Monday, March 14, 2016 (Tuttle Creek Campground, Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA)

Wow! We've reached a milestone with yesterdays blog...over 250,000 page views! Our blog started out only to be a daily journal of our travels as we embarked upon our new lifestyle...you know...so we could remember what we did each day. And if close family and friends wanted to see what we have been up to, they could check it out. But it has taken on a life of it's own! Thank you so much for tagging along on our travels!

Well, we were in for another windy day today...and a wind warning with gusts expected up to 39 mph (as I write this, I checked the history on the weather service...apparently we actually had gusts up 47 mph at 11:00 a.m.).

Around 10:00 we headed out with Deb and Ray...they are going to take us on a tour of the area and give us "the lay of the land". There are tons of arches among all of the rock formations and Ray has searched out most of them. They wanted to give us "a taste" so that we could explore more ourselves later.
We started with a stop where a plaque had been placed indicating that the movie "Gunga Din" has been filmed in the area.
(Warning...lots of photos...Click to enlarge.)






There are some arches up in those rocks...

...there is one!

Snow blowing off the top of Lone Pine Peak...

Rock fence...

We took Tuttle Creek Road...it winds through the rock formations.
We're on our way down a trail to Tuttle Creek Natural Bridge...

Deb, me, Ray and Freya under the "bridge"...

We stopped at Flow Cave...

This is inside...shame about the garbage...

Next two photos are above Flow Cave...

Very cool...

Blowing dust down the valley...

Freya checking out a campsite under the rock...

Double arch with what looks like an Indians head...

Behind the Double arch...

I found a geocache!

Face Rock...

We took Movie Road...lots of trails going off every which way where you can camp.

Steve taking a picture of an arch that I am standing beside...(thanks for the picture, Ray!)

Peek-a-boo...west of Face Rock Arch...

Shot Rock Arch...

Lone Pine Creek in the bushes...

The next picture is courtesy of Ray...very cool area!

Lots of campsites in the area...

Cyclops...

You're strong Ray!

Deb at Handcuff Arch...

How do you like my new chair?

Upper Lip Arch...

A huge rock fence...

It continues across the hilltop...

...and down the other side...

A Petroglyph up there too...

Rock fences everywhere...

See the arch top left...

This rock is blackened from campfires...

This is the widest rock fence we've seen...

Cave Arch...

Inside Cave Arch...

Front side of arch...

Rear side...

We got home at about 2:00....wow, what an awesome area! Thanks for the tour, guys! We are really going to enjoy exploring the area more!

After a quick bite to eat, Steve and I headed into Lone Pine to run a few errands. We stopped at the post office so that I could  buy a stamp to mail an envelope back to Canada. Then it was to the Chevron station to fill up a couple of propane tanks. Holy cats! Propane was $4.89/gallon! Steve was stunned when he paid the bill! A far cry from the $1.99 we paid in Quartzsite. Should have asked how much first, I guess, or asked at the Visitors Centre where the best place was to go.
This is the view while the propane tanks were being filled...

Next on the agenda was a stop at the visitor center. Although we had stopped for water there yesterday, we hadn't checked out the displays inside. That small area of blue is Owens Lake. We are camped in that trench just below it. Death Valley is in the next valley...

Our final stop before heading home was at the market to pick up milk for Deb. Back home, I downloaded all of the pictures taken today and Steve settled in to edit them and I just chilled for bit. Ray and Deb popped over and joined us for a drink...then they headed home and we had dinner. The wind had calmed down...hope that's it, we've had enough wind!