Lone Pine, California

Boulder Creek RV Resort - the view from site #20

Thursday | 4 May 2006 | Lone Pine, California: This morning brought clouds and though the coolness was a welcome relief, it did not bode well for our planned adventures.Still, we were up early and on the road before 9 o'clock, heading out for a drive through the Alabama Hills on Tuttle Creek Road. This area, named after the Civil War battleship, has been used for over 85 years as a backdrop for countless movies. It has become India's Khyber Pass in Charge of the Light Brigade and in Lone Pine's biggest epic production - Gunga Din - starring Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.  (Gunga Din required 1,500 extras and many elephants.) Lone Pine is famous for all the western films and television shows produced here. The Lone Ranger, Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, John Wayne, Gary Cooper - you name the cowboy and he was here (cowgirls, too)! High Sierra, How the West was Won, Rawhide, Samson & Delilah, The Virginian and Tycoon are just a few of the hundreds of titles with Lone Pine as their set location. Lone Pine is also home to the most exclusive of film festivals. Each year the Lone Pine Film Festival shows only movies made in Lone Pine! For more information, I recommend this fun book: On Location in Lone Pine by Dave Holland.  I bought an autographed copy today and it is filled with maps and photos of the old-time stars on location all over the Alabama Hills where we toured today.

Our first tour stop was the Underground House where early prospectors built their cabins.

Underground House

We continued along the Tuttle Creek Road tour route, stopping to see a natural rock arch over the creek and driving by Hopalong Cassidy's cabin. The cabin is now a private residence and it is noted on the guide as "Stop #5 - (DON'T STOP!)", which of course cracked us up. (It is adorable, and made from railroad ties.) We also stopped at The Nuns and snapped a few photos. Here we saw quail and a lot of lizards. The clouds were getting pretty heavy over the Sierras to the west.

Along Tuttle Creek Road


The Nuns


Our 2004 CRV below the Sierras

After noting where 1,500 horsemen came riding down through the “Khyber Pass” in Gunga Din, we headed up to visit Whitney Portal. At this point, the road ends and the hike to the top of the mountain begins.

Road cut to Whitney Portal

It is a 22 mile round-trip hike (not possible at this time of year, due to snow). As it turns out, due to recent snow, it wasn't even possible to drive to the portal!

Next we had a bit of an off-roading adventure as the bad roads we had been traversing all day turned to really bad dirt roads. Of course, since My Driver's skills are legendary and as he was piloting an all-wheel vehicle, I had nothing to fear. There are countless hidden canyons and trails heading off into caves all around the Alabama Hills. The rocks have a magnificent color and the entire area reminds us very much of Joshua Tree National Park (if someone had removed every Joshua Tree).

It was raining over towards Death Valley too


Mt. Whitney (right) breaking through the clouds - photo by DT

At 14,497 feet, Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Amazingly enough, Inyo County is not only home to the highest point in the lower 48 states, but also home to the lowest point - Death Valley National Park's Badwater is 282' below sea level. Save that one for Jeopardy!

Manzanar from Guard Tower, view west
Photo by Ansel Adams, Library of Congress LC_A351-3-M-4-Bx

Then we went to visit the Manzanar National Historical Site. It was here, beginning in 1942 the US imprisoned 12,000 American citizens during the course of World War II. The site and interpretive center are over-whelming. Most of the camp was dismantled directly after the war, as the lumber, wire and hardware were in great demand, so few things remain to remind us of what Ronald Reagan termed a "mistake" when the US Government officially apologized with $20,000 checks to the survivors during his administration. DT and I went through the exhibits and learned as much as we could in our nearly three hour visit and we were doing quite well until we watched a short film showing armed US Military herding families onto trains. We looked at each other in shock. This was exactly what the Nazi's were doing in Germany and Austria at the same time in history. Told they were being taken away from their homes, businesses and pets (!) for their protection, one of the men interviewed on film said: "Manzanar was enclosed with high barbed-wire fencing and there were guard towers at every corner. All of the guns "to protect us" were pointing IN."

 
Remains of Manzanar: a garden pond and foundation slabs for the barracks

As we were leaving, we heard an older couple speaking to the parks service employee at the front desk. They had both lived here as children. The wife (aged 11 upon arrival to Manzanar) hated it, but her husband (several years older) remembers having a "good time playing sports". They said their parents sheltered them from most of the ugly truth during their imprisonment. Both have already been interviewed by the Parks Service and have given an oral history on tape so future generations can learn and remember.

Translation of the kanji: "soul consoling"

150 people died during their imprisonment. Most were cremated, and those who were buried here were removed by their families after the war. Now only six souls rest below the Sierra's.

We had a perfectly awful dinner in town at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant. Though recommended by our guide book, it is not recommended by The Camping Journal.

RV Park: Boulder Creek RV Resort