The Alabama Hills Rock!

Monday and Tuesday, October 6 and 7, 2014

I've been reading about this area for the last few years on other blogs, and twice in our travels we've missed coming here by only a few miles. We finally made it and found that everything we've read about the Alabama Hills is true. It rocks! Literally and figuratively! This is an area of extremely old granite that has weathered into crazy unusual shapes. As a result of its unusual geology and its fairly close proximity to Los Angeles and the film making industry in particular, in the early age of filmaking, it was discovered as a great setting for Westerns and other adventure films. The area is now under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is considered a recreation area, but filmmakers continue to get permits to shoot here. Recent films include Ironman, Django Unchained, and a Star Trek movie. There are hundreds of placards erected throughout the area showing what movie was filmed in that spot. It's fun to hike around and see some of them.

We are camped in the background of the Gunga Din village scene

Kathleen emulating Randolf Scott 60 years later

Our boondocking spot, nestled against a cliff turns out to be looking over a broad area where the 1939 film Gunga Din constructed their village. According to Google maps, we are camped at Meatloaf campsite, where the rocker Meatloaf filmed a music video.

The other group to use Alabama Hills are the hard core rock climbers. The rock face behind our site is called the Hoodgie Wall, and is popular with climbers as we found out our first night here, when a couple showed up just before dusk, climbed briefly on “our wall” and then drove off. Yesterday we had two vehicles whiz up our dead end road, and park behind the rocks between us and the high wall. We thought it was more climbers but they were scouting a shooting location. Lots of I-Pad shots and scribbling on notebooks later, they drove off to check out another area.

Climbers on the Hoodgie Wall next to camp

Sunset

Moonrise

Greg has had a great time riding on his bike exploring the many dirt roads crossing this area. This morning we hiked to the arches trail and saw the Mobius Arch. Then we wandered some more and read whatever movie signage we came across. It has been really hot in the sun, but as long as we are in the shade from the rig, it is really quite comfortable. The breeze kicks up during the day, and it is comfortable to sleep at night. Shower desperation is setting in after all the exercising, so we are going to try an outdoor shower on the back side of the rig. We are so far away from anyone else, it shouldn't be a problem. I hope...

Mobius Arch

Barrel Cacti

Awww...heart shaped arch!

This Episode's Fierce Wildlife

We have one more night here and then we need to make forward progress toward Maryland, so tomorrow we will head east toward Nevada and then drop down into Arizona hugging the higher elevations to keep cooler.

Update - Wednesday- We got up at 3 AM to see the Blood Moon. It was warm enough to stand outside and watch with our binoculars. The desert moon was so bright that we cast shadows until the total eclipse, when we got a great view of the stars and the Milky Way. Looming just below the moon was Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. We crawled back in bed feeling very fortunate to be in the perfect spot to witness the rare occurrence.


Greg's Commentary – The Alabama Hills is an example of old rocks forming a very young landform. The granites of the Hills consist of about 90-million year old melt intruded into volcanic rocks formed 200-300 million years ago. All of these rocks remained happily buried until recent Basin and Range faulting lifted the Sierra Nevada 20,000 feet in the last several million years. The relatively massive granites were exposed by uplift and erosion and responded to freeze-thaw weathering with spheroidal exfoliation. This form of weathering rounds off the corners and edges of exposed rock, leaving rounded blocks, arches, and flat faces where major joints and fractures occur.

Overview photo from mountain bike ride - Alabama Hills granite formations protruding through the alluvial fan (bajada) of Mount Whitney

Looking north along the Sierra Nevada