April 14, 2015

We decided to park the RV in Lone Pine and drive up Whitney Portal Road – then onto ‘Movie Road’ (so MANY films & TV shows shot up there!) to a hike to the Mobius Arch. Along the way we drove through a most beautiful area called Alabama Hills … all in BLM land where you can camp free pretty much anywhere. And there were tons of ‘anywhere’s’! Due to the years of film making there are little roads heading off all over the place. We did the hike to the Mobius Arch (beautiful – about a mile round trip) and then drove down many of the little roads to see if we could find a spot to spend the night.

Alabama Hills

Hiking in the Alabama Hills

Mobius Arch framing Mount Whitmore in the Alabama Hills

We found an amazing spot … actually the best campsite ever … very secluded and in between lots of rocks with views of the ‘big’ mountain … so drove in and settled down. We’re quite high here at around 4,700 ft. so it’s certainly cooler than Death Valley. The ONLY problem is the wind … if anything it’s worse than yesterday. Since we’ve been on this trip, the wind has been a constant companion – but now it’s less a companion than an adversary. It’s gusting regularly between 30km/h – 45km/h and up to 55km/h (higher I’ll bet at times!), and there’s nowhere to get out of it! It’s so strong I have trouble even standing without holding on to something. (If I had a bigger hat I could maybe be like the ‘Flying Nun’ … anyone remember that TV show with Sally Field?) Our only hope is that it dies down again like it did yesterday or we won’t be able to sit outside tonight … and the sky will be magnificent so that’ll be a shame.

Alabama Hills – Mount Whitmore in the background

Alabama Hills

Bruce headed off with the car and his bike to do a bit of dirt-biking while I stayed at the camp. I was a little way off doing a rock scramble and looked back at the RV where I saw to my dismay the wind almost take our carpet away (I had about ½ dozen VERY large rocks holding it down) and our awning just about ready to fly off! I hurried down and tried to find more (and bigger) rocks to anchor the carpet and at the same time roll in the awning.

Biker Dude

Biker Dude

Bruce came back fairly soon thereafter from his bike ride – too windy, too much blowing dust, and too high an elevation unless you’re really in shape. (We’re not so much.)

The wind came up even stronger as the day progressed and we were forced to stay inside!  What a shame … such a beautiful spot and a great opportunity to sit out under the stars with NO ONE else around.  But with sand blasting in your face at 30 mph … it’s not so pleasant.

So we stayed in … played tri-ominoes … had some drinks … then watched a movie.  Good thing I had our comforter and my ‘doggy blanket’ as it got quite cold.  When we got up it was only 3°C (COLD in  Fahrenheit!) and with the wind chill I’m sure it was a bit below freezing.  So we got up and put on our propane space heater to warm things up a bit, had some coffee and cereal then headed out to find some warmth somewhere down the road!