Gunga Din side, Saturday, 3/27/21

Late yesterday afternoon, we left Tergel parked at her site and Jimmy and I drove the two-and-a-half-miles into Lone Pine.  I knew where the VC was and I wanted to see if they were a) open and, b) if brochures or info could be had RE Alabama Hills and Death Valley.  Yes, on both, sort of.  The VC wasn't open, but pertinent info could obtained at two manned tables outside.  We picked up what we needed.  As we'd passed thru town, we'd seen an eatery that boasted, "Best Burger in Town," and smelled the overwhelming aroma of burgers and fries.  Obviously we stopped!  Good grub, lousy ambiance.

What did we see when we got back?  A new small rig parked ten feet away from Tergel!  If we hadn't left, that rig wouldn't have been able to get in, 'cause that's where Smartie was parked (almost).  Geez, I thought, some people!  Next thing I knew, a few others showed up with tents and parked twenty feet from the new people.  Aw, well, c'mon.  Then I realized, boondockers go where they want and ... it's the weekend!  The people on top of us were foreign speaking (couldn't identify the language), but they had two young/ish girls who were active and cute.  No one really bothered us and I got over my snit quickly ... why let something like that ruin your day?  But ... The Hills were crowded!

Saturday morning we took off on Horseshoe Meadows Rd, aiming for the Gunga Din movie site.  Somehow we ended up on Tuttle Creek Rd, but we found a nice trail to follow along Tuttle Creek.  The rocks turned me around somehow.  Like the picture, above, all those rocks turning the other cheek! 😉

We had to find a way across the lively and cold creek (where the greenery is).  We followed a ten-year-old kid and waited to see if he could navigate a loose pile of sticks, rocks and logs.  He made it, so we said, okay, we can do this.  We didn't get a soaker, either.  The kid turned around.  We continued on, all by ourselves (hooray!).

So many strange-appearing rocks on top of boulders piled on bigger boulders.  In the pic above, it seems as though someone has plastered dark adobe bricks to the boulder beneath, though we know that isn't the case.  What looks to be overall drab is anything but.

We found quite a few of these small fragments of ... what are they?  You can find random pieces of leftover filmdom here and there, mostly small, jarring things that you'd look at and think, what the heck is this and why is out here among these fantastical rounded rocks and eroded hills? 

Always, the wonderful, snow-clad Sierras serve as a backdrop.  No wonder Alabama Hills was such a popular TV and movie location, especially Westerns.  Can't you imagine Roy Rogers or the Lone Ranger galloping madly across the flats, chasing bad guys?  Or bad guys with guns hiding behind boulders, waiting to rob the stagecoach?  Lone Pine has a Film History Museum, which we enjoyed ten years ago.  Me?  I'm just sitting there, enjoying the moment.

Paths intersect and crisscross, and we followed one deep into the "bush."  I think eventually the path we took, above, would've rejoined the main trail further on.  We weren't hiking, per se, as in see how fast or how many miles we could get in, we were Out and About on an EXplore.  Honestly, the quiet in this location was incredible.

After rejoining the main trail, we were led down to the road where Tuttle Creek crossed in a culvert.  We followed for a while but saw no easy creek-crossing access, so we gave up and turned around. 

Near the road, I found this huge boulder that I could fit under, which I was attempting to do when Jimmy took the pic.  You can't really see how far in I could've gone.

Nature can't be tamed, but someone in these hills, sometime ago, decided to "make a home" in the ancient lava flow, above. No one I talked with knew anything about this. I couldn't find the first word online about it, either. Inside, it isn't large, but tall enough to stand up in and large enough for someone to shelter in. The top has two round holes in it, one probably had a stove pipe, and I don't know about the other one unless, perhaps it pertained to mining?

The red x?  I was sure it was a raptor nest and, like a danged fool, climbed up there to investigate.  I couldn't get right next to it, but whoever had lived in there was gone.

Big enough for a bedroll and a table/chair, or maybe storage?

Life's mysteries abound!

View from the empty bird nest.

We circled around some, eventually finding the site we were looking for.  We could've driven down this pitted gravel road for more excitement, but decided to call it a day.  If you enlarge the photo, it'll be easier to read.  Use your back arrow to return to this post.

I almost forgot to tell you that in March 2019, the US congress designated the area as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area.  Let us hope these hills remain scenic forevermore.

Once in a while you're in the right place at the right time, and it happened this evening.  We caught the "coyote howling at the moon" shot from our Tergel.  The Full Worm Moon.  Of course, this is an Alabama Hills boulder, not a coyote, but not to me ... I saw a coyote howling at the moon!  Love this pic!

Tomorrow we'll wander down the hill, so to speak, into Death Valley and see what's shaking.  We've had a grand stay here ... so glad we returned to hike around these peaceful and, yes, even beautiful hills.

