Sunday, April 16, 2017

Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain, which is about an hour and a half drive from Palm Springs, has been on my "Things to Do/See" list for quite some time now. I was finally able to cross it off my list when my husband and I traveled to this colorful and crazy location several weeks ago. I thought today would be an appropriate time to post these pictures for two reasons. First, it is Easter and Salvation Mountain features not only vivid colors but also Biblical verses scrawled in paint just about everywhere. Second, this is the first weekend of the Coachella Music festival and many people in attendance will probably be visiting this site since the location of Salvation Mountain is just a short drive from the Coachella Valley. Regardless of whether your reason(s) for visiting Salvation Mountain are religious or secular, it definitely has something for everyone, which I hope you'll discover in my photos below!




Yes, Salvation Mountain is a lot of eye candy to take in, but once you get past all the vivid colors, one is left wondering just how this unique mountain that serves as monument to God ended up in the middle of the desert! Simply, it's the creation of a man named Leonard Knight. He started building the mountain in 1984 out of adobe clay, hay, tires, tree branches and, of course, gallons and gallons of paint! The amazing thing is that he continued to build it and expand it for decades, pretty much up until his death in 2014. Now that's what I call a labor of love!




Above, you can see some of the trees that have been vividly painted and form sort of an underground bunker in the newer section of the mountain. Below, you can see all of the paint cans and one of the many messages written in numerous locations throughout the mountain. That "God Is Love" appears to be Knight's inspiration for creating the mountain in the first place.




More love and more paint! Salvation Mountain, which is described as a work in progress, is always looking for more paint, so if you decide to visit and have extra paint, they would be more than happy to accept the donation. I do have some unused paint in our garage, but it's just a boring neutral color, so I'm not sure it would quite fit with the color scheme of the mountain!




As you can see, Salvation Mountain offers something for everyone. You can reflect on its messages, admire it as a piece of folk art, or just enjoy it for being something unique, strange, wonderful and colorful in the middle of the desert. I think all of these were the intent of its creator because after we visited Salvation Mountain, I viewed an old interview with Leonard Knight and the one thing that he wanted more than anything was to just have people come and be happy looking at his creation. I think he definitely achieved this and more!


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