Alabama Hills, Mono Lake, Bodie Ghost Town - Desertscapes, Star Trails, and Long Exposure Photos, July 2012
Page 2 of 5 - Follow the birds!
After visiting the Lone Pine Film History Museum and eating delicious spinach enchiladas at Bonanza Mexican Restaurant, seeing the beautiful Whitney Portal and escaping the heat was the thing to do. When I mentioned driving up, a photographer had said, "there's not much to photograph there." But I had remembered otherwise, and as I drove up, I realized that I had forgotten how beautiful it really was. |
Title: Whitney Portal Falls I I hadn't been here since I was 18, and I had quite a few memories flooding back as I was walking around the gorgeous Whitney Portal area, only about half an hour's drive up the Sierras from Lone Pine, and considerably cooler than the hot desert floor below. |
Title: Whitney Portal Falls II |
 The formidable Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). The summer after graduating high school, three friends - Paul, Jonathan, and Brian - had stayed at my Dad's rental house in Lone Pine, and climbed part of Mount Whitney during the day, so seeing the peak, the trail head, and Whitney Portal flooded me with memories. |
 After descending back to the hot desert floor, I explored the Alabama Hills for a while. |
 There are seemingly jillions of arches in the Alabama Hills, not just the Mobius Arch. This one was large enough for a large man to crawl through, and while I didn't do that, I did marvel at how round it was. |
 Did John Wayne or the Lone Ranger admire this fine feature of the Alabama Hills? |
 Entrance to an old mine, Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, CA. |
There were two trails at Schulman Grove. I hiked the 4-mile Bristlecone Pine Methusulah Trail first as the first rays of the sun began hitting the trees, the moon still out. |
 The texture of a bristlecone pine along the Bristlecone Pine Methusulah Trail in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. |
 The Bristlecone Pine Methusulah Trail offered fantastic views of Death Valley and the White Mountains below. Thankfully, I tend to do quite well at high altitudes, and have hiked the Himalayas, Atlas Mountains, and the Andes numerous times, so the 10,000 ft. altitude of Schulman Grove was not affecting me too much. |
 There is also another loop trail at Schulman Grove, this one only one mile, with signs pointing out the various features. I actually found this trail to be more interesting and beautiful, perhaps because the bristlecone pines were considerably more varied, rugged, and isolated, but also because the views were also quite beautiful. |
 A beautifully gnarled bristlecone pine overlooking the Sierras. If you look closely at the Sierras, you can see glaciers, remnants of ancient cooling periods. Most of the lakes in the Sierra Nevadas were formed from glaciers. |
Driving back up White Mountains, I drove past Schulman Grove and onto a 12-mile bumpy dirt road leading to Patriarch Grove, higher up the White Mountains at 11000 ft. (3500 meters) in elevation. The drive was beautiful, and for some reason, I was captivated by the symmetry of these telephone poles, so you'll get two photos of these and there's not a thing you can do about it. :D |
I had been driving slowly along the road. It was bumpier than most. And the ranger had warned me, "The rocks are very sharp. There have been two flat tires in the last week." And since momma didn't raise no fool, I took it nice and sloooww, and had told the ranger and the people running the Bristlecone Motel where I was going, and that I'd return around 2 am. Surprisingly, I did return at exactly 2 am!! Click on the Bird Buttons to navigate. |
Ken's photos of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, as well as photos of Peru, Burma, India, Morocco, China, Thailand,
Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
Ken Lee Photography Website. Some of Ken's select photos may be
purchased through his
Imagekind Store. |
Alabama Hills, Mono Lake, and Bodie Ghost Town: Desertscapes, Star Trails, and Long Exposure Photos, July 2012
Page 2 of 5 - follow the birds!
Eleven Shadows Travel Page
Contact photographer/musician Ken Lee
10 July 2012, continued:
11 July 2012:
Since I had drove through Big Pine a little after 5 am, the Bristlecone Motel wasn't open, far too early for checking in anyway. So I had to drive back down. A ranger at Schulman Grove had recommended the Mexican restaurant in the Chevron in town. "We have a joke here...all the best restaurants in the Owens Valley are in gas stations," the ranger had laughed.
Later on, more telephone poles, more John Wayne clouds, more beauty along the seemingly endless 12-mile bumpy dirt road. But some of the best things are at the end of dirt roads.
