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Fossil Falls Campground

Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra  October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

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Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra
October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

One of the most spectacular places in the country to see the annual fall leaf color change is in the high Sierra.  Leaf peepers from all over the world come to the Sierra to feel the chill in the crisp fall air and observe the vivid colors which pop in yellows, oranges, and reds.  October is usually the month to go, but the actual timing per location varies.  One notable website tracks the color changes by offering onsite reports (the website published two feature articles about our adventure on their website during our trip).   The first article was about our experience at Sabrina Lake — click here to see the article with our photographs.  The second feature was on our visit to Lundy Lake Campground — click here to see this article with our photographs.

In order to get a good chance of seeing some fall color, we scheduled stops at various locations in the Eastern Sierra.  Our leaf peeping locations included two sites in the Aspendell area (above Bishop at around 9,000 feet elevation–at Sabrina Lake Campground and Four Jeffrey Campground), a stop at Lundy Canyon Campground an hour north near Mono Lake (elevation 7,800 feet), and lastly a visit to Convict Lake Campground (7,500 feet) near Mammoth Lakes.

Many of the campgrounds are either closed or closing at the middle to end of October, so it’s very important to research which campgrounds are still open if planning a visit this time of year.  Winter can bring extremely strong storms, including snow, and this area often becomes inaccessible after the first storm or two.  And, it’s not uncommon for a surprise snow storm to hit even in early October when campers are still at the campgrounds so it’s important to pack accordingly (this happened to us at Lundy Canyon Campground)!

Come prepared with your propane tanks full (ideally two tanks) as the weather can get very cold at night.  It was sunny and pleasant during our visit with temps in the high 60’s / low 70’s, but the evenings and mornings were cold (in the high teens and low 20’s)!  We set our furnace to keep us warm at night and early mornings, and were very glad we were sleeping in our 2020 Scamp 13′ instead of a tent!  We set a record on this trip by burning through an entire tank of propane in just six days!

Fuel stop tips:  we discovered a few good low priced gas stations during our drives — 5 Points Petroluem (Adelanto, CA), Fort Independence Travel Plaza (Independence, CA), and Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station (Bishop, CA).  Gas stations in Mammoth Lakes and Lee Vining (which we avoided) were significantly more expensive (around $2 more per gallon) than the service stations listed above.

Food stop tips:  the Alabama Hills Café (can be crowded on weekends) for great American food (Lone Pine) and the Lemon Food Truck for great Mexican food (Independence) make good stops for nourishment and help break up the long drive into the Eastern Sierra.  Glen’s Taqueria Food Truck (Independence) was also recommended to us, but we didn’t get a chance to try it.

Lake Sabrina Campground
This is a first come, first served campground with about 20 campsites.  There is no cell phone service here, but they do have potable water spigots, trash cans, and vault toilets.  Note:  the Cardinal Village Resort down the road offers free Starlink WiFi service (good enough even for phone calls).  We arrived at around 2:45 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, figuring most people would have left the campground by the end of the weekend.  However, when we arrived, we found only two sites available!  Fortunately, the site we selected (campsite #20, $34/night) was not easy to spot, yet a very good one (we drove right by it on our first pass and the campground host showed us where it was)!  Make sure to bring either cash or a check for the iron ranger box.  The campground is very scenic and is situated along the Middle Fork Bishop Creek.  The abundant aspens in the campground had already starting turning color, with popping yellows.

The trail at the end of the campground off of North Lake Road led us through some spectacular fall foliage in magnificent red, orange, and yellow leaves.  We also drove up North Lake road to North Lake (a small lake popular for fishing) and enjoyed some stunning scenery of the fall color changes.  Sabrina Lake is about a mile and a half up the road.  There’s a trail that goes around the lake as well as a boat rental house.  The high Sierra mountains pose magnificently in the background thousands of feet above the lake.  One of the most popular activities here is fishing for trout, and even in October we saw a number of fishermen and fisherwomen.  But, probably the most popular activity in this area was taking photos in front of the lake and several leaf peeping worthy backdrops.

Another trip highlight included testing out a new tech toy.  We purchased a Starlink Mini for this particular trip and had ample opportunity to try it out at Lake Sabrina Campground.  There is no phone service near here and it was nice to conduct some additional research of the area, stay up to date on the news/weather and emails, and contact friends and families via calls and texts when not hiking or exploring the area.  The Mini is great because it is very compact (about the size of a laptop), the router and power supply are internal, and it uses low power (we can run it for hours on our Jackery 500).  We are able to store it in the small closet cabinet we constructed in our 2020 Scamp 13′ along with our laptop and tablet.  To set it up, just point it north and use the app to make fine adjustments.  We found the speed to be very fast (over 100Mbps download and around 10 Mbps upload).  We chose the roam plan which, at the time of this writing, is $50/month for 50GBs of data (additional GBs of data cost $1/GB).  We only used 11GB of data during our entire eight day trip (including streaming a few news broadcasts from Sling).  The plan can be paused (by the month) when not travelling. The upfront cost of the Starlink Mini hardware is currently $599.

