. It didn’t look real.
And yet, one quick Google search later, and it was clear that this was a real place.
What is Salvation Mountain?
It’s defined as a ‘visionary environment’, which I guess is a good way to describe it, given that ‘art installation’ doesn’t quite cover it, nor does ‘religious journey’…although it’s kind of both of those things, too.
The mountain is the work of Leonard Knight, a man who believed that the message of God’s love was far more simple than religious leaders made it out to be. He was desperate to communicate this message of simplicity, and he decided the best way to share it would be to emblazon it on the fabric of a hot air balloon. He set about creating the balloon, but every attempt to inflate it failed.
He’d found himself in the California Desert when his final attempt to launch his balloon failed, and so he prepared to leave. Still bursting with the message of God’s love, he decided to make a “small statement” before he left. That small statement grew into a mountain – not the Salvation Mountain that stands today, but an earlier (less stable) version that collapsed after four years of work.
Undeterred, Leonard started again, learning from his mistakes, and using native adobe clay mixed with straw, and covered in hundreds of thousands of litres of multi-coloured paint. The mountain was built over decades, little by little, and colour by colour.
It was somewhere I absolutely, definitely wanted to visit. One day; probably in the very distant future…
Then one evening, some friends got carried away with planning their birthdays, and before we knew it we’d planned a trip to California and Las Vegas.
Oops.
We decided on a few nights in Palm Springs, which I happily agreed to because a) I’d never been before, and b) I’ve recently become obsessed with The Joshua Tree House. A visit to the area seemed like a good first step to pulling off my grand plan of buying a property there, turning it into a hotel, and living in the hot, sunny desert.
It wasn’t until after we’d booked everything, and I was looking for things to do in the region, that I discovered we were close(ish) to Salvation Mountain. I got everyone on board pretty quickly (“think about the Instagrams!”), and so it was that we found ourselves, bright and early the morning after landing in LA, piling into the car with takeaway coffees and açaí bowls (we were just, like, so California), ready to drive into, well, the middle of nowhere.
Where is Salvation Mountain?
The most surprising thing about Salvation Mountain, for me, was that it seemed to just exist like a colourful oasis in the middle of the desert. It’s located near Slab City, a few miles from the Salton Sea.
From Palm Springs, it’s about 80 miles, which took us a little over two hours to drive. We had a quick stop at Salton Sea, an enormous salt lake right in the desert. The area is dotted with small communities, especially around Slab City, which is known for its off-grid vibes and eccentric art.
I’m going to go ahead and speculate that it was for this very atmosphere that Leonard Knight chose the location of Salvation Mountain. It’s definitely different to anywhere I’ve been before, and has to be seen to be believed!
A visit to Salvation Mountain
A visit to Salvation Mountain is completely unique. There’s a small parking area at the side of the road, and then you just wander around and explore the mountain and the information that’s scattered around the site.
There are signs everywhere telling visitors to follow the yellow brick road – which, by the way, means that sitting on the yellow path and dangling your legs over the side is a no-no, as we discovered – but aside from that, you’re free to explore and take pictures wherever you like.
It was incredibly windy on the day we visited, so we enjoyed taking shelter in the tunnels, but it was cool to get up on top and see the desert stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. The longer we explored, the more tiny details we noticed – it’s just amazing to see how much work Leonard Knight put into the construction of something that serves no practical purpose.
It’s beautiful. It’s bizarre. It’s unforgettable.
Leonard Knight passed away in 2014. But it’s safe to say that his creation – and his message – lives on, and will hopefully continue to do so for years to come.
My day trip to Salvation Mountain made me think: Leonard’s original plan – his balloon – was designed to take his message to the people. But when that failed, he took the message that was burning inside him, and he created it out of whatever he had: straw, clay, scraps of paint. He made it so beautiful – so attractive – that people came from far and wide to see his message.
I can’t help but think that we could all be a little bit more Leonard Knight. We might not all have the same message, but what if we took the thing that’s burning inside us – that message we want to take to the world – and we created a “small statement” using whatever we had in front of it?
What if, rather than worrying about how it was going to reach people, we focused on making our message as beautiful and heartfelt and unique and attractive as we possibly could?
I wonder, then, if people would flock to our message, whatever that message is.
The practical stuff for a day trip to Salvation Mountain
Entry is free, although donations of paint are always gratefully accepted, as huge quantities are needed for the mountain’s upkeep. There’s no water on site, but there is a small portaloo-style toilet that’s surprisingly well kept.
Bring your own water, and food if you’ll be spending a long time on the site. And of course, don’t forget to wear sunscreen as you’re in the hot desert with no protection from the sun. I’d recommend going in the morning, before it gets absolutely roasting hot.
We visited on a Monday in May, so it was pretty quiet, with only a few other small groups on the site. I imagine it can get a lot busier on weekends and in peak months – although given its location, I doubt it’ll ever be totally overcrowded!
So would I recommend a day trip to Salvation Mountain? If you have a spare half-day or so, I’d say absolutely. I’m pretty sure you’ll never experience anything like it anywhere else in the world – it’s utterly unique!
Would I go back? Well, I’d never say never, but I think once you’ve seen it once, you won’t get a lot more from a second visit. Besides, in the Palm Springs area there’s so much to see and do, I’m not sure I’d get around to doing the same thing twice!
Would you visit Salvation Mountain? Have you been before?
