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Slab City, California is a place far from the usual. Once a military base, today it is a kind of village forgotten by God, without rules and without laws.
Literally.
Nomads. Hippie. Anyone who wants to escape from civilization and schemes, takes refuge in these parts.
Not far from here rises Salvation Mountain, an incredible artificial mountain, with incredibly bright colors.
American rockers Kyuss have immortalized it on their LPs. The place was also the set of some scenes of the feature film “Into the Wild”. It even appears in video game scenes.
A cross and the words “God is Love” stand out at the top. This is the message that Leonard Knight wanted to leave to posterity, to whom we owe the monument. A mission of faith, love and hope.
Knight would have spent his entire life building Salvation Mountain.
A meticulous work, using any material at one’s disposal: straw, earth, bricks, concrete, telephone poles ….
What appears today is a place of a thousand colors, including symbols, hearts and beautiful flowers.
PRACTICAL INFO
HOW TO GET TO SALVATION MOUNTAIN
The place is located on Beal Rd, Calipatria, California, just over 100km from Palm Springs, and about a two and a half hour drive from San Diego.
The latter is an excellent base for an excursion to the mountains. Especially for the distance from LAX, the Los Angeles international airport, one of the busiest in the United States.
Take Interstate 10 and CA-111S. The total journey is about 200 miles, with a travel time of around 3 hours.
From San Diego, however, travel along Interstate I-8, continuing on CA-111 N, for a total of approximately 150 miles.
PRICES AND TIMES
Access to Salvation Mountain is free. Today, the place is run by an association of volunteers: an offer at will would not be bad.
Admission is allowed every day, including Sundays and holidays, from sunrise to sunset.
WHAT TO DO AND SEE
The visit of the place does not involve a particular expenditure of energy and effort, nor too much time.
Through the marked path, you can reach the top and take beautiful photos.
The mountain is particularly beautiful, with its bright colors. There isn’t much to see.
In our opinion, it could be an excellent base for an excursion to combine with nearby Galleta Meadows. The latter offers a set of spectacular sculptures in the middle of the desert. It is about an hour and a half drive from Salvation Mountain.