Camp Four Jeffrey
Just about fifteen minutes down the road from Sabrina Lake Campground towards Bishop, Camp Four Jeffrey is off South Lake Road in the direction of South Lake.  Camp Four Jeffrey is a larger campground (with only the first 30 campsites reservable during the time of our visit) and has potable water spigots and an RV dump station (with two dumps) — dumping is free if you are camping here.  There’s no reliable cell phone signal, but signals come and go throughout the day and night in various locations throughout the campground.  For a more reliable cell phone signal, there’s a utility access dirt road across the main road that climbs for about 1/2 mile and overlooks Forks Campground down below.  We’ve found a reliable signal here on this as well as a past visit.  (Link to previous report).  Additionally, there’s a cell phone lot between Camp Four Jeffrey (although we didn’t try it) as well as the free Starlink service at the Cardinal Village Resort.  Or, if you have Starlink yourself, it works great at the campground.

This is one of the most dramatically scenic campgrounds we’ve been to as it’s surrounded by high Sierra mountains (covered in snow most of the year, with very little snow visible this fall).  Also, aspen trees grow throughout the campground, and were presenting full fall yellow popping color.  There’s a creek that runs through the campground and many campers enjoy fishing here.  We chose campsite #45 (not sure why we were able to reserve it since it’s not in the first thirty campsites and no other campsites were able to be reserved in this loop when we made reservations) because it sits high above all the other campsites and has dramatic views.  Some of the water spigots at the entrance are threaded and we used one to fill up our Scamp 13’s fresh water tank on the way into and out of the campground.  There are also unthreaded water spigots through the campground.

We spent a couple of days here and enjoyed hiking through the fall colors in the area as well as at Cardinal Village Resort.  While staying here, we decided to go back up to the Sabrina Lake area (since it is only about 10 minutes away from Camp Four Jeffrey) and drove up North Lake drive to North Lake.  We were rewarded with vibrant fall foliage at the lake.  There were quite a few people wading into and fly fishing in the lake.  After exploring, we enjoyed a satisfying burger lunch at the Cardinal Village Resort (they make pie daily here too).

Lundy Canyon Campground
After a couple of beautiful days at Camp Four Jeffrey, we made our way down the mountain to refuel in Bishop (Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station) and then drove north on Hwy 395 for an hour to Lundy Lake Campground (passing Mammoth Lakes and June Lake) .  We heard the leaves were changing color here too.  The campground is up Lundy Lakes Road just past the town of Lee Vining and Mono Lake.  Cell phone coverage ends shortly after entering the canyon and climbing up towards Lundy Lake (Lundy Lake is about five minutes past the campground, with hiking trails).

Lundy Canyon Campground (7,660′ elevation) is primitive with rough roads and no amenities.  There’s not even a camp host.  Instead, once we found a campsite we liked (#10) at this first come first serve campground (36 campsites along a 0.8 mile long scenic bumpy road), we took our cash ($16/night) for our two night stay and deposited it in the iron ranger box which is located near campsite #20.  Campsite #10 is surrounded by aspen trees that were bright yellow during our visit.  Most of the campsites were empty while we were here midweek in mid-October.  An evening rain storm made many campers leave as we were arriving, including a camper with a Scamp who left early fearing the Tioga Pass could get closed by snow.

After lunch, we drove around with the intention of checking out Lundy Lake, but the storm was fast approaching with fog and drizzle making hiking and taking pictures challenging.  So, instead, we headed down the canyon road to Mono Lake to check out the Tufas!  The Visitor’s Center was closed for the winter, but we briefly surveyed the gift shop which had a lot of books, t-shirts, and other souvenirs available for purchase.  After our store visit, we drove to the South Tufas, which are incredibly otherworldly rock like figures which naturally inhabit the shores and waters of Mono Lake (a must see).  Parking is either $3/person or free with an America the Beautiful Pass (which we displayed in our windshield).

Tufas are formed when calcium flows up from springs under the lake bottom and bonds to carbonates in the lake water, forming calcium carbonate (a type of limestone).  The calcium carbonate builds up on itself over time, gradually forming a tufa tower.  When the lake level drops, the exposed tufa stops growing.  A visit to the South Tufas is a fantastic way to explore the scenery and observe the magnificent and fascinating tufas.  There are paved paths and boardwalks which meander along the shore for at least a quarter of a mile.  There is free dispersed camping in the area near the lake, but the bookstore was unable to provide a detailed camping map.  Certain areas are off limits to camping, including the South Tufas and Navy Beach (where you can kayak), so further research is needed before planning a camping visit near the Tufas.  There are a lot of trails in the area including Panum Crater, so lots to do for a fun few days.  We hiked the rim of Panum Crater (entrance is one mile from the bumpy dirt road and driving speeds are less than 10 miles/hour). It was, however, worth the drive to see the stellar views of Mono Lake below.  The crater was formed by a volcano that blew its top, leaving a ring around a crater and a plug (volcano top) in the middle.

