You never know what you’re going to find on the side of America’s most famous highway. Hidden just out of sight along Route 66 is a bizarre landscape right out of a surrealist painting, and it’s definitely worth a pit stop. Walking through this glass forest is like wandering through a maze of jewels.
Read on to learn more about this utterly unique site.
Bottle Tree Ranch has only been around for a decade or so, but it feels like a classic Route 66 roadside curiosity.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
The attraction is the creative passion product of Elmer Long. He collects bottles and crafts sparkling, dreamlike groves of glass trees out in the desert.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
There are over 200 bottle trees in this “forest.” Each is handcrafted by Long.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
In addition to the bottles, the artists adorns the trees with interesting items like animal skulls, vintage toys, broken firearms, and classic signs.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
Part of the magic of this place is what happens when the wind blows through the forest: the bottles and their hanging decorations produce a beautiful, almost eerie sound.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
The glass forest catches the light of the desert sun and produces a kaleidoscope of glittering colors and jewel-bright shadows.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
Long says the inspiration for the bottle forest came from his childhood. During the 1950s, he and his father would root around the trash on Manhattan Beach to find discarded treasures.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
He says that he hopes the glass forest will make people reconsider the beauty and utility of “trash.”
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
Elmer Long is usually around to answer questions from visitors, and he’s very friendly.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
You can find Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch at 24266 National Trails Highway, Oro Grande, California 92368. Check out the video below for a deeper look into this spectacular glass forest.
Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns
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