Hello The Mountain!



Mt. Whitney from bottom of Whitney Portal Rd.



I was up early reading about Miles and Jack’s never ending adventures and had to make myself put my book down to get ready for the day. I headed up

Whitney Portal Road

to get as close to the mountain as I could, passing through the Alabama Hills.

The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations that are managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. They are as old as the Sierra range to the west but unlike the sharp ridges of the Sierras, the Hills are rounded.

Alabama Hills

The Hills are comprised of two main types of rock; a metamorphised volcanic rock up to 200 million years old and granite rock which weathers to potato shaped large boulders. The Alabama Hills were named after a Confederate Cruiser, the Alabama, by southern sympathizer living in Lone Pine who were staking their claims. The Alabama was sunk off the coast of Normandy in 1864. The Hills have been used as backdrops for over 300 movies, many of them Westerns. Movies like Gladiator, The Lone Ranger, Hop Along Cassidy, Tremors, Kalifornia, Iron Man, and even the Flinstones were filmed here. 

There are several rock formation figures identified in the hills and I tried to locate them, but I was visually challenged. Here are a few:



Polar Bear Formation

Alabama Hills Heart

The Spooks



Alabama Hills from top of Whitney Portal Rd.



I continued up
Whitney Portal Road

and got to the top. I hiked around the area and found this beautiful waterfall. People were catching trout, and picnicing so I decided to stay awhile. There were a lot of hikers preparing to ascend the Mt. Whitney Trail. I was in awe of them and considered them very brave and physically fit people. Sitting by the waterfall, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the scene before me. How special we are to have this place in our state. I found the mountain and the mountain found me.

Mt. Whitney Waterfall

Close Up of Mt. Whitney



Tuesday Destination: Long Beach, California…..Home