A cold rain storm swept through at night.  It was about 30 degrees around 7 a.m. in the Lundy Canyon Campground and our car was covered with slush.  By 11 am the sky had cleared, it had warmed up to 60F, and we travelled up the road to Lundy Lake and took the Lundy Canyon trail hike.  The road going up to the trail head was in disrepair with large holes and big deep puddles, so we parked right outside the Lundy Lake Resort (closed for the winter) and hiked up to the trailhead.  We spent a couple of hours walking the road and then up the trail to the third lake and back to our car.  The most scenic part of the hike was the lower part just above Lundy Lake Resort — there’s a pond and a fantastic view of a tall newly snow-capped mountain top.

On our last evening at Lundy Canyon Campground, the wind blew and we could only see white looking out our Scamp’s windows.  We enjoyed a good movie with our furnace keeping us toasty inside our Scamp.  The wind howled all night.  The campground and mountains were blanketed with snow the next morning.  The temperature was down to 19 degrees at 7 a.m.

We met a couple of ladies at the campground who encouraged us to drive 30 minutes further north to Bridgeport and walk the charming town with shops and especially the trading post (they had purchased some fine Navaho turquoise jewelry there which they were proudly wearing).  They also recommended taking a soak at the Travertine or Benton Hot Springs in that area as well.  We filed this information away for a future trip as we were just about to leave camp!  Next: Reservations at Convict Lake Campground were awaiting us!

Convict Lake Campground
Convict Lake is beautiful location with dramatic mountains surrounding a pristine lake.  The area has been featured in some commercials including Nature Valley and Delta Airlines as well as a number of movies including Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

On the way up to Convict Lake, make sure to use the free RV dump station (if necessary).  This RV dump station is not labeled and easy to miss (we drove right by it on the way up to the campground).  The dump station is on the left just past the Convict Lake Resort (on the right side) and is notable for a number of orange metal posts.  There are two dump stations (side by side) along with a separate area for potable fresh water (threaded hose).

Convict Lake Campground has views of dramatic mountains which tower over the lake.  From the campground, it’s easy to walk to the lake and the Convict Lake Resort (which has a fine dining restaurant {$$$$} as well as a bar / lounge for simpler less expensive food).  A number of the campsites here are first come first served which can make the campground look fully booked when trying to reserve a site online even though there may be first come first served spots available.  We found that there were plenty of open campsites on the weekend and we selected campsite #7 ($37/night).  Campsite #7 has good space around it and spectacular views of the mountains (the lake is slightly above the campground, so it’s not visible).  There’s minimal to no cellphone service here (but free WiFi at the resort as well as an open sky for great Starlink).  There are water spigots within the campground as well as bathrooms.

We had a great salad and pizza dinner at the Convict Lake Resort next door (the bar/lounge section).  In the morning, we enjoyed taking the easy 2.5 mile hike around the lake (which took us about an hour).  Convict Lake is about fifteen minutes away from Mammoth Lakes; so, it’s easy to spend time doing other fun things in Mammoth Lakes if one has extra time or wants to try some different eateries, ride bikes and/or do some shopping (see our June trip report for more information on Mammoth Lakes).

Since it’s a long drive back home from Convict Lake (about eight hours with stops), we decided to split the trip in half and spend the night at either Fossil Falls Campground (BLM, $6/night) or Red Rock Canyon State Park Campground.  We first tried Fossil Falls (which we have stayed at in the past) on a late Saturday afternoon, but it was full (there are only a limited number of campsites that suitably accommodate RVs – sites 4, 5, 6, & 8).  The dirt rocky roads at Fossil Falls were in much worse shape than when we previously visited, so we would no longer recommend a stay here. Instead, we continued on about an hour further south to Red Rock Canyon State Park campground.  It’s a beautiful desert campground with towering red rock cliffs.  Many of the campsites are at the base of the cliffs.  The campground was almost full when we arrive late Saturday afternoon, but we did find a nice pull-though spot (#24 / $25/night)!  More information on both of these campgrounds can be found on our previous trip report here.  We are really glad we broke up the trip home as it made the drive much easier.  We left Red Rock Canyon SP early on Sunday morning (5:30 a.m.) and were home for breakfast (9:30 a.m.) and with plenty of time to wash our Scamp 13′, Volvo XC40, and do our laundry!

