Alabama Hills
26 July, 2021
Eric took my picture peeking out of a window in a rock.
The Alabama Hills are a group of unusual rocks that were used as settings for a number of western films. I was so sad that I had brought Roadside Geology of Oregon and Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California, but not Roadside Geology of Southern California. On returning home, I was dismayed to discover there is a gap on US 395, between Bishop and Ridgecrest, between the two California books!
So, I was reduced to searching the internet for information. I discovered that the Alabama Hills are made of the same granite as the nearby Sierra Nevada, on the other side of the San Andreas Fault. But the great height of the fault escarpment (3,045 m, 10,000 ft) means that the rocks on either side weather differently because of their difference in elevation. Mt. Whitney, at 4,418 m (14,495 ft) is glaciated. The rocks of the Alabama Hills are weathered by freeze/thaw cycles and exfoliation. See this great page for further detail.
We were so excited by Whitney Portal Road that we missed the turnoff for the Alabama Hills. You can see that, unfortunately, the smoke had caught up with us.
We were delighted when our mistake brought us fantastic views of the high peak.
The Alabama Hills from the parking area.
The Sierra Crest, in the opposite direction.
Eric photographed the otherworldly area.
Eric photographed some of the characteristic rocks along the trail.
A tower.
The most popular spot on the trail is Mobius Arch, site of an earth cache and a nearby physical cache. We didn't get to enjoy the spot alone, even though we were out in Bureau of Land Management territory on a weekday. But it was not so crowded that it was hard to take pictures.
The obligatory shot of Mt. Whitney through the arch. And the haze.
Eric posed under the arch.
Eric photographed the desert photographer at work.
Mather in a Subaru commercial setting.
We decided we had time for one more cache, and drove around on a number of sandy roads in search of it. Eric enjoyed Mather's capabilities.
At the cache site, which was actually a primitive campsite, we found this incredible wedged rock.
The formation at the cache site. Photo by Eric.
Window in rock.
Eric climbed inside the formation and took a picture through the window.
The Alabama Hills had been a wonderful place to explore. But we had traveled many miles from home, and determined that we needed to stop exploring at 13:00. On the recommendation of someone we had met on the trail, I ducked into Schat's Bakery, an establishment dating from 1938 to grab some premade sandwiches and a loaf of their famous sheepherder bread.
We found a county park with a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our sandwiches beside the duck pond.
