Fresno Trip - Stage 5 Alabama Hills - Part 1

Our short stay at Kings Canyon was over and we needed to move on.  Ann and I had decided to take the long way home, continuing with the idea that much of the trip was for scouting purposes, so our plan was to head south (yes, Oregon is north of California in case you’re not sure), cross the Sierras along a route that was still open, and to drive up the Eastern Sierras.  Our destination for the day was Lone Pine, which is where the Alabama Hills (of western movie fame) are located.  

But during breakfast we (meaning I) ran into a little hiccup.  While we were eating, I looked out a glass door over Ann’s left shoulder and saw a photograph!  It surprised me because we’d eaten at that table nearly every time we ate at the lodge and I never noticed the tree and rocks through the window, but there they were.

So as Ann waited in the car after we had checked out, I grabbed my gear to make a photograph.

Again, it was another image that was equally interesting in color as it is in black and white, but the coin came up tails so B&W it is.

The trip itself was eventful.  For starters, we decided to take the scenic route as much as possible, so we took a side road that ran us through foothills for most of our drive south, avoiding the main highway as much as possible.  The roads were slow-going through the hilly parts (with lovely views to say the least), but once we hit the farmland, speeds picked up.  

Our next event happened when we pulled off the highway for gas and a stop at Starbucks in Bakersfield.  Just before we took off on our trip, I’d received an e-mail from the Overland Expo folks that they’ll be announcing and opening for registration their May 2017 event in “mid-November.”  I’d been carefully checking my e-mail throughout the trip waiting for their e-mail.  Well, standing in line at Starbucks I looked at my phone and, sure enough, 10 minutes earlier I’d received their e-mail.  So instead of hitting the road, once we picked up our lattes we sat down with my iPad and started the registration process.  Twenty minutes after they had opened registration, Ann and I were registered (and paid) for the “Overland Experience” - the deluxe package.  That meant that Ann and I could take classes at the expo, of which there are many.  Best of all, registration for classes is based upon who registered for the Expo first.  We’re counting on registrations not being like concert tickets and us being in the front of the line after 20 minutes following the announcement.  Basically, we’re hoping to take 4 wheel driver training (given by Land Rover on the course they build - which we’ll be able to drive our own vehicle on once we complete the training); tire and emergency repair classes; first aid classes; navigation classes; . . .  and stuff like that.  We’ll find out what the course opportunities are in February, but we hit the road knowing we were at or near the front of the line!

Then, heading east from Bakersfield we drove through along Highway 178 towards Isabella Lake, which is a beautiful drive that follows the Kern River.  Next time we’re in the area, we’re going to schedule time along the river, which is fast-flowing with lots of boulders!  As I said, this was a scouting trip!

Crossing the Sierras we entered a totally different, desert environment.  As it always is, such changes are fascinating and made the drive towards Lone Pine enjoyable.  Interestingly, Lone Pine is almost due east from Grant Grove.  I did a google map search the day before we left and it told me that the distance between the lodge and Lone Pine was a bit over 50 miles.  Travel time, a bit over 5 hours (going the fast way!).  

We checked into our hotel and headed out to scout the Alabama Hills and take a drive up the Mt. Whitney Road.  As we drove by the Alabama Hills, we spotted a yellow tree that I thought would make a good subject - easy to find at in the darkness (hey, it was fairly close to the road), and didn’t require us to do a lot of searching that afternoon.  Then I made the mistake of heading up to Mt. Whitney.  Needless to say, the road was steep, curvy and very exposed as it made its way up the mountain.  Ann wasn’t very happy.  Oops!

We didn’t stay up there very long because it was COLD!  Strange how that happens when you climb a couple of thousand feet in November.  So we headed back down to the area by the tree to see if we could even get to it.  

We pulled off at the nearest turnoff to the tree and took a road into the rocks.  I stopped the car at a place I thought we could hike into the tree, but realized it was a bit too far and wouldn’t be the thing to try in the dark.  But we were there and, as you could expect, we started photographing.  Mine started with the rocks along the route I explored and were compositions.

As I explored a bit, I couldn’t get my eyes or mind away from the colors and textures of the rocks.

I moved towards the north, near to where Ann was photographing, but even when I tried to look at a broader landscape, my eye went to the details.

As the sun was starting to set, I finally made it to a landscape.  I’d seen a cluster of rocks to the east with the Inyo Mountains as a backdrop.  I set up my camera and noticed that the sun was about half way down the mountains and thought to myself, “Dan, wait a while and the whole mountains will be lit.”  So I started wandering around, looking for other images to quickly move my camera to when the shot was ready.  

Every couple of minutes I would glance at the mountains, decide it wasn’t ready yet and move on looking for new images.  After a few glances up, a light bulb went off in my head (or was that the Homer Simpson “Doh!”) - the sun wasn’t moving down the mountain side, it was creeping upwards and was now only a thin line along the top of the mountain ridge.  I hustled over to my camera, made a shot, but what had been an ok image with the mountains half-lit just looked odd.  The shot is not worth showing.

I moved my camera to one of the alternative locations I’d found (at least that effort was worthwhile) and fortunately was able to put my blunder out of my mind.

Although the sun was still setting, it was casting a lovely pink light from the underside of the clouds that had formed over Mt. Whitney, so I set up for another image.

Before it got too dark, we returned to the car to see if there was another way to get to our tree. Fortunately, there was a dirt road that appeared to pass right by it. It was definitely 4WD road, and we had to back the Honda and find another way there, but we quickly found a good place we could park and I confirmed that a short hike up the road would get us where we wanted to be!

Overall, for a travel day, it was quite eventful and led to some great photography!