This trip was remarkable in many ways.  There’s something special about travelling off season in the fall with crisp mountain air and beautiful fall colors.  We were very fortunate in that the leaf color change was peaking at most of the locations we chose.  The fall colors were so dramatic during our visit that it was inspiring.  And, experiencing a surprise snowstorm at night and waking up with snow covering the ground was awesome!  We also learned about new locations which we may explore next July when travelling to Lake Tahoe (these locations include Mono Lake dispersed camping, Bridgeport, the Travertine hot springs, and Bodie Ghost Town).  We expanded our communications options to include satellite (with our new Starlink Mini) and will never look back.  Each of the locations on this trip had very limited or no cellphone reception and we greatly appreciated the ability to connect when off grid for an hour two each day (including the additional safety having communications provides).  Lastly, getting up in the Sierra mountains brings a form of serenity which is hard to achieve anywhere else.  The remote location, natural beauty, and fresh air reinvigorate the soul. John Muir described this feeling well in his quote: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

 

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Alabama Hills Extreme Adventure

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Alabama Hills Extreme Adventure
April 3rd – 9th, 2022 (6 nights)

We expected this trip to be an adventure since it is the first trip we’ve been on where all our planned California campsites would be first come, first serve (no reservations).  When all the campsites on a trip are non-reserved, it is normal to feel a bit uneasy after driving hours and pulling into each camp area!  Questions run through one’s mind, such as:  Will there be a decent place to park and spend the night?, What if the campground is full?, and Where will we go if the campground is sold out?  Definitely, having a potential backup plan is always a good idea just in case no spaces are available upon arriving.  And, planning on arriving early and during the week likely improves one’s odds of getting a spot (or at least gives time to drive to another campground if necessary and arrive there when it’s still light).  We also researched each campground in depth before our trip and arrived at each with a list of the best potential campsite numbers (or general locations) to make finding a spot easier.  As it turned out, we never had a problem getting a first come, first serve campsite on this trip.  Surprisingly, the biggest adventures (and misadventures) were related to the extreme nature of simply accessing some of these more remote camping locations.

The drive to Alabama Hills (near Lone Pine, CA) in the Eastern Sierra is over five hours from our home in San Diego.  So, in order to break up the trip, we chose to stop for overnight stays at a couple of interesting places along the way.  The first stop on our trip is a fantastic location in its own right, Red Rock Canyon State Park.

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Located about 25 miles northeast of Mojave on California Route 14, Red Rock Canyon State Park might remind one of Zion National Park with its tall colorful pink-striped mountain walls.  The spectacular desert cliffs, buttes, and rock formations have striking colors of white clay and red sandstone, pink volcanic rocks, and brown lava formations.  The geography is so striking that it inspired many filmmakers to make movies and television shows here.  Battlestar Galactica, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Buck Rogers, Capricorn One, The Mummy, Zoro Rides Again, Jurassic Park, Westworld, Lost in Space, The Andromeda Strain, and the Twilight Zone are among the many Hollywood productions made at Red Rock Canyon State Park.  For a more comprehensive list, click here.

We pulled into Red Rock Canyon State Park on Sunday around lunch time with our site list in hand, eager to find a great empty spot up against one of the colorful rock formations.  We found the campground to be relatively empty and we secured site #16 (one of our top site picks).  The campsites are dirt and uneven and, in turn, we needed to use our Andersen Leveler to get our Scamp 13’ level along with wheel chocks to secure our Scamp 13’.  The weather was ideal during our April visit – mid 80’s during the day and 60’s at night.  For a fly over of the park, click here.

Once we set up our Scamp 13’, we drove over to the Visitor Center and reserved our site #16 for the night and paid the campsite fee ($25/night).  There is a central dump ($20 as of this writing) and fill station at the Visitor Center.  We also did a little shopping and purchased some park t-shirts and a California State Parks cap in the small gift store.  There are also free water spigots throughout the campground.  After a great lunch of gnocchi and Bolognese sauce, we hiked the Desert Trail to the top rim above the campground at sunset.  The trails at the top of the cliffs provide magnificent views of the desert landscape below.  The colors and depth of the scenery around sunrise and sunset is especially enchanting.  Wildlife one might see hiking in the park include desert tortoises, snakes, foxes, eagles, hawks, White-throated Swifts, bobcats, and small animals like lizards, mice, and squirrels.  The canyon walls turn red at sunrise and sunset, so it’s a good idea when visiting to try to get outside your trailer during these hours.  Right before dark, we switched on our Scamp underlighting set to green — under trailer rv lighting apparently can help keep rodents away and the color green has been shown to make mice sleepy!  After watching a good movie in the evening, we went to bed, but were woken in the middle of the night by an extremely loud howling wind storm.  Even after trying ear plugs and a white noise app on our cell phone, it was still possible to hear the wind.  Luckily, since there are no hookups at this campground, we were fully ballasted with water (approximately 150 lbs. of water) which helped at least a bit in keeping our travel trailer from shaking too much.

