We decided to drive down to Lone Pine the other day to see the wildflowers. I had never stopped to see the Alabama Hills either so we spent the whole afternoon exploring and it was awesome with these awesome rock formations.
Apparently miners back in the 1860's named their claims in honor of the CSS Alabama, a Confederate warship, and eventually the area became known as the Alabama Hills. Then in the 1920's Hollywood came to town and all sorts of movies were shot out here. As you drive around there are markers telling you what movies were shot in the particular areas. There is "Movie" Road and the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy and various other Westerns were shot out there. If you stop at the visitor center in Lone Pine you can get a map but I found it to be rather confusing. Never-the-less it was fun to try and find all the rock formations with names like the BullFrog, The Spooks and the Baboon. There are a few arches too. What is nice is that the whole area is really accessible either by car, on foot or bike. The rock formations are incredible; more rounded and flowing in contrast to the rigid, sharp rocks of the Sierra above. There is an arch with a heart shaped hole in the center
We decided to keep climbing and and drove up to Mt Whitney portal. What a view and the summit of Mt Whitney is 10,000' above your head!
On the trip down too there were acres of Desert Gold wildflowers that were in bloom as well as a lot of other flowers that I am still researching but they were beautiful and just added to the day. It was a great day.
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