Alabama Hills: Take Two… Cut… and That's a Wrap.

I’m going to continue raving about the scenery here in the Alabama Hills, and it turns out that I’m not the first or only person to see its potential. The area has a rich and varied film history that was fascinating to learn about. For a mere $5 donation, the Lone Pine Museum of Western Film History offers a whirlwind tour of the over 400 movies made around Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills dating back to 1920! The museum hosts a remarkable collection of movie costumes, cars, props, posters, and other memorabilia including a very entertaining and informative short film on movie making in the area. 

Lone Pine Museum of Western Film History - not to be missed!

I’d never heard of many of the old Westerns the area is famous for, but I promise you will recognize many of the films and actors. How about Will Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Randolph Scott, The Lone Ranger, or John Wayne. Westerns don’t do it for you? What about Gunga Din or The Great Race? More recent hits include Gladiator, Iron Man, Star Trek (The Final Frontier and Generations), Django Unchained, and the cult classic Tremors. The Iron Man scene was shot just down the road from where we camped. I could have been in the movies! Lol.  

Cowboy Heaven! 

That's John Wayne's long gun on the right. Cool!

Doesn't that scene behind Russell Crowe look familiar?!

We were there too, must have just missed him. Lol.

So much fun stuff - it was a fantastic collection.

The Alabama Hills are also home to over a hundred natural arches. Several are easy to find, and we had fun replicating the iconic shots of the Sierras framed in the arches. As you might expect, we upped the ante, what shot couldn’t be improved by adding Riley! (Well, and Rog too of course, lol.) We did the Arch Loop trail which gave us Mobius, Lathe and the cute little heart-shaped arch, then went in search of the Eye of Alabama Arch. We spent about 20 minutes walking the trails, map in hand, and were almost ready to give up when we spotted it. Head slap! We could literally see it from our campsite once we knew where to look! 😊

Mobius Arch with Lone Pine Peak in the background.

Mt. Whitney framed in Mobius Arch.

Even better, two totally handsome dudes framed in Mobius Arch. 

Three Happy Campers!

I dub you "Heart Arch."

Lathe Arch.

The elusive "Eye of Alabama."

We ended a lovely day by taking Riley for a long walk on our favorite trail. This time we decided to do the whole loop, which ended up being a bit longer than we’d bargained for. Luckily, we had an absolutely spectacular full moon to light our way home.

We found some Hobbit Holes and really bizarre stones.

A glorious full moon to see us home.

Since we have zip, zero, zilch for internet at our campsite, we hit the city park on Monday, 4/30, to take advantage of the town’s free wifi. Yep, the whole town is covered with its own wifi. Gotta love it! Riley got to play in the shady grass with Daddy, while Mommy got the first Alabama Hills blog post published. Then Daddy treated us all to yummy ice cream cones! Yeah, Daddy!  

Riley is being so patient...

Patience rewarded!
Riley gets his own cone.

Monday was our ninth day of dry camping; the water tank was getting low and the holding tanks were getting full. Besides, the weather was starting to change, calling for rain on Tuesday. Monday evening the clouds started moving in, shrouding the mountain tops and looking particularly dramatic. I’m no Ansel Adams, but it was intriguing to capture the mountain light in monochrome.

Weather is moving in.

Dramatic in black and white.

By Tuesday morning we had a light rain and my mountains were GONE! Whaaaaaaaaa. Guess it really is time to move on. Mother Nature must be giving me a nudge, otherwise I might never want to give up that view.

Where did my mountains go???!!!

Our next stop is Bishop, CA, just 60 miles north on Hwy 395. We’re planning on staying long enough to get caught up on chores and explore the area. Should be fun!

So long (for now) Alabama Hills.
We're really going miss waking up to this view.