There is only very spotty internet throughout the campground, but the Visitor Center provides free WiFi which worked pretty well.  Additionally, we were successful at getting a good cell signal and mobile data on the top rim above the campground.  There is a nice bench at the top which looks out over a valley and we sat on several occasions enjoying the view with good internet, and making phone calls.  The next morning we did another short hike before refilling our Scamp 13’ with fresh water (along with our three 6 gallon water jugs) and driving on to our next planned location, the Trona Pinnacles.  Note:  make sure to use a good dolly when moving water as it can be very heavy.

The Trona Pinnacles
The Trona Pinnacles, about 10 miles south of Trona, California, are strange rock formations that rise high (some over 100 feet high) above a dry lake basin (Searles Lake).  The tufa spires are composed of calcium carbonate, formed by water deposits.  The tufas sit isolated on miles of a flat dried mud basin and have an eerie presence.  Over a dozen hit movies have been filmed here along with many car commercials and television shows (including Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes).  For a comprehensive list click here.

The drive from Red Rock Canyon State Park to the Trona Pinnacles is supposed to be about an hour and a half.  The area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is accessed via a long (5 mile) dirt road off State Highway 178.  Despite researching how to access the Pinnacles and instructions on this dirt road, we still managed to have a major misadventure!  After a series of unfortunate events (lack of signs, wrong turns, continually narrowing roads), we found ourselves on a grueling ATV trail with no easy and safe way to turn around.  We continued on over an hour (10 miles) of slow off-road driving south of Trona Pinnacles in 100 degree heat in April — the road sometimes taking steep dips with large rock center mounds!  The trick to preventing the Scamp from bottoming out whenever high rocks appeared on the center mound was to keep one side of the car as high as possible by driving on the center mound.  Avoiding plants and rocks on the sides as well as limiting the vehicle lean angle to prevent tipping was also important.  There were times when all tires on our AWD tow vehicle slipped on soft sand during steep climbs and lost traction, so we had to ease back a little and try the hill again.  Here’s a short video from our off road drive!

When we finally arrived at the Pinnacles from the south, we noticed our shower water pump (which hangs down really low below the Scamp) was damaged.  Because of the heat and our broken pump situation, we decided to head directly to the closest town (Ridgecrest) for repairs.  Fortunately, a local RV repair shop took us right in and replaced the water pump.   While we waited for the repair, we decided we had enough of the Trona Pinnacles and didn’t want to venture back.  So, instead, we decided to go to another location we had heard good things about called Fossil Falls (which is on the way to Alabama Hills).

Fossil Falls
Just one hour north of Ridgecrest on Highway 395 (about halfway to Lone Pine / Alabama Hills), Fossil Falls is a BLM campground that’s relatively easy to reach (short dirt access road not far from the highway).  The Fossil Falls Campground (elevation 3,307 feet) has only 11 developed campsites (first come, first serve) with picnic tables and grills, but only 4 are recommended for trailers and RVs (4,5,6, & 8).  The other campsites are generally smaller, not as level, and harder to get into.  Despite arriving late in the day, most of the trailer/RV sites were still empty when we pulled into the campground.  We chose site #5, parked our Scamp 13’ at this pull through and level spot, and then walked down to the Iron Ranger box to submit our payment ($6/night at the time of this writing).  We knew in advance that these boxes only accept cash or check, so we brought plenty of $5’s and $1’s.  To see a fly over of Campsite #5 and the Fossil Falls Campground, click here.

There are no hookups at this campground; however, there is a water pump.  Expecting water spigots, we were a little surprised when we found the water pump.  It’s actually a real manually operated pump and wrestling the pump to get the water out of the ground takes some effort!  We didn’t even try to fill our Scamp 13’ fresh tank here since we planned to dump our Black and Grey tanks and refill our Fresh water tank the next day at a private RV park along the way to the Alabama Hills.  It seems it would take a lot of work and time to get a measurable amount of water out of the pump!  To see a video of me trying out the manual water pump, click here.

Fossil Falls Campground is a very unique campground in that is at the base of a cinder cone volcano (Red Hill) and the area is strewn with lava rocks, giving the area an otherworldly feel.  Camping close to the base of the volcano amid fields of volcanic rock is an unusual experience!  Close to the campground (a trail leads to the trailhead from Campsite #1), is a short trail to the “falls”.  Between 10,000 and 400,000 years ago, lava flowed in the area.  Glaciers formed in the last ice age melted and the water flows ran through the lava rocks at Fossil Falls to create smooth and unusually shaped volcanic rocks.  Once at the volcanic rock “falls”, don’t get too close as there is a big drop to the bottom of the gorge.

