Lone Pine is a small town in the Owens Valley, high desert between the Sierra Nevada mountains to the west and the Inyo mountains to the east. With a population of just over 2000, the town is described by the official census designation of "frontier". Its main reason for being here was mining in the old days, but now depends on the film industry and tourism. Paiute Indians lived in this valley for eons and still have a reservation here, shared with the Shoshone.
As I feared, the sky has been smoky most days, but I've had enough clear skies for my purposes. From my point of view, there are three main reasons to come here: Mount Whitney; the Alabama Hills and Owens Lake.
Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48, so it attracts lots of hikers who aspire to reach the summit. I'm not one of those. My interest is in taking pictures of the Sierra Nevada mountains, including Mt. Whitney. I did drive to Whitney Portal, which is the trailhead for the Mt. Whitney ascent, a twenty mile long trail with some 6600 feet of elevation gain. Since I've been there several times before, I did not even stop there on this trip, settling for new photos from the road. Some of the surrounding mountains, such as Lone Pine Peak, appear to be taller, but that's only because they are closer.
My main interest lies in the Alabama Hills, a large area of hills and rock formations originally created by the same geologic forces that created the mountains behind them. However, they have eroded much differently and therefore look much different. The mountains appear smooth, while the Alabama Hills are rough textured, colorful and very fragile. The constant erosion over millions of years has created fantastic irregularities, shapes and natural arches. More than 400 movies and countless TV episodes have been filmed here, dating back to 1919. Anyone who ever watched a Roy Rogers, Gene Autry or Lone Ranger movie has seen these rocks, perhaps with Tonto crawling around to get at the bad guys. The hills have substituted for India in the classic "Gunga Din" and for Afghanistan in several war movies.
Incidentally, the hills were named by miners in the 1860s who were sympathetic to the Confederacy during the Civil War. The battleship CSS Alabama was sinking many Union ships, so the miners named this area for the ship. Later, the Alabama was sunk by the USS Kearsage, so miners sympathetic to the Union started naming things after that ship. Unfortunately, the town of Kearsage is no longer there.
 |
| Heart Arch |
The"Hills" is on public land managed by BLM and camping is allowed pretty much anywhere, although several official campgrounds are located there. People can freely drive all the roads and hike anywhere they wish, including on the fragile rocks. A couple rocks have been decorated and allowed to remain, such as the "face" of Alabama Hills.
The town of Lone Pine obviously welcomes the film industry, which provides much needed revenue and fame to the area. A museum highlights the many features shot here and the stars who made them. Many stars considered this a favorite place. In fact, Barbara Stanwyck specified that her ashes be spread over the area from a plane. (A good day to stay indoors.) Other buildings display murals representative of the town's history.
I'll save the rest of Lone Pine for the next update.
No comments:
Post a Comment