Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea: California Road Trippin’

I visited Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea with my sister as a day trip from Palm Springs. We had heard about the unique, vibrant and fascinating art installations at both Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea and knew they were worth a detour! Both attract free spirited travelers from around the globe.

Here are detailed guides to visiting both sites in the same day.

When to Go

The best time to visit Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea is September to April. This part of Southern California can get extremely hot between May and August.

Although you can visit in the summer, you may find the heat overwhelming. I visited the area in January and it was an ideal temperature – warm enough to wear a dress without being stifling hot.

Getting There

Salvation Mountain is located at 603 Beal Rd, Niland, CA 92257. It is 205 miles, or about a 1.5 hour drive, from Palm Springs.

Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, which is where I visited, is about a 30 minute drive from Salvation Mountain. You can visit both on the same day as a day trip from Palm Springs.

Salvation Mountain is open from dawn until dusk 365 days per year. There is no entrance or parking fee. We were given a free DVD about the artist and the site, as well as free postcards, by a volunteer working onsite.

The Salton Sea isn’t a formal recreation area and is open 24/7. However, I’d recommend visiting during daylight so you can get the full experience.

Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain is a colorful and vibrant man-made mountain created by American folk artist Leonard Knight. Salvation Mountain is made out of adobe clay and straw and covered in half a million gallons of latex paint. It was Leonard Knight’s life’s work, 28 years in the making. The artist passed away in 2014. You can read more about the life and works of Leonard Knight here.

During our trip to Salvation Mountain, we met a local woman who knew Leonard Knight personally when she was a girl. She regaled us with the story of how Leonard Knight crashed a hot air balloon near Slab City and decided to create Salvation Mountain. I’m not 100% sure if this is true, since I’ve read that Leonard Knight’s attempts to fly a homemade hot air balloon were in Nevada. But it certainly paints a fascinating picture of the artist.

Though Salvation Mountain reflects the Christian beliefs of Leonard Knight, its bright colors and positive message have attracted travelers of all types and beliefs from across the globe.

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Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is about a 30 minute drive from Salvation Mountain. It is a shallow, extremely salty lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault in California. The Salton Sea is the largest inland lake in California, and is fed by the New, Whitewater, and Alamo Rivers, and also from local agricultural runoff, drainage systems and nearby creeks.

Over the last thousands (or even millions) of years, the Colorado River has overflowed into the region and created the lakebed of the Salton Sea. The most recent inflow of water into the Salton Sea was entirely by accident. In an effort to increase water flow for nearby farms, the engineers made a cut into the banks of the Colorado River to increase water flow for irrigation. It was unplanned, but the water flow resulting from the cut overwhelmed the artificial canal and flowed into the then dry lake bed of the Salton Sea.

In the 1950s, a resort area was built in the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea resort town was thriving for a while and known as the “miracle in the desert”, hosting esteemed guests like Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys.

These resorts were ultimately shut down and abandoned because of the increasing salinity and pollution of the Salton Sea. For a variety of reasons, including lack of drainage and almost zero annual rainfall, the Salton Sea became incredibly salty and polluted, leading to the death of many of the birds and fish in the region.

The Salton Sea is visibly polluted, with a strong salty and fishy smell in the air and fish bones scattered throughout its banks. You can find crumbling remains of various old resorts in the area, including those of the Bombay Beach resort.

The town of Niland remains near the Salton with a population of about 1,000 people and under 300 people live in the nearby community of Bombay Beach.

The Salton Sea has become a hotspot of sorts for decay tourism, due to its eerie and deserted atmosphere. It has also attracted a creative community of artists. The Bombay Beach Biennale is held annually to raise money and awareness to support the area. According to its website, it’s a “renegade celebration of art, music, and philosophy”. I haven’t had the chance to attend yet, but I would love to be a guest.

As part of the Bombay Beach Biennale, the Bombay Beach drive-in was created. It is is an outdoor movie theatre featuring broken down old cars and boats. It serves as a year round cinema and art installation, with additional screenings held during the Bombay Beach Biennale. It is a colorful and vibrant installation that is an absolute joy to explore.

I would love to see this fascinating part of the USA restored and come back to life.

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If you are visiting the Palm Springs area, I highly recommend you detour to Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea. Both are colorful, fascinating and have unique art installations. If you’ve already been to either, let me know in the comments!

xx

Vicki

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