One of my favorite film of all metre is Sean Penn ’s “ Into The Wild , ” a honest story based on theJon Krakauer novel(of the same name ) about a youthful vagrant bring up Christopher McCandless . In the midsection of his soul - searching journeying , Christopher stopped at Salvation Mountain and Slab City , two splendidly eclectic turning point in the Colorado Desert of California .
There , he met an intriguing and colored mould of characters , from the Divine of Salvation Mountain , Leonard Knight ( who play himself ) , to the artist and wanderers who sought refuge in what ’s often called “ The Last Free Place on Earth . ”
I ’d almost forgotten about those scenes until I establish myself confining to the very location where the movie was filmed , just a few miles from theSalton Seanear the characterless town of Niland .
It was early September when we drove through the sun - baked section of desert that on a regular basis reaches temps of 120 ° F in efflorescence summertime . That twenty-four hours , it was 111 ° F and the first fourth dimension the thermostat in my machine mount into the triple digits all year .
Driving along Beal Road , which was as bare as they arrive , the first view to emerge from the brown oasis was the technicolor art installation know asSalvation Mountain , a sorting of gateway to Slab City . Because if you ca n’t handle the unbridled ego - expression and aesthetic passion that is Salvation Mountain , you ’re not ready for The Slabs .
Neither place is for the faint or the non - adventuresome .
Salvation Mountain is a 50 - foot - high and 150 - foot - wide giant of an art piece , an homage to God and his gift to the world with a brawny message at the vizor of the mess : “ God Is Love . ”
The “ mountain ” is actually a sloping , undulating mound covered in straw , adobe , and thousands of gallons of acrylic paint , the origination of a vagrant name Leonard Knight . A Vermont native , Leonard affect to that pile of shit in the 1980s after his red-hot air balloon crashed into the land site . Taking it as a signal from God , he decide to stay in the harsh desert year - round , make his home in an old reborn truck at the base of the hill , and devote his life ’s employment to painting ( and repainting ) vibrant scriptural messages on the cracked earth . He go at Salvation Mountain for nearly three decades , swear on the forgivingness and part of visitors for paint supply .
The shrine is clearly a beloved will to Leonard ’s religious redemption , but seems more exhort by Candy Land on an LSD stumble . The phantasmagorical portraying admit rainbows , waterfalls , flowers , Dove , hearts , and a yellow track ( dub the “ yellow brick road ” ) that highlights a serial publication of steps carved into the Alfred Hawthorne . Visitors to Salvation Mountain can climb their fashion to the top , as I did . ( Oh , and did I advert it was 111 ° F that Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ? )
If you squint , you’re able to in reality see me under the crossing , nearly three stories up .
Leonard draw away in February 2014 , but volunteer have since banded together to asseverate and protect the mountain . When a decline in health incite his move into a full - prison term care readiness , a public - benefit nonprofit was take shape to keep his work .
Salvation Mountain was deemed aNational Folk Art Sitein 2000 by the Folk Art Society of America .
In 2002 , the mountain was named a national treasure in the Congressional Record of the United States . In her destination , California Senator Barbara Boxer called Salvation Mountain “ a curious sculpture run from the desert by a modest , single - minded man … profoundly strange and beautifully accessible , and worthy of the external acclaim it receive . ”
I specially make love this quotation from hisLos Angeles Times tribute : “ If somebody give me $ 100,000 a week to move somewhere and live in a mansion and be a big shot , I ’d refuse it , ” said Leonard . “ I require to be right on here . It ’s awesome , is n’t it ? ”
Sheer passion the right way there , folks .
Just beyond Salvation Mountain , we continued across the desiccated flat until we reach the 640 - Akko compound of squatters , snowbirds , and gypsies eff as Slab City .
In September , there ’s not much pop off on in The Slabs . Only a couple hundred diehard dwell in the stifling heat of summer , versus the thousands that arrive in the rip - liberal , do - it - yourself , off - grid camping ground once temperatures drop .
snowbird from goal as far toss as Canada pack up their RVs and their pensions and spend their winters in the warmth of the Southern California sun . Retirees and corner refugees set up shop class ( or trailers , trucks , or campers ) next to meth - addled loner and Christopher McCandless - esque kids ban the conventional life . They quell for a workweek or a time of year or even constantly . They ’re take out to this biography in the desert for many reasons ; some detain by choice while others are keep there by circumstance .
The Slabs are situated on an uncontrolled and decommissioned military training base called Camp Dunlap . The concrete slabs for which the colonization is call are oddment from World War II - geological era Marine barracks . Squatters commence moving to The Slabs ( now owned by the state of California ) in the sixties , and today it is both a popular Turdus pilaris address and an experimental off - control grid playground .
It ’s not unusual to see born-again schooling buses parked beside ramshackle single - wides parked beside soup - up recreational vehicle with $ 100,000 price tags . Some “ neighborhoods ” look like a harebrained Max revival while others comprise row after row of modern - day campers — picture a semi - permanent Burning Man colony ( in the early Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ) mixed with a hard dose of reality . The community is limited only by the imaginativeness and resourcefulness of its residents .
There is no water , electricity , glass , or sewerage . In a fashion , it ’s almost like the Old West . Slab City has its own economy ranging from neighbor bartering handyman run to local anesthetic offering repast on donation . There ’s a depository library , a lounging domain , a free cyberspace cafe lean entirely on solar superpower , a late - night social spot called The Range ( which host the annual “ Slab City Prom ” in spring ) , and plenty more job , lasting and pop - up , that I did n’t see in summertime when most Slabbers have migrate to cool climes .
But do October , they start flocking to the desert in all way of vehicle . And I ’m thinking a return sojourn is in my future this wintertime .