The next morning we noticed a few more campers set up at adjacent campsites.  We were glad we left our green under lighting on throughout the night since, not only may it help keep rodents away, the lights may also prevent someone from accidently driving into the trailer when arriving at the campground in the dark of night.  After a nice breakfast and hike to Fossil Falls, we packed up and headed to our next destination, a place to dump and fill fresh water (Boulder Creek RV Resort).

After a lot of research and phone calls, we discovered that RV dumping facilities in this area are scarce!  There is a dump station and water at Tuttle Creek Campground in Lone Pine – but, it is only seasonally operated and was not running during our trip.  Someone mentioned that the RV park in the town of Olancha (the town south of Lone Pine) has an RV dump, but we were told there is no dump available when we called.  We contacted the Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine a couple of times and were given conflicting information regarding if dumping facilities were available.  We decided to risk it, because our trip would quickly be over if we couldn’t dump (our Black tank was already at 50% after a couple of days on the road).  After about a 45 minute drive, we pulled up to the Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine.  The first thing I noticed before opening the glass door to the office at Boulder Creek RV Resort is the big lettering on the glass which says “No Public Dump”.  I was told at the front desk that they get very busy and usually don’t have time to deal with campers who aren’t staying overnight at their campground (we were quoted $65/night for a full hookup site).  After repeatedly explaining that we couldn’t find a place to dump in the area, we were allowed to use one of the small campsites (#27) for $25 to dump and fill fresh water.  We were prepared to rent a campsite at Boulder Creek RV Resort for the night at $65 in case they didn’t allow us to dump so we would be able to spend 4 nights in the Alabama Hills.  Fortunately, this wasn’t necessary!

Make sure to stop at the Lone Pine Visitor Center on the way to the Alabama Hills!  It’s a very large center with lots of information on the Alabama Hills and the area.  Plus, there’s plenty of great merchandise like t-shirts and hats!

Alabama Hills
Alabama Hills is an awe inspiring location just outside the small town of Lone Pine in the Eastern Sierra (about a five hour drive north east of San Diego).  The area sits at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley and features a dramatic mountain range, hills, and incredible large round boulder rock formations.  Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet, along with other high snowcapped mountains, forms a panoramic backdrop to enjoy while camping and exploring in the Alabama Hills.  Countless movies, television shows, and commercials have been filmed here.  The first movies to be filmed in the hills were Water, Water Everywhere and Cupid, the Cow Puncher, both released in 1920 (now considered lost films).  The oldest surviving film shot in the hills is “The Roundup” (released 1920) starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, which includes a cameo from his friend Buster Keaton.  Most major Western actors of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s were filmed riding their horses amid the rocks of the Alabama Hills which include John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Robert Mitchum, William Boyd, and Roy Rogers.  Other famous movies and television shows filmed here include Gunga Din, Tremors, Iron Man, Bad Day at Black Rock, How the West Was Won, Django Unchained, Gladiator, Man of Steel, Star Trek Generations, Around the World in 80 Days, Star Trek 5:  The Final Frontier, and Firefly.  For an extensive list click here.

There are several campgrounds in the Lone Pine area (Tuttle Creek Campground, Lone Pine Campground, Portuguese Joe Campground, and Diaz Lake Campground).  The only one which we identified as having a dump station is Tuttle Creek Campground; it has water spigots and a central dump station when in season (however, these were still off for winter during our early April visit).  After researching all the campgrounds, our plan was to stay within the Alabama Hills (BLM dispersed camping area / no fee) because of the most dramatic views and movie making history.  The unsettling thing about camping in the Alabama Hills is that there are no reservations and the campsites, although somewhat defined, are scattered throughout the landscape and have to be searched out (most of which are off the main road on dirt roads – some of which are a bit harsh for towing campers).  We read before going that the best sites for trailers are ones very close to the main road.  To give us the best possible chance of finding a decent spot, we arrived early in the day and during the week (Tuesday morning).  Our backup plan in case we couldn’t find a campsite in the Alabama Hills was to stay at Tuttle Creek Campground because it has nice mountain views as well (just not as dramatic a setting as the Alabama Hills, a campground feel, and ten to fifteen minutes farther from town).

