New Year's Eve - Hitchhikers Head Back to Slab City, California

For the 4th straight year, hitchhikers will be making their way from across the USA -and even Canada- to Slab City, an off-the-grid squatters community in the deserts of Southern California, by the Salton Sea. One of the first things you see coming into this 'city' just a few miles east of Niland is Salvation Mountain, Leonard Knight's hillside creation of painted gospel messages. Past that is a sea of RVs and mostly friendly old-timers, but stick around long enough and you'll meet all kinds of travelin' folk, young and old.

Diehards stick around year-long, such as Builder Bill- creator of outdoor music venue, The Range. Here most every winter weekend you can enjoy music of the jam-band variety. Got an instrument, get up on stage and join the band!

Hitchhikers set up camp at The Tanks, next to the S.P.A.Z. crew, or at The Bunkers. Camping free out in the desert, they swap stories and share hitchhiking resources around the campfire, ambling down Main Street to talk it up with the locals or catch some music from Insane Wayne and the gang.

Planning to head out to The Slabs this year? Hitchhikers, RVers and road trippers can get directions to Slab City and Niland here. Want to see what else goes on? Check out digihitch's Slab City page, or Slab City on MySpace. Other pages with photos and info include www.desertdutch.org and www.slabcity.org

Let us know you're coming! Visit the official New Year Hitchhiker Happening homepage with details and discussions.