Salvation Mountain

Did you think like I did that Salvation Mountain was in Salton City? Check out the boxes on the map, as they are located on opposite sides of the lake! Salvation Mountain and nearby Slab City are located just outside the community of Niland. We wanted to see the east side of the lake, so we drove the approximate 13 miles north on Highway 86 to Mecca and 55 miles south on Highway 111 to Niland. The route around the southern tip of the lake to Niland is approximately 50 miles.   

This is Salvation Mountain as you first approach it. I have to admit that prior to going to it I had imagined it to be remote and possibly unsafe. It is very much a tourist attraction and has attendants that stay on the property. We saw on the Salvation Mountain website or Facebook page that they are wanting workkampers! 

  Touring Salvation Mountain is free, but donations are accepted.

Here are the rules for the property and a brief history of Leonard Knight, the man who built Salvation Mountain.

I love this picture of Leonard Knight! Look at that smile and enthusiasm! He died on February 10, 2014 at the age of 82 after having lived and worked at his Salvation Mountain project for 30 years! Here is a link to a wonderful summary of his life and his Salvation Mountain project:  Leonard Knight Biography

I didn't understand the boat at the time we were there, but then there is a lot that spawns a question! I later read that the painted area at the base of the mountain is the Sea of Galilee. Still no connection until later:  The boat - The Sea of Galilee! Was his intention to eventually have the boat in the Sea of Galilee? Makes sense to me! 

See the waves in the sea!

I love all the colors, little windows, and my hubby, Roy, standing there! To his left is the entrance to a maze of rooms and to his right are some smaller individual rooms. You'll see their entrances in the next picture.  

These doorways enter two individual small rooms.

Here is a look inside one of the small rooms!

This is one of the corridors, as you wind through the larger windowed structure. It looks like work on Leonard's mountain continues!

It was nice and cool inside!

I enjoyed the birds painted on the windows!

Isn't this fanciful and wonderful, like something out of a Dr. Seuss book?!

It's so serene and fascinating! It makes the heart smile!

This is the message Leonard wanted to share with the world!

The walk through ends too soon.

Check out the yellow brick road!  There is a sign at the start of the climb up the mountain that says, "Please stay on the yellow brick road."  What a sense of humor!

The pathway is soft, as the paint is poured directly onto the desert surface or adobe made from straw.

It is kind of strange when the top is reached, as the painting abruptly ends and goes back into natural desert. It is also not a peak that goes directly down the back side of the mountain, but is more like the painting is on the front side of a plateau. The area with the r.v.'s is the start of Slab City. I'm guessing this section is made-up of retirees that are here for the Winter.

This is the area to the left side of the mountain. We walked down a sand road on that side.

Salvation Mountain has volunteers and a board of directors that work toward its preservation. Here are a couple of interesting links:  Salvation Mountain Official Website , Salvation Mountain on Facebook

Borrego Springs, CA

Borrego Springs is approximately 30 miles from Salton City through the Colorado Desert. State Highway 22 is a good two lane paved road. There were lots of R.V.s congregating out in the desert for an ATV rally. This picture is looking southeast back towards the Salton Sea (top left corner).     

This picture was taken in the same location as the previous picture but looking southwest. Closer to the community of Borrego Springs the land along the highway becomes part of the 600,000 acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park is named for the 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and borrego, which is the Spanish word for bighorn sheep.

The community of Borrego Springs has a central park that the road circles around. Coming off the circle going to the north and south is Borrego Springs Drive. The sculptures are located along both sections. The community was noted on the 2010 census to have a population of 3,429 residents. It is surrounded by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There is a park visitor's center nearby with some nice desert landscaping, but the park itself consists primarily of the surrounding natural desert.    

As with most things, the Borrego Springs metal sculptures have an interesting story of how they came to be. I'll give a synopsis, as you view the pictures. The story begins with Richard Breceda, who is now referred to as the accidental artist. In 2001 he was experimenting with making metal sculptures as a hobby. After taking his then 6 year old daughter to see the movie Jurassic Park III, he asked her what she would like for Christmas. She said she wanted a T-Rex. It took Richard only a few weeks to build a 20 foot high by 45 foot long T-Rex out of sheet metal. He placed the sculpture in his front yard. Over the next two years he built more sculptures and pretty soon people were stopping by asking about buying them! In 2007 multimillionaire philanthropist Dennis Avery happened to drive by Breceda's studio.    

Avery owned about 3 square miles of noncontiguous parcels in Borrego stretching across town. Avery a paleontology buff had helped finance a book about the fossils found in the Anza-Borrego Desert. He asked Breceda to create some of the beasts that were depicted in the book. When the first three elephant-like sculptures suddenly appeared one day in the middle of the desert, people were fascinated.  

