Salvation Mountain, Niland California
Welcome to Salvation Mountain. This is one of those crazy U.S. attractions that you just have to see to believe. I ran across this place one day when I was on Pinterest looking up random travel destinations. I added it to my list of things to visit someday. Well, 2 months ago my husband and I happened to be on a road that was closer to it than I figured I would ever be again so we decided to alter our route so we could check it out. Salvation Mountain actually has a pretty great story leading to its creation by Leonard Knight (see link below to read more about it). The drive felt long and we were all getting anxious as we passed hay farms, random run down or abandoned buildings, and lots of desert land.
When we pulled up to the mountain I was somehow expecting something different even though I had just read all about it. I am used to paying entrance fees and seeing gift shops and amusement options. This was simply a paint, clay, and hay mountain with some decorated vehicles and a walk through side expansion. I walked up the yellow path to the top and looked out over the dusty land and thought to myself. “I am in the middle of nowhere standing on a man-made mountain covered in bible verses…..how randomly odd is that!!??” 🙂 It is so neat to see how many different walks and ways of life there are.
This mountain has been recipient to so much attention without much more than word of mouth via sites like TripAdvisor. I took my time looking closely at how the paint formed over the texture of the clay and hay, looked closely at the model of the mountain that was on display, walked into the side expansion, read the carefully crafted words, and viewed the items out for display in the rooms which formed a sort of mini museum. To me, this is something that I will pass by and write a blog post about. To Leonard, this is his life’s meaning and mission. Before leaving I wrote Leonard a short note to wish him well and put it in the highly decorated mailbox at the base of the mountain.
Salvation mountain….CHECK!! On to the next place on my ever-growing travel list.
For more information on Salvation Mountion please click this link: http://www.salvationmountain.us/
