Monday, March 21, 2016 (Tuttle Creek BLM Campground, Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA)

We were ready to get on with our day by 10:30...and trying to decide what to do. The wind warning said winds would increase by 11:00...but it was still very calm out..."the calm before the storm?" Well, we decided to not sit around waiting to see if the storm was going to happen as forecast...let's go hike the trail that the fellow at the visitors center had recommended.

The trailhead is off of Movie Road, 2 miles in. This plaque is at the entrance to Movie Road...it reads:

Movie Flats: Since 1920 hundreds of movies and TV episodes, including Gunga Din, How the West was Won, Khyber Rifles, Bengal Lancers, and High Sierra, along with the Lone Ranger and Bonanza, with such stars as Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers,, Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Glenn Ford, Humphrey Bogart, and John Wayne, have been filmed in these rugged Alabama Hills with their majestic Sierra Nevada background. Plaque dedicated by Roy Rogers, whose first starring film was featured here in 1938.

It was a pretty bumpy ride for Buster (the road is quite washboardy) but we found the spot and parked in a large pullout across the road from the trailhead. There were a couple of people with their easels and paints capturing the beauty of the area. They must have been totally immersed in their work as they made no acknowledgement of our arrival at all...not even a response when Steve said "good morning" to them...well, okay then!

The scenery and views are just amazing!  (Warning: as usual, tons of pictures follow...most photos will have rock formations with holes or arches so it's best to click on them to enlarge for better detail).
Interesting clouds today...

Apricot Mallow...

And we're off!

See the holes at the base of the rock...

Looks like that rock is peeking at us...

 We are hiking around that far mountain and up the other side...

 Balancing rock...

 Remember that rock on top because we'll see it from the other side later...

 The pear cactus are about to blossom...

 Stunning views...including cool cloud formations...

 An oasis down in that canyon...

A beautiful flower garden with a swirly looking rock...

A large dust devil at Owens Lake...

 Looking back from the top...

After quite a climb, we made it to the top and the road...

 A female rock climber on that rock-face that appeared to be free climbing with no safety rope...

After checking with binoculars we noticed that there was in fact a safety rope being used...for going back down...

A short walk along the road and we found the start of the next trail...

Can you see the guy standing on top of the mountain?







There he is...

 Remember that rock balanced on top? Here it is from the other side...

 See all the rock fencing running through that rock...

Our last hill climb with more interesting rocks on the right...

 Peek-a-boo!

Contrails from fighter jets...this area is where they practice Monday to Friday...

Made it to the top...

 Time to go down...

 ...and down...to the road...

 There's Buster parked way down there...

If we hadn't turned around we would have missed those three interesting rock formations...

 And that's the mountain pass we came down...

Look close and you'll see Eye of Alabama Arch centre left...

We were back at the truck shortly before 1:30...after a fabulous hike! I had my GPS with me and our hike ended up being about 2.5 miles. This was a great loop trail with some steep climbs, but well worth it.

On our way home, we made one more stop...to see The Shark.,,

 Another very cool spot...with interesting rock formations...

There was a young fellow setting up camp in that dark area that's hollowed out...

 And more interesting cloud formations too!

Back home, it was a little breezy but not bad...looks like the wind was down in the valley, whipping up the salt flats on Owens Lake...

After a bite to eat, I downloaded the pictures taken today and Steve got to work on editing them. While he was doing that, I relaxed with my crocheting. The wind was really odd...instead of a steady wind, it was relatively calm with strong gusts coming through. It did rattle the trailer a number of times but all in all, it wasn't too bad. Mind you, the wind warning with gusts to 48 mph continues until tomorrow morning...we'll see how we make it through the night...