Salvation Mountain from “Into the Wild”

Desert X 2019 is finally up and running! For those who missed the 2017 iteration, the large-scale biennial exhibition features temporary art installations dotted throughout the Coachella Valley. This year even boasts a few works at the Salton Sea! Since the Grim Cheaper and I never miss an opportunity to visit the area, we headed right on out there with some friends last weekend to check the pieces out. And they did not disappoint! (You can see some photos of them here and here, as well as pics of those located in other parts of the desert here, here, here and here.) During our journey, we also made our regular pilgrimages to the North Shore Yacht Club, Bombay Beach, and Salvation Mountain. The latter, a colorful manmade bluff located in the CDP of Niland, I have visited copious times over the years (including in April 2015, when the above photo of my mom, my grandma and me was taken), but somehow failed to ever blog about it. And the time to change that is now!

Salvation Mountain was the creation of Vermont native Leonard Knight who found his way to the desert in 1984 with the intention of constructing a monument to God’s love. He first settled in Arizona and got to work building a hot air balloon stitched with the words of the Sinner’s Prayer and a simple message spelled out in large red letters: God Is Love. But every attempt at flying it failed. Then, one fateful weekend, he headed to the Salton Sea with a friend. Immediately taken with the area, he soon returned, hot air balloon in hand, and settled upon a desolate 5-acre patch of dusty land to try to pilot it again. It was a lost cause, though. Leonard’s balloon would never take flight. Defeated, he switched gears and decided to instead erect a small temporary monument at the site before leaving town for good.

Leonard never left, though, and that small temporary tribute soon became a large mountain fashioned out of cement, sand, and discarded trash he acquired from the local dump. The mound was then painted over with colorful designs and the same messages and prayer that had been stitched onto the balloon. Unfortunately, the building materials proved too heavy, though, and within four years, the original Salvation Mountain toppled. You can see what it looked like before the collapse here and after here.

The failure did not deter Leonard and he soon began construction on another mountain, this one built of adobe and straw, as well as local junkyard trash, which proved much more sustainable. The mountain was then covered over, once again, in gallons upon gallons of paint, much of it donated. Knight constantly added to the structure, growing it and enhancing it and adding paint as needed. Maintaining the site became his full-time job.

During his almost thirty-year tenure, he lived in a small truck on the premises, sans running water, electricity or air conditioning, and used nearby hot springs to bathe. (I believe Leonard’s truck is the one pictured farthest away with the word “Bible” on the side in the photo below, though I haven’t been able to confirm that.)

As a plaque placed by the E Clampus Vitus organization at the base of the mountain explains, “Leonard found ‘religion’ mid-life; he found frustration as well. All religions were too complicated for Leonard. He saw it all very simply: repent to Jesus Christ and be forgiven of your sins. His struggle for a simple faith took him across the United States to end up here in Niland; he never left. For just under 30 years, without the benefits of electricity or running water, Leonard passionately labored daily to create a message for the world to hopefully see: “God Is Love.” Embarrassed to call himself an artist, Leonard perfected his artistic technique using only what was at hand, what he could scrounge at the local dump and what was donated by the faithful or the curious.” Salvation Mountain was definitely a labor of love.

In the late ’90s, Leonard built an annex to the mountain in the style of a traditional Navajo hut, aka a “Hogan,” using 9,000 bales of hay, more acquired trash, and tree limbs.

The exterior of the Hogan is unique in and of itself . . .

. . . but the cave-like interior is downright fascinating . . .

. . . especially the tree branch ceiling

I mean, come on!

And it is even more spellbinding from above!

Leonard also constructed “The Museum,” a small two-room alcove built into the side of Salvation Mountain, at around the same time,

Serving as an altar of sorts, visitors place notes, gifts and offerings in the tiny domed space.

Sadly, after years of suffering from dementia and diabetes complications, among other health issues, Leonard was moved into an assisted living facility in December 2011. He passed away there on February 10th, 2014.

His message lives on, though, thanks to legions of devotees who have taken on the job of maintaining and preserving Salvation Mountain.

Due to their efforts, the place is still welcoming visitors today – and is more popular than ever, largely thanks to Instagram.

Slightly reminiscent of Whoville, Salvation Mountain is a true work of art that has to be seen to be believed.

Though entirely over the top, at its core is a very simple message of love.

The Salvation Mountain experience is an interactive one – visitors are encouraged to explore, touch, and photograph.

There is even a pathway to climb to the top . . .

. . . as my mom, who is extremely afraid of heights, is pictured doing below.

Along with the colorful mountain, there is other unique scenery to enjoy.

Not surprisingly, Salvation Mountain has found its way to the screen, most notably in the 2007 biopic Into the Wild.

In the film, Tracy Tatro (Kristen Stewart) and Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) get a tour of Salvation Mountain from none other than Leonard Knight himself.

In 1997, Huell Howser interviewed Leonard and toured the mountain in the Season 7 episode of California’s Gold titled “Slab City,” which you can watch here.

Howell returned in 2009 to interview Leonard for another episode of California’s Gold, Season 11’s “Desert Adventures,” which you can check out here.