Okay, I don't mean to be morbid today (I've already mentioned funerals), but it does seem really important to mention the passing of Leonard Knight, the creator of that crazy creation up top there, Salvation Mountain, in Niland, California. I have yet to visit Salvation Mountain, but virtually everyone who goes there will tell you it's one of the strangest and most wonderful places they've ever visited.

The LA Times had this obituary of Knight:

Leonard Knight, the lean and sturdy New Englander who spent three decades joyously painting religious messages on a tall mound of adobe he called Salvation Mountain in the Imperial Valley desert, died Monday at age 82.

Knight died at a convalescent hospital in eastern San Diego County where he had been a resident for more than two years. He had suffered the ravages of diabetes, along with other ailments of old age.

His death was announced on his Salvation Mountain Facebook page by his devoted followers who have been attempting to preserve his labor of love east of the Salton Sea near the squatter village called Slab City.

Until his health declined, Knight had lived in the back of his truck, sharing his space with a variety of cats without names, undeterred by the brutal desert heat or howling winds.

"Love Jesus and keep it simple," he once said, explaining his philosophy of life.

Over at the Hairpin, Laura Yan offers her memories of a road trip to Salvation Mountain and the nearby Slab City. Local photographer Virginia Wilcox has more images of the place in her series on the Salton Sea.

Farewell, mountain-maker. That is one hell of a monument to leave behind.

Thanks, Slog Tipper Seija.