The growing desert forest made vibrant with glass bottles on trees of steel. A Bartell's Backroads Pit Stop adventure.

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Just off Historic Route 66 in San Bernardino County is a forest of trees growing in the desert. It’s called Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch, and like leaves on a tree, the wind shakes colorful glass bottles hanging from metal tree branches planted on a sandy lot in the town of Oro Grande.

The Bottle Trees, as they are known, were built by the late Elmer Long, a folk artist who died in 2019. Bryan McKinsey is the current caretaker of the Bottle Tree Ranch, and if you catch him walking through the glassy forest, he might tell you how it all started.

“After retiring from the cement plant up the road he started creating art,” said McKinsey.

McKinsey says when Elmer was a kid, he and his father would hike the desert and collect old glass bottles just for fun.

“Some were donated; most were found,” said McKinsey.

With bottles piling up, Elmer decided to display them. In the early 00s, he grabbed some old metal pipe and welded tree limbs for the bottles to sit on.

Route 66 is known for its odd roadside attractions. McKinsey says it’s not uncommon for the Bottle Tree Ranch to see 500 people a day and the forest is always growing.

“There are about 200 trees. I’ve added about 15 myself,” said McKinsey.

Elmer loved to inspire his visitors and wanted to make it accessible for everyone. Donations are accepted but there is no fee to enter the ranch. You can stop by any time.

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