Salvation Mountain, Imperial County, CA
Salvation Mountain, was created from adobe bricks, discarded tires, windows and automobile parts by Leonard Knight beginning in 1984. It features numerous murals that incorporate Bible verses and Christian sayings based on the Sinner’s Prayer. Knight died in 2014 after spending the last 30 years of his life working on the 50 foot-tall mountain. He slept at the base of the mountain in the back of his pick-up truck. The religious folk art now serves as a centerpiece for Slab City, a squatter art community, and is managed by a public charity. Much of it was inaccessible and in need of repair when we visited in June 2022. (1/2)
On The Road, Summer 2022
We live in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, so when the temperatures consistently reach triple digits, we migrate and explore.
There is very little that is random on our itineraries since we strive to reach select wilderness destinations in the best light for photography. Coastal hikes often require low tides that correlate with sunrise or sunset and inland hikes to natural arches, waterfalls and other destinations that require long drives or hikes, often require pre-dawn departures to reach destinations before the light becomes too harsh and the temperatures too hot.
Even then, as Joni Michell wrote and Judy Collins first recorded, there are those pesky clouds:
“But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way.”
In mid-June, we headed west to the Colorado Desert in southern California, then up the California coast before cutting inland to Pinnacles National Park and Mt. Shasta. From there, we traveled across southern Oregon before dropping down into southeast Idaho, northeast Utah and across to western Colorado for a week in the Fruita area. Afterwards we stopped in Boulder, Denver, Littleton and Del Norte, Colorado before heading into New Mexico where we made stops in Taos, Las Vegas, Abiquiu and Counselor before crossing back into Arizona, and arriving home.
Details are within the slide shows, but thanks to our friends and relatives: Libby, Sarah and Jason, Jim, Guy and Lisa, Steven, Bonnie and Myra, Karen and David, Marilyn and Joel, David and Judy, Ross, Kate and Greg, Bob and Carol, another Carol and Peter who fed us, housed us, hiked with us and guided us. We loved spending time with you all.
