Sunday, March 13, 2016 (Travel to Tuttle Creek Campground, Alabama Hills Recreation Area, Lone Pine, CA)

We were all packed up and on the road by 9:00 this morning. There was another wind warning for this area and we wanted to get outta there and on to Alabama Hills (and set up) before the wind warning for that area came into effect at 5:00. Wind, wind, wind...sheesh! 

Winds were fairly calm when we left Trona Pinnacles but had picked up by the time we reached Ridgecrest, 20 miles away. After a quick stop at Walmart and Albertsons, we were back on the road, heading north on highway 395.

Ridgecrest in the distance...

 Beautiful scenery along the way...Volcanic ridges...

 We're high enough again to see Joshua Trees...

Cartago...population 92, elevation 3629...

 Interesting....

 Owens Lake (or what's left of it)....

 We arrived in Lone Pine at about 12:30...

Ray and deb suggested we pull into the Visitor Center to fill up with fresh water. The water spigots at the campground are currently set up so that you can't hook up a hose...

The mountains are spectacular!

We went in to ask if we could fill with water. She wasn't going to let us but Steve "sweet talked" her and she finally relented and we pulled over to the water spigot. Good thing the parking lot wasn't busy!

A drive through Lone Pine...this BBQ restaurant is supposed to be good, I think we will be trying it out!

 We turned onto Whitney Portal Road....

...following directions to Tuttle Creek Campground...

 Yes, Steve, I'm glad you are driving, not me...that's pretty darned narrow!

Alabama Hills Recreation Area...The Alabama Hills were named for CSS Alabama. When news of the Confederate warship's exploits reached prospectors in California sympathetic to the American Civil War Confederates, they named many mining claims after the ship and the name came to be applied to the entire range.

 The Alabama Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions, especially Westerns set in an archetypical "rugged" environment. Since the early 1920s, 150 movies and about a dozen television shows have been filmed here, including Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger and Bonanza. Classics such as Gunga Din, The Walking Hills, Yellow Sky, Springfield Rifle, The Violent Men, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott"Ranown" westerns, part of How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd. In the late 1940s and early 50s the area was also a popular location for the films of B-western actor Tim Holt.

More recent productions such as Tremors and Joshua Tree, were filmed at "movie ranch" sites known as Movie Flats and Movie Flat Road. In Gladiator, actor Russell Crowe rides a horse in front of the Alabamas, with Mount Whitney in the background, for a scene presumably set in Spain. Star Trek Generations was filmed here in addition to Overton, Nevada and Paramount Studios. This range was one of the filming locations for Disney's Dinosaur. More recently, many parts of the films Iron Man and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were filmed here.

We turned left onto Horseshoe Meadows Road...

...and finally, the entrance to Tuttle Creek Campground...

Sani dump and garbage bins are to the left as you enter...

Ray and Deb met us, and after big hugs, we jumped into their car and they took us to check out some sites near them.
We picked one (site #17) and after dumping our tanks at the sani station, we made our way to the site and set up camp. By the way, our LTVA (Long Term Visitors Area) permit that we purchased for our stay in Blythe/Quartzsite is valid here...that means we don't have to pay. Sweet! Mind you, the nightly cost is only $5.

We went out for a short walk before joining Deb and Ray for happy hour and dinner. That's their motorhome in the center of the picture...

We enjoyed a lovely evening catching up with our good friends. Thanks for a great dinner! Looking forward to spending some time with you and exploring this beautiful area.