Getting to the Alabama Hills is really easy; it’s just a five minute drive up Whitney Portal Road from downtown Lone Pine and a right turn onto Movie Flat Road.  Movie Flat Road is paved for a little while and then turns to dirt.  Our goal was to try to find a campsite as early as possible before going too far back so we would have a quick drive to town and, perhaps, a chance of an internet connection (but, as it turned out, we experienced only a fading one bar of Verizon service with occasional text coming though).  On our first pass, we didn’t see any campsites that stood out and we quickly found ourselves at the end of the paved road and onto the dirt road.  And, having experienced our misadventure at the Trona Pinnacles earlier in the trip, we weren’t in any mood to do extreme off-road adventuring.  We turned around and this time slowly made our way back down the paved Movie Flat Road toward Whitney Portal Road.  This time we took it slowly and decided to drive down one of the main dirt roads.  And, we discovered, there are numerous places to set up a campsite and we found one high up on the hill directly below a tall wall of interesting rock formations.  We were told by a ranger at the Lone Pine Visitor Center that the only camping allowed was on the right side while driving up Movie Flat Road (and there are BLM marker signs as well).  The BLM is currently in the process of implementing a permit system and plans to better define camping areas to mitigate over use of the area; we were told that this will be happening very soon.  As it turns out, our experience off-roading at the Trona Pinnacles gave us plenty of confidence here in the Alabama Hills.  In fact, we found ourselves judging the dirt roads with ease and picking out safe routes to locate a campsite.  After a short bit of driving, we found an excellent campsite high up on the hill with a panoramic view of the Eastern Sierra (including unobstructed views of Mt. Whitney)!!!  To see a video of us driving through the Alabama Hills and our campsite, click here.

The key to finding a good campsite within the Alabama Hills is to take one’s time and go slowly.  Stay on the better dirt roads and avoid any that have steep dips.  If unsure, stop and walk or bike the dirt road to where you think might be a good campsite.  We found that there are many good dirt roads at the start of the Alabama Hills (just a few minutes up Movie Flat Road).  Also, only set up camp at a relatively flat site and make sure to bring heavy duty wheel chocks to secure your trailer on the dirt.  The site we found was flat but was high up on a hill, so, for peace of mind, we parked our tow vehicle in front of our trailer in the unlikely event it rolled forward.

When planning a trip to the Alabama Hills, it’s helpful to understand how you use your trailer’s resources because there are no dump stations, fresh water spigots, electrical hookups, or propane refilling stations in the Alabama Hills (completely dry camping).  First, and perhaps most important, is how long your Black and Grey tanks take to fill and how quickly your Fresh tank is depleted.  The Grey and Fresh tank concerns can be addressed to extend your stay.  Grey water can be dumped into jugs (see Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution).  Our Grey tank usually fills in about two to three days.  And fresh water can be filled into fresh water jugs and transported with your tow vehicle to resupply your trailer’s Fresh tank.  We can go about one and a half days before our 12 gallon fresh water tank is empty (using about 8 gallons of fresh water per day for nightly showers, sink washing, and toilet flushes).  We made friends with a local teenager working at a car wash in town and he let us fill our three 6 gallon fresh water jugs (we used our own hose with a water filter for better purity).  We also found, while visiting new camper friends we made on this trip, water spigots at Diaz Lake Campground (just 5 minutes down the road from Lone Pine) – although, these are probably only meant for people staying at this public campground.  The Black tank usually turns out to be the Achilles’ heel for long stays, as the only way to drain it is by going to a Dump station (unless you want to deal with portable Black tanks, generally not recommended).  So, when the Black tank is full, the only choice is to either pack up, dump, and return or to end your stay in the area.  We planned to stay four nights in the Alabama Hills and this worked out to be the amount of time it took to fill our Black tank.  Lastly, although we did see a propane dealer in Lone Pine, it’s best to arrive with full tanks (we recommend two full 20lb tanks) so there are no worries about keeping the propane refrigerator, hot water heater, and gas stove operational.  We found we had more than enough propane for the week from just a single tank running our refrigerator 24/7, our hot water heater for evening showers, and our gas stove for daily meals.  But, if it had happened to be really cold at night, a second propane tank would have provided ample resources for running the furnace.

Another consideration when dry camping for a number of days in the Alabama Hills is power.  We brought our solar panel briefcase along and it provided ample power for the duration of the trip.  Right before the trip, we also purchased a 50’ extension cable for our solar briefcase so that, if necessary, the solar panels could be located a distance away from the trailer to better capture the sun.  Because the area can get very windy, we opted to place the backs of our solar panels flat down directly against the ground instead of propping them up with their stands, and this turned out to be an excellent strategy!  There was a violent wind storm our first night and the solar panels didn’t even move!  In fact, we left them in their position the entire five days of our stay and they performed really well, providing plenty of power.  Having the Jackery 500 lithium power station also allowed us to charge all our accessories (cell phones, electric toothbrush, drone batteries, camera) and run our 12V television for movie nights without concern about depleting our Scamp’s battery.  When we weren’t watching movies at night or star gazing (more on that coming up), we enjoyed playing one of our favorite games (Sequence or Backgammon).

