Salvation Mountain — Attraction in Calipatria

In the parched stillness of the California desert, near the margins of Slab City and the Salton Sea, rises a kaleidoscopic anomaly that is equal parts folk art, pilgrimage site, and a man’s spiritual testament. Salvation Mountain, created by Leonard Knight over several decades, is both visually startling and emotionally arresting a vibrant eruption of color and conviction amid the beige, cracked silence of the badlands.

At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss Salvation Mountain as eccentric or naïve a sprawling hill coated in thick layers of paint, covered in childlike imagery and emblazoned repeatedly with the words “God Is Love.” But to stop there would be to overlook its quiet defiance and depth. Knight’s mountain isn’t just a religious shrine; it’s an act of sustained devotion in a world that often prioritizes speed, cynicism, and impermanence. The mountain endures, not because it was engineered to, but because someone cared for it relentlessly.

Walking the painted paths, which weave through canyons of hay bales and adobe, one senses a life poured out in color. It’s not just the visual saturation that overwhelms it’s the emotional saturation. Every inch seems infused with sincerity, as though each brushstroke were a prayer. There is something both deeply human and disarmingly raw in its lack of polish. Unlike the sanitized sanctity of formal religious structures, Salvation Mountain feels vulnerable, hopeful, and real.

The mountain doesn’t preach in the traditional sense. It pleads. Its gospel is one of simplicity: Love God. Love people. Knight, a man without theological training, built a theology of color more visceral than systematic, more heart than intellect. And for all its religious messaging, the site is not exclusionary. People of all backgrounds come here not to be converted, but to witness. To feel.

What lingers after a visit isn’t just the imagery it’s the stubborn optimism. In the midst of an often-forgotten desert community, where lives are lived on society’s periphery, this mountain proclaims meaning and beauty where the world sees none. It suggests that faith even if it is strange or solitary can still carve monuments out of the dust.

Salvation Mountain is a reminder that belief, when embodied fully and vulnerably, can be a radical kind of art. Not because it seeks to convince, but because it dares to be seen.

In a landscape defined by decay and departure, it stands as an improbable affirmation: Love is still here. It’s loud, it’s messy, and it’s painted in...

Salvation Mountain is basically a giant 50 foot high manmade clump of adobe clay and straw splashed in thousands of gallons of paint that is located in the lower desert of Southern California, just east of the Salton Sea. It is the gateway monument to the anarchical human wasteland that is Slab City.

The colourful art project was created by local resident / weirdo, Leonard Knight (1931–2014) as a tribute to God and encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Bible verses and religious scripture (such as the Lord's Prayer, John 3:16 and the Sinner's Prayer) and is dotted in peripheral structures made out of telephone poles, car tyres and car windows.

The surrounding post apocalyptic landscape is littered with other strange colourful artefacts, abandoned car murals and strange scrapyard sculptures.

It has been declared a national treasure by the Folk Art Society of America and seems to mostly be appreciated by local residents, snowbirds and members of the art community.

Open dawn to dusk. 365 days a year. It's definitely a quirky kind of detour for travelling wanderers on the road to pull up for the night, I'll give it that.

The surrounding Slab City ('The Slabs') is a decommissioned and uncontrolled free for all for snowbirds and squatters alike so you are more than welcome to find a camp site nearby too. It seems the only rule is respect others!

Be warned: The California Badlands gets sweltering hot in the day and is a literal wasteland for those living off the grid so you won't find even basic amenities...

The work the artist did to build this is incredible, and it's entirely free to visit. Unfortunately, as of March 2025, 11 years after Leonard Knight's death, the side rooms have started to fall apart. They're trying to get a grant to reinforce/rebuild it. Still, the mountain itself is very photogenic, and after seeing the rest of Slab City, I was more impressed by it than I was initially.

The area is a true desert, not much worth preserving, and from a religious perspective, I started to feel like the mountain may truly have built with some divine plan. Leonard's religiosity may have been atypical in a community that is very anti-establishment and transient, but he was one of them and his message was respected because it wasn't hostile, it was purely love. I feel like the mountain serves as a reminder that Jesus's message is for and can relate to those fed up with the establishment, too. There is a place for Jesus in the anti-establishment mindset, and he can inspire all of us to be better. Mr. Knight had a couple simple rules for how to engage with his artwork respectfully, it is a reminder of God's desire to respect ourselves and others. It sounds like many of those who now maintain the site in trust are not particularly religious themselves, yet it they are awed and inspired by it. In some times and places, that's the best way for the light to shine through the darkness of the world - to just inspire awe and remind us of a very simple message, like God loves everyone, so consider repenting and letting Jesus...