We left our pretty spot in Lee Vining and continued south to Lone Pine.
The next morning we headed out to explore with the most unusual skies above us.
We drove up the Whitney Portal Road. It is a short but spectacular drive that takes you about halfway up Mount Whitney, the highest point in California. The unusual skies left all my photos with strange hues.
The high point of Mt. Whitney is 14,505 feet above the sea level. I love how rugged the mountain is.
The road is paved (but not well maintained) and is narrow, steep and winding with dramatic switchbacks.
It wasn't long and Walt I am sure was thinking......."what has she gotten me into?" I tell him let's go to such and such and he is always willing to go. But this is a dangerous and difficult climb out of the high desert to almost 8000 feet. We were amazed to hear that people actually drive it in the winter. They do not plow it so I can't believe that anyone can safely make it without sliding off the cliffs.
The ascent is especially steep as you near the top.
At the top of the road it levels out and there are parking lots at the trailhead for the hike the rest of the way up Mt. Whitney.
There is a pretty little waterfall up there and a store where you can get hiking supplies and snacks.
The sky did look like it was getting back to normal. Now it looked like a hazy summer sky.
After our nice break at the top we headed back down. The valley is way down there.
It is pretty scary when there is nothing between the road edge and the valley floor. So happy Walt is a good driver.
Whew! We made it down and now we are headed for the Alabama Hills.
No, we haven't left California. The Alabama Hills are a range of hills below the Sierra's that were named for the Confederate warship CSS Alabama. The prospectors in California in the 1800's were sympathetic to the American Civil War Confederates.
Though geographically considered a range of hills, geologically they are a part of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Part of the reason that these hills are so unusual is the fact that the area has had many earthquakes. The 1872 Lone Pine earthquake in a single event caused a vertical displacement of 15–20 feet.
This is one of those places that you could take photograph after photograph and still not be able to convey the great views that we were seeing.
The Alabama Hills is a several mile wide patch of rocks and eroding hills, at the foot of Mount Whitney that run parallel with Highway 395 for several miles.
Just driving down 395 this is what you would see. No hint of the wonder on the other side of those hills.
It looks out of this world with desert vegetation and varying colors of rounded boulders scattered over the area.
We had a very sketchy map provided to us by the RV Park we were staying in but felt that the roads listed on it should be easy to spot.
We left Whitney Portal Road and turned onto the unpaved Movie Flat Road.
It's appropriately named, since dozens of westerns were shot here in the Alabama Hills.
We bounced along on the gravel road enjoying the unique formations.
They say the area is popular with climbers and hikers but after a few miles in we didn't see another car or anyone hiking or climbing.
We kept looking for the cross road that showed on the little map we had.
No road, no signs, no markers but plenty of amazing formations.
At last........some side roads. No signs, no markers, which one should we take? Let's go right. Right is always good.
Hmm! The road gets narrower.
There's an old mine up here. The road must go somewhere.
Nope. Dead end. Ok, we'll turn around.
We have plenty of gas, something to drink. No problem.
Back to where we started. Guess we will continue on the original road.
Wow, this road is getting really rough. More washboardy than the one near Escalante, UT that we thought had won the prize for bumps and jolts. This is hands down the winner.
There are an endless number of photos to be taken here whether the road is rough or not.
We found arches, faces, animals, and much more in the rock formations.
We knew we were going North. The Sierra's were on our left and the hills were on our right.
The hills have to run out sometime. The rocks were silent witness to our dilemma.
If the scenes in the photos seem familiar to you chances are you are a fan of old western movies and TV shows. Also many commercials have been filmed in the area.
Oh look.............I think the hills are ending.
There is civilization ahead. Back to 395 and into Lone Pine and Walt found a good map so he could see what had happened. We used it to go to the southern part of the hills to see what we had missed.
It is green over there. Lots of spots where springs offer water.
Nice contrast with the rocks and the green. Much of the area on the south are small ranches.
I'll bet the people that live here have a smile on their face every day as they see the fields full of sunflowers and those rugged mountains right in front of them.
Such a great old west scene.
I see Kermit the Frog with a smile out there.
Walt found an old fashioned catchers mitt.
A little art work on the rocks. It's a no no now but apparently this has been there a long time.