090313 - SALVATION MOUNTAIN
Salvation Mountain
Friday, March 13, 2009
There is probably a long list of people who have done things in the name of God, and although he is no Mother Teresa, Leonard Knight has earned his place on that list.
Leaving our Salton Sea campsite, we headed south on hwy 111 in search of a dot on the map known
as Niland which is at the southeastern tip of the Sea. It’s a tiny town, and as we turn east on Main Street, there are no stores or even sidewalks and 500 feet later we find ourselves “out of town”. From our map, we guess our destination will be about 3 miles into the desert, across two railroad tracks, in the foothills of the Chocolate Mountains.
As we wonder where this desolate road is taking us, we suddenly see in the distance what may be Salvation Mountain. There is a splash of color rising from the drab desert floor and as we get closer, it is indeed all that we expected and more.
The story is that Leonard Knight, a religious and God fearing man, for reasons only known to him, decided he should start painting the hillside as a tribute to God. The various sections of
artwork are too differcult to explain, so pictures will have to tell the rest of the story. I took many shots of the same areas from different angles out the window of The Beast, but there were a handful of people walking around and even climbing the side of the hillside to the very top. In fact there are steps cut into the “mountain” for that very purpose. To see all the photos I took, go to
http://picasaweb.google.com/thehighwayguys/SALVATIONMOUNTAIN
At the base of the mountain are a few vehicles, one of which is the Salvation Truck, converted
into a small house where Leonard actually lives. Unfortunately, he was not home today. Supposedly, this is an ongoing project with no end in sight, and visitors are asked to make donations in the form of paint. Preferably acrylic.
A camping couple, Frank and Barbara, from Walnut Creek, CA were in the site next to ours at Salton Sea campground. They were heading to Yuma and breaking camp the same day as us so I told them about Salvation Mountain and encouraged them not to pass it up. I hope they found it.
Friday, March 13, 2009There is probably a long list of people who have done things in the name of God, and although he is no Mother Teresa, Leonard Knight has earned his place on that list.
Leaving our Salton Sea campsite, we headed south on hwy 111 in search of a dot on the map known
as Niland which is at the southeastern tip of the Sea. It’s a tiny town, and as we turn east on Main Street, there are no stores or even sidewalks and 500 feet later we find ourselves “out of town”. From our map, we guess our destination will be about 3 miles into the desert, across two railroad tracks, in the foothills of the Chocolate Mountains.
As we wonder where this desolate road is taking us, we suddenly see in the distance what may be Salvation Mountain. There is a splash of color rising from the drab desert floor and as we get closer, it is indeed all that we expected and more.
The story is that Leonard Knight, a religious and God fearing man, for reasons only known to him, decided he should start painting the hillside as a tribute to God. The various sections of
artwork are too differcult to explain, so pictures will have to tell the rest of the story. I took many shots of the same areas from different angles out the window of The Beast, but there were a handful of people walking around and even climbing the side of the hillside to the very top. In fact there are steps cut into the “mountain” for that very purpose. To see all the photos I took, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/thehighwayguys/SALVATIONMOUNTAIN
At the base of the mountain are a few vehicles, one of which is the Salvation Truck, converted
into a small house where Leonard actually lives. Unfortunately, he was not home today. Supposedly, this is an ongoing project with no end in sight, and visitors are asked to make donations in the form of paint. Preferably acrylic.A camping couple, Frank and Barbara, from Walnut Creek, CA were in the site next to ours at Salton Sea campground. They were heading to Yuma and breaking camp the same day as us so I told them about Salvation Mountain and encouraged them not to pass it up. I hope they found it.
posted by The Highway Guys @ 11:11 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:25 AM,
*Fairyduster said…
That's amazing! I wonder if Leonard was somewhat of a Hippie! His style of art is reminiscent of this era!
I love the first photograph of the sign, very unique. What strange things religion can trigger in some people!
But to each its own! :-) and it has become a tourist attraction obviously! Hopefully somebody will come up with some new supply of colorful paint!
At 1:26 PM,
The Highway Guys said…
I wouldnt exactly call it a tourist attraction - very remote location and no giftg shop or refreshment stand. Not even sure it is on official Auto Club maps or guides.
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