We learned on our past trip to Valley of Fire State Park (NV) that it’s good to have plenty of cash while travelling  (especially in small bills, $5’s and $1’s).  On the Nevada trip, we were confronted with an Iron Ranger (steel pay box in place of a live Ranger) which only accepted checks and cash.  That time, we barely had enough cash to cover our two night stay.  We don’t use checks because there is risk the bank account might be compromised due to the check having both the owner’s account and routing numbers listed on it.  On this trip, having cash was especially helpful.  Not only did we stay at a BLM campground (Fossil Falls) which has an Iron Ranger, but we also needed cash to pay for our horseback rides and lavender product souvenirs.  We now hide an envelope of two to three hundred dollars cash in small bills in our Scamp 13’ so that it is there if needed.

Once you’ve arrived with enough food and drinking water for your stay, a completely full Fresh tank and empty Black and Grey tanks, full Propane tanks, cash, have found your perfect spot in the Alabama Hills and set up your solar panels, it’s time to relax, enjoy the landscape, and have fun!  Looking out at the panoramic views of the Easter Sierra and snowcapped peaks, we felt like we were in Switzerland.  The sights are so amazing here that they are worth the trip even if you do nothing else but sit back in a relaxing chair and take in the scenery.  But, there are so many fun and interesting things to see and do, you probably don’t want to just sit around.  Make sure to have breakfast (cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, and pancakes) and lunch (burgers, tuna melts, ….) at the Alabama Hills Café, a local favorite diner in downtown Lone Pine.  Also, be sure to visit the Museum of Western Film History ($5 per person).  The museum has galleries full of pictures and memorabilia from movies filmed in the area.  In the museum’s screening room, watch their educational film for a great background on the movie industry in Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills.  To see an old Western film made in the Alabama Hills, click here.

Hiking some of the trails within the Alabama Hills is a definite highlight.  Walking amongst the large round boulders with the snowcapped mountains in the background is breathtaking.  However, if you only walk one trail, park at the Mobius Arch Loop Trailhead and walk the short loop (less than 30 minutes) to see the famous Mobius Arch (a very unusual rock formation which has a dramatic arch and large hole in the middle).   The Heart Arch can also be seen on this short easy hike.  In fact, there are a myriad of different arches formed by unusual rock formations found throughout the Alabama Hills and some like to try to find as many as possible!  Another great thing to do in the Alabama Hills is star gaze (as well as astrophotography)!  The night sky is very bright and filled with stars, so sit back, relax, and look up.  You may be amazed at what you see!  We saw a strange light race across the sky, come to a complete stop in midair, change color from white to orange above our heads, and completely reverse its direction!  More amazingly, we captured it on our camera by chance by taking a 15 second exposure of what we thought was an interesting jet flying over!  Of course, Alabama Hills is close to the mysterious and top secret Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, so perhaps it was a top secret military aircraft.  For now, we’ll label it as unidentified (UFO).

The following day was spent on more serious thoughts during a visit to Manzanar National Historic Site (National Park Service), about a twenty minute drive north of Lone Pine on Highway 395.  During WWII (1942), the U.S. Government rounded up Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens and imprisoned them in military style “internment” camps.  More than 110,000 men, women, and children were ordered to leave their homes and be detained in one of ten camps.  Manzanar, located at the base of the Eastern Sierra, was one of these camps.  Over 11,000 people were detained here and the last few hundred internees left in November 1945, a few months after the war ended.  Many had spent over three years at Manzanar.  We chose to quietly walk the entire camp for a more personal encounter than experienced from an auto tour.  Walking through the mess halls, listening to the stories told by real internees (via audio exhibits/viewing photographs), exploring the gardens, hospital grounds, and cemetery made us think deeply about what happened here and this dark period of American history.  It was difficult to reconcile the contrast between the beauty of the snowcapped Sierras on a wonderful sunny spring morning under sparkling dark blue skies and the stark and severe story of this place while walking the grounds.  Entrance to Manzanar is free and a visit might leave a lasting impression as it did with us.

On our last day, we enjoyed a fun horseback ride above the Alabama Hills (about a 15 minute drive from our campsite).  We called two days in advance to reserve the ride.  Julie, from De La Cour Ranch, has friendly horses and provides a wonderful 1 ½ hour ride ($50 per person at the time of our ride) above the hills overlooking the mostly dry Owens Lake (salt bed) as well as the Eastern Sierra.  We found the ride relaxing and some of us got a chance to trot a bit.  One member of our group (rides usually limited to about four riders) is a beginner and her horse was tethered to Julie’s lead mule for added safety.  Julie’s two dogs also joined the ride and ran along the entire way!  To see a video of our ride, click here.  Julie also rents cabins on her ranch (for all of your non-camping friends who want to join you on your adventures) and she makes natural lavender products from her lavender fields and distillery, which she shares with all her ranch guests.  After our ride, we enjoyed a nice lunch with our new camping friends at the Alabama Hills Café.  We left Alabama Hills behind us the next morning, but we were already looking forward to a future visit.

 

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