Alabama Hills, Friday, 3/26/21

Did you know that:  California's Mt Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous US at 14,505' and Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in North America, at 282' below sea level, and the two are only 84.6 miles apart?!  Yup.  And, sandwiched in between are the amazing Alabama Hills. This is where we're boondocking for two nights, and two days of exploring and scrambling over boulders.

Remember I said we'd lost the photos we took while at the Hills?  Where'd they go?  Unknown.  But, yeehaw!  Lookie what I found:  The photos that were lost have been found.  Here are a few:

Driving down Hwy 395 from Carson City NV to Alabama Hills is sensory overload.  Sage-covered foothills and black volcanic rock against the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mtns is a sight to behold, and that's a fact.  

From the little town of Lone Pine, we turned onto Whitney Portal Rd, which took us to Movie Rd, where we'd find a site to park.  Stiff winds are blowing snow from the mountain peaks.  One of those peaks is Mt Whitney.

With gale force winds blowing, we chose to back up to the rocks and keep our face (windshield) to the wind.  Ahem, not a bad view, either.

As soon as we finished lunch, we were off on our EXplore!

Under a vast and sunny blue sky.

Eroding sandstone makes for some truly interesting shapes/forms.

Neat seat!  Also in lee of the wind.

Another rig is backed up against the rocks.  Campers of every description were all over these hills, but you see there's enough room for many rigs.

Can you see me?

Dwarfed by rocks.

Across Whitney Portal Rd we discovered these two horses and a tree, of sorts.  And a patch of Prickly Pear Cactus.  I assume these horses belonged to someone; this corner is fenced.  Certainly the desert offered nothing for them to eat.  They didn't seem inclined to move around. 

When we were here ten years ago, Jimmy found a "movie" rock that was as light as a feather, tho it looked as heavy as a two-ton boulder.  He picked it up like he was Superman and made to throw it.  The rock, above, is the real deal, and too heavy for Jimmy to pitch out of the way!

This place is so open, so cool.

Alabama Hills is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) territory leaving it open to the public for free hiking, climbing, mountain biking, 4-wheeling and camping across the area.  Unfortunately, as in many other beautiful places in this country, The Hills are being loved to death, overrun with too many people, too much trash (pack it in AND out, people!), and too little respect for Mother Nature's handiwork.  There's talk of instituting restrictions .... 

We climbed these big ol' boulders, Jimmy and me,

just some of them, carefully,

as befits the older set such as we.

Full circle.  I got turned around while Out and About, but Jimmy said if we went this-a-way, we'd return to Tergel, and he was right.  We spent several very fun hours wandering around in the hills, enjoying every minute.  Tomorrow (Saturday) we'll have more of the same, on the other side of Whitney Portal Rd.  O boy.

Alabama Hills, CA 10/23-24, 2010

 

A small section of Alabama Hills.

Can you see me?

 

How do I get down?

Jimmy walking in a boulder-strewn canyon.

I've always wanted to spend some time climbing around in these weird, weather-beaten rocks, and -- oh boy -- now's the time! Off Hwy 395, west of Lone Pine at the base of 14,494' Mt. Whitney, Jimmy and I are dry-camped in Tuttle Creek C/G. The Hills are open to climbing wherever you want, and it does feel like you're in another world among these ancient rock piles, with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mtns as the backdrop. We saw countless arches and it was very easy to "see" fantastical figures (an owl or a walrus or a pumpkin or feet, and so on). The photos give you a general idea, but there is so much more than I can show in a picture.

Many Western movies, such as Maverick, High Sierra, How the West was Won (and even Gunga Din) as well as TV shows (Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, etc.) were filmed in these hills -- over 400! We even spotted a couple of old, discarded props in some of the narrow canyons, pictures below. It's easy to imagine cowboys on horses riding the dusty trails, dodging the bad guys poised on the rocks above, or a runaway stage coach. We also visited the Museum of Lone Pine Film History in Lone Pine, which explores the history of movie-making in Inyo County since 1915. Really interesting place to browse for an hour or two. I took a bunch of pictures, but they disappeared into saddle bags somewhere ....  

 

Some kind of rusted car sawed in half.

 

Dunno what this was....

 

And just HOW heavy is that rock?

 

 

Easing my way down this narrow slot canyon.

Admiring this awesome place.

A big ol' scary wind blew up at sundown on the 24nd, and wouldn't you know our RV was broadside to it. When gusts of 50-60 miles an hour hit us at bedtime, we knew there'd be NO sleep unless we moved the RV with its nose into the wind. At 11 pm, we did exactly that -- moved out of our site and down the road. Once resettled, we slept peacefully. Dislike scary winds.

Otherwise, we enjoyed the Hills immensely.  Hope to return some day.