Giant Rock CA

If you want to go to Giant Rock, it is advisable that you drive a high clearance vehicle, preferably 4WD (not always necessary, but it can come in handy). Giant Rock, one of the world's largest free-standing boulders, was once home (under the rock) to George Van Tassel, who lived here with his family. Hollywood legends would fly out and land on the dry lake bed nearby to enjoy a slice of pie made by George's wife, and to talk alien technology with George. Howard Hughes is reputed to have brought George some of Nikola Tesla's journals as a gift. Van Tassel was a UFO contactee (evidently the aliens hadn't begun abducting people in the 1950s), and built the nearby Integratron with technology provided by the Venutians. He held the Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention from 1953 to 1978, with as many as 10,000 people attending each year. In 2000, a part of Giant Rock split off, leading many new age folks to claim that was part of a prophecy for the millennium to come. It was actually more likely to have happened as the result of campers building a large bonfire under that side of the rock on a freezing winter's night. Today, Giant Rock is a base for off-roaders and campers and there are ongoing problems with trash, graffiti, and vandalism. But it's a fun stop for local hi-desert history.