Discovering the Alabama Hills in California

Oct. 2021

On our way to Death Valley from Fresno, we had to drive south to Bakersfield, and then drive back north in what looked like a U shape on the map, in order to go around the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and then head to Death Valley Natl. Park. We don’t like to drive longer than 3 1/2 hours on travel days, so we made plans to stop one night in Bakersfield, and then another night in Lone Pine, CA on U.S. 395, before driving through the huge Death Valley. First, we stopped at Orange Grove RV Park, which is surrounded by orange groves, and which had orange trees between every RV site. If we had come a month or so later, we could have picked and kept oranges from the tree on our site! So cool!

The oranges weren’t quite ready to be picked yet, unfortunately!

Lone Pine was just supposed to be a stopping point, but we wished we had scheduled more time there. When we arrived at our campground, we had the whole afternoon free, so we asked at the camp office what there was to do in the area, and we were told about the Alabama Hills. It is BLM land just outside of town that is a huge area of unusual rock formations, and which has a fantastic view of the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, including Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48. If we had had time, we would have driven down more of the dirt roads, some of which lead to sites where movies have been filmed. There were lots of spots where people were boondocking their RV’s, too. The hills aren’t named after the state, but named rather for the Confederate warship Alabama by prospectors sympathetic to the South.

We decided to come back at sunrise the next day, to catch the early light on the mountains. A BLM employee told us about a trail to Mobius Arch, so we made plans to head there. We were so glad we did!

Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48, lit up by the rising sun.

Mt. Whitney, framed by Mobius Arch.

The back side of Mobius Arch

Alabama Hills and Sierra Nevada, as the sky was beginning to lighten before the sun rose above the horizon. The mountain on the left is not the tallest, just the closest. Mt. Whitney is just right of center.

Sadly, we could not stay longer in the Alabama Hills as we had to check out of the campground before 11:00 that morning. We hope to come back someday.