Over the next several years Avery financed more and more sculptures.  They eventually ran out of fossil-based animals.

Today about 150 giant sculptures are scattered all over the area.

Avery died in 2012, but a fund has been set up so that Breceda can maintain the sculptures.

Richard Breceda has recently relocated his studio to Borrego Springs and has a dream of creating a 5 acre park where interested buyers can peruse his work and where school children can come on field trips.

This dragon-serpent is a favorite, as its body spans the road!

Check out the truck driving between the body segments!

The detail the artist puts into his work is amazing. Dennis Avery is the land owner of Galleta Meadows Estates.

The sculptures are referred to as sky art!

Here is a pretty flower I'd call a desert lily.

A few more desert flowers!

This interesting caterpillar and his comrades were marching in mass across the desert! They moved with a strength, presence, and speed that was a bit daunting coming from such small creatures!

I hope to see some real desert tortoises someday!

Borregos!

Bighorn sheep!

Wonderful detail! Give yourself a full day for touring the sculptures or a couple half days! We arrived in the mid afternoon and ran out of energy before getting to them all. We will be making a return visit!  

The Salton Sea Area

We traveled west on Highway 8 from Yuma and took Interstate 111 north. Interstate 111 is nice as it bypasses going through the communities along the way. Highway 111 turns into 78.  We then exited onto Highway 86 north to our destination near the community of Salton Sea Beach. Salton Sea Beach is only 4 miles north of Salton City. The scenery between Yuma and the Salton Sea area is a mix of desert and agriculture.

The Salton Sea has an interesting history and future! The basin it is in was at one time a salt mine! The modern sea was created accidentally in 1905 when an irrigation canal coming off the Colorado River broke! It took two years for engineers to stop the water flow and the Salton Sea was born! The Salton Sea averages 15 miles wide by 35 miles long and has a depth of 44 feet. The lake's salinity is about 54 grams per Litre (i.e. g/L) which is greater than that of the Pacific Ocean at 35 g/L, but less than that of the Great Salt Lake which ranges from 50-270 g/L. The Salton Sea had some success as a resort area in the 1950's and had a housing boom in the 1990s. As to the sea's future, the water level is expected to decrease significantly between 2013 and 2021 due to changes in water apportionment agreements. There is a current movement to save the Salton Sea, as plans are underway to dry up the center section leaving a horseshoe shaped lake on the north end and a salt marsh on the south end. This plan's projected completion date is 2035! 

      

We pulled into Silver Sands RV Park on March 4th planning to stay a couple of days and then move closer to other points of interest.  We were given such a warm welcome by the park residents, that we decided to make the rv park our home base for traveling to nearby points of interest. The park is very basic, but is only $10.00 per night for a place to stay that provides water, sewer, and electricity! We stayed until the 11th alternating days of running and lounging at home.  Our camper is in the center, with all our wonderful neighbor's homes around us! 

This is our view across the highway to the sea. It was such a quiet and peaceful existence up on our hillside!  It will call us back!  

On the same side of the highway as our r.v. park and not more than a mile away is the Red Earth Casino and travel plaza. Both were a nice convenience and Roy won $100!

Here is the entrance to Salton City. There is a small market, post office, and restaurant close to the highway and the rest consists of housing. The 2010 census showed a population of 3,763 residents.

Many of the homes are of this style and spread out through the desert. The landscaping is mostly natural desert!

This is the community sign for Salton Sea Beach. I'm not sure why I'm including it other than it seems to somehow sum up the casual lifestyle of the area! I can't quite figure out the strange feeling it projects! Is it a breaking with society's code of conduct to plaster all those signs over the Salton Sea Beach Marina sign?  What does it say about the community to have this as their community welcome sign? Hmmm???  I think the marina is no longer in operation.

The community of Salton Sea Beach has a beach community feel.  It has lots of modular homes and sandy yards.  The lifestyle is relaxed. The 2010 census showed a population of 422 residents.

On the northeast side of the lake is the Salton Sea State Recreation Area. It has 14 miles of beach front and several campgrounds. Some have amenities and some don't. Those that do are about $30.00 a night!

We took a drive through and looked at the beach from the truck. It didn't look inviting, as it appears sticky with salt. The air seemed fresh, but we could feel the salt in the air. I had to chuckle that we were starting to locate home by the mountains across the lake!

This landscape is along State Route 22 going towards Borrego Springs. The community of Borrego Springs is about 30 miles from Salton City. Off in the distance you can see lots of campers. There was a San Diego based ATV club having a rally here. It looks like a great place for it! More about Borrego Springs in the next post!