Where To Find Off-Road Desert Oddities In California

You never know where your off-road adventures might lead. This is especially true in the California desert. There are several oddities in the desert that you can reach with off-road trails. You might find giant sculptures, burning boats, and abandoned movie sets. Let’s take a look at some interesting sites.

East Jesus Art Installation – Slab City

If you’re on Highway 111 near Niland, CA, you can access some rough desert roads that lead to this desert oddity. It’s essentially an experimental art project made from various junk, old vehicles, and electronics. The strange art colony began construction in the mid-2000s and now holds many interactive sculptures like robotic monuments and a piano graveyard. The idea behind it is to create something sustainable and habitable using junk and trash. The installation is on the outskirts of Slab City.

Salvation Mountain – Niland

Also near Niland is the strange Salvation Mountain site. This brightly painted, man-made mountain is constructed from hay bales, adobe, and thousands of gallons of paint. It’s also full of Bible verses and other Biblical references. You can reach it by taking Beal Road and finding the unpaved desert roads that lead there. It’s about an hour and a half from Palm Springs. The strange site was created by Leonard Knight over 30 years ago. It’s one of the more colorful off-road adventures that you might encounter.

Burning Boat Sculpture – Bombay Beach in Salton Sea

If you take the sand-covered roads near the Salton Sea, you may eventually run into a giant boat-shaped sculpture that has been used in various performance art applications. Sometimes it’s set on fire as well. Bombay Beach is also home to the Bombay Beach Biennale, which is an underground art festival held in the spring. It turns the otherwise decaying town into an open-air art gallery when in operation. The entire Salton Sea shoreline is well-known for its inspiration to artists, and various interesting things can be found there regularly.

The Island’s Abandoned Film Set – Imperial Dunes

You can get to the abandoned film set from Michael Bay’s 2005 sci-fi film “The Island” through the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. This off-road adventure generally requires a 4WD vehicle and some dune navigation. Once you get there, you’ll find massive futuristic structures that were used to film the hovercraft scenes in the movie. The structures were simply left behind in the dunes after filming finished.

Giant Metal Sculptures – Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs

Unpaved roads and sandy trails in Borrego Springs will lead you to the Galleta Meadows area, where you’ll find over 130 huge metal sculptures. The metal creations are often quite fantastical, such as the 350-foot sea serpent. The art installation was created by Ricardo Breceda and blends fantasy and prehistoric life inspirations. You can find them scattered across the Anza-Borrego Desert. Many people hike to this area, but it’s obviously easier and faster to reach it with an off-road vehicle.

One thing about the metal sculptures compared to the other sites is that they’re not all in one place. You may have to drive around to see them all.