Okay, I made it back to this thread... "Call CNN!!!"
Oh, wait, don't waste a dime calling those pogues!!! Any of youse H&CL heroes remember when phone calls cost a dime on a public phone? I can still remember movies costing a QUARTER at the JUSMAG Theater north of Athens, Greece, lol.
Anyway, I promised to post some pics of the Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine, Kalifornia: Joel mentioned the Clint Eastwood film 'JOE KIDD' in that Robert Duvall thread, and much of the movie was filmed in the Alabama Hills. However, I don't wanna bog down the Duvall thread, so I'll simply post these pics here. I need to start posting more pics in this thread, I have a thousand photos (or more), lol... but today, we visit the Alabama Hills!
Now, just to set the scene, lemme tell ya what was going on in the transportation industry. I had an easy weekend run planned, and I picked up a load in Fernley, Nevada, on Friday morning; the load delivered in L.A. on Monday, so as the shipper was loading my wagon I studied my trucker's atlas to see what sort of "paid tourism" I could find along the way, right? I might add that the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and slated to stay that way over the entire weekend.
My first thought was literally to 'free solo' the East Face of Mt. Whitney, which is the tallest peak in the Lower 48... a friend of mine had climbed it while roped, and he said it was pretty easy, like a series of stacked granite blocks. I decided to roll from Fernley straight to Lone Pine, find a bivouac site in the Alabama Hills, and get closer to my main objective, which was Mt. Whitney. I should add that I was an experienced technical rock climber & mountaineer at this point in my life.
Well, everything went according to plan, and by mid-afternoon on Friday I was parked next to a small lumber yard and hardware store in Lone Pine. I bought some beer at a store across the street, then walked into the hardware store to ask about dropping my wagon next to their fence... they had some equipment parked there, you understand, so my trailer would blend in nicely, and all I had aboard the rig as freight were worthless newspaper inserts, go figure.
I had a beer or two with the guy working the hardware store (the owner), who readily agreed to let me park the wagon there for a couple of nights, then I dropped said wagon and stocked up on fresh food, more beer, etc. By 1500 hours, I was rolling outta Lone Pine and heading toward the nearby Alabama Hills, intent upon having a good time. There are dirt roads which lead out to the various outcrops, the same dirt roads used by film crews to get into position to make movies, 10-4?
I cruised around in the dirt with my "power divider" on until I found a perfect "rock cove" which had my name all over it... it's the cove you see in the link below, second pic on the first page of that old thread. I had to back up a skinny little dirt road to reach the point in the picture, but once I was parked, it was PARADISE! Nobody else around, perfect sunny weather in the 70s, I was in trucker heaven wearing nothing but shorts, boots & sunglasses, cold beer in hand, lol.
Random outdoor adventure shots...
[Note: Click link as many times as necessary to bring up the photos...]
I even pulled my 3-D archery target (red fox) out of the side box of my tractor and played with my recurve bow for a bit, as the setting was phenomenal, lol. I also donned my climbing shoes & chalkbag to pull a recon of the outcrop which towered above my tractor. Did some great "bouldering" in the warm afternoon sun, then dropped down to my truck to party... scrounged some wood too so I could have a nice campfire that evening! Some folks had courteously left a pile of wood, you understand.
Anyway, I had the ultimate bivouac site with a primo view of Mt. Whitney, plenty o' gourmet food & beer, I was STYLIN' & PROFILIN', lol. Truck stereo was CRANKED, of course, with the doors and slider windows wide open... no idling necessary in that perfect weather. IIRC, it was a fine day in early May, so the weather could NOT have been nicer for that area. The only bummer: no chance of climbing Mt. Whitney, as the forecast said the snow level was down to 12,000' elevation.
No worries, I simply decided to spend the first night (Friday) in the Alabama Hills, then go explore Horseshoe Meadow at 10,000' elevation and see about bivouacking up there on Saturday night, aye? Which is exactly what I did, burning company fuel the whole time, lol. I was NOT a model employee in that respect, lol... the way I saw it, it was my RIGHT to burn company fuel whenever I wasn't actually dragging freight for the company. Perks of the job, one might say...
Anyway, let's get to the pics, as they are pretty cool. I gotta tell y'all, the clarity suffers a bit when I take pics of old paper photos, so bear with me... I once scanned every trucking photo I have and posted 'em at a different site, but I no longer have a scanner, and I wouldn't wanna repeat that process, lol, so these pics are whatcha get. Meh, the price is right, so quit yer b!tchin', lol. Let's get on with our tour of the Alabama Hills, where over 300 movies have been made, mostly Westerns.
Okay, that's my 10-ton RV... er, I mean "road tractor" parked in the very same position you saw it in that linked thread, only now you're looking down upon the tractor from a point high on the rock outcrop. You can see the network of dirt roads used by campers & film crews over the years. Look closely at upper right and you'll see the distant switchback road leading up to Horseshoe Meadow... I drove that road the following day, lol. Here are some views of the nearby Sierras and Mt. Whitney as seen from the nearest outcrop and my bivouac site:
I should tell y'all that I was gonna trim these pics using the camera, but I didn't wanna lose any part of the views...
There's Mt. Whitney, not the prominent peak just left of center in the photo, but the peak further to the right... it looks lower, but that's an optical illusion, since Mt. Whitney is actually farther away, and higher too. Next, we have shots taken the following morning as I rolled toward Horseshoe Meadow, discovering a primo rock valley on the way... in that little rock valley, the original 'GUNGA DIN' film was made, there's even a monument dedicated to the film and location.
Primo spot, yeah? Look at those wildflowers! And nobody else around, I had the valley to myself, lol. In the next shot, you see a distinctive rock ridge which appeared in the original 'GUNGA DIN' film, that bird-like topper or mini-spire to the upper left can easily be seen in the black & white film classic.
Okay, here's the view from the entrance (or exit) to that little rock valley between two ridges... you're looking back the way I came from my first night's bivouac site, 10-4? We're about to turn the opposite way and continue our ascent to Horseshoe Meadow at 10,000' elevation, but we're gonna see some cool stuff along the way... just as soon as I grab another cold beer, lol. I'll start another post to finish the tour, as I'll reach the pic limit with this next shot. CHEERS!
Edit: I just realized that some of those shots taken from or near my first bivouac site were taken the following morning, which is why the shadows are caused by the sun to the east... I must have climbed back up on that nearby outcrop to get the shots. In fact, now that I think about it, I probably didn't even have the camera on me the first time I pulled a recon, and I must have taken the camera up again the following morning to ensure that I recorded the site and views for posterity, lol. Meh, small potatoes, but I like to cover all the bases... it was an awesome bivouac site, that's for sure.
