Salvation Mountain
DETAILS:
Location: 603 Beal Road, Niland, CA 92257
From Los Angeles, take Interstate 10 to the 86S (just east of Indio) Travel south (11 miles) to 66th Avenue (Hwy 195) There’s a big gas station and truck stop on the left. Turn left (east) and go about a ½ mile to Highway 111. Turn right (south) and go about 42 miles to Niland, California. Turn left (east) on Main Street (which eventually turns into Beal Road) and drive approximately 3 miles to Salvation Mountain.
Hours of Operation: Daily - dawn til dusk.
Parking: Free parking lot on site.
Cost: Free! (donations encouraged)
Time Commitment: 30 minutes
Miscellaneous:
Leashed dogs welcome.
You can ascend Salvation Mountain, but please stay on the designated path.
Guided tours can be arranged with advance notice. Info@salvationmountain.org
Rising above the bleak landscape of the Sonoran Desert, you can find the culmination of one man’s artistic devotion to his faith in the form of a technicolor monument known as Salvation Mountain. Located in Imperial County just east of the Salton Sea, the psychedelic nature of this massive art piece (150 feet wide by 50 feet tall) resides in stark contrast to the muted tones of the surrounding environment. Salvation Mountain is the lifework of Leonard Knight who used a combination of adobe, hay bales, window putty and anything else he could salvage to bring his vision to life, along with over 100,000 gallons of paint to give the mountain its famed vibrancy. All told, it took almost three decades and two attempts (the first iteration collapsed after four years) to complete, and was eventually entered into the Congressional Record as a national treasure in 2002.
Like Noah before him, the calling came to Knight much later in life, but it's safe to say that he answered that call in spades. His message? God is Love - which is literally inscribed in giant letters at the mountain’s peak. I’m hardly here to spread the gospel, this isn’t that kind of website, your religious disposition matters just as much as Knight’s does. But I hope we can at least agree that the end result is an impressive feat regardless of anyone’s particular belief system. In the end, Salvation Mountain is simply about peace and harmony, and who can’t get behind that? In addition to the mountain itself, you can explore the “museum” area which is attached to the side and rear. The “museum” is made up of several domed areas which is supported by a network of tree-like structures and contains more of Knight’s mural-work. Leonard Knight passed away in 2014, but Salvation Mountain is thankfully maintained by a nonprofit group called Salvation Mountain Inc., preserving the mountain and Knight’s legacy for future generations to come.
