Memories of Lone Pine

I always enjoy exploring near Lone Pine. There is so much spectacular scenery nearby. To its east, and rising to over 11,000 feet, are the Inyo Mountains. These mountains were formed in the same epoch as the Sierra-Nevada Range, when the Great Basin spread, causing the land to buckle like a ripple in a rug when pushed against a wall. At the north end of this range, White Mountain, at 14,252 feet, this wrinkle reaches its maximum. Geologists call this type of mountain range an anticline.

Lone Pine is the gateway to Mount Whitney. At 14,505 feet, it is the highest point of land in North America, south of the Canadian Border. Ninety million years ago, volcanism caused by the collision of the Pacific oceanic plate slipping beneath the continental crust, produced the massive granite deposits we see in the Sierra-Nevada range. Anyone visiting the Yosemite Valley can not help but be impressed by its grandeur. Ten million years ago, when the basin-range expansion mentioned above was in process, the collision of the inland crust slipped beneath the granite of the Sierra-Nevada and lifted the eastern edge of the mountains and tilted the mountains toward the west. Now, the gentle slope of west belie the dramatic presence of the broken, over-thrusted rocky eastern faces. As anyone driving Highway-395 through the region can attest, the views are unrivaled. 

There is a third dramatic geologic feature at Lone Pine’s western border. There lie the Alabama Hills. Located on an elevated plain between the town-site in the Owens Valley, and the foot of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, broad fields of sage are punctuated with clusters of massive rounded boulders. Here, beginning in 1919, Hollywood began exploiting the scenery to produce movie-magic. Hundreds of productions, both for big-screen and little, told their stories using the Alabama Hills to portray the rugged west. 

Films such as Gunga Din , Yellow Sky, Springfield Rifle, The Violent Men, Bad Day at Black Rock, How the West Was Won, Joe Kidd, Saboteur, Django Unchained, Tremors, Iron Man, and many more were filmed here. Those of us growing up in the 1950s should remember some of our favorite TV shows (The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Annie Oakley, and many more) were produced using these formations of boulders as a backdrop. 

I’m sure I’ve missed opportunities to meet birds in this region. My only birding exploits occurred about 7:00 pm on 2011-05-27 south of town at Diaz Lake. No doubt, with a little effort and exploration along the Owens River, one could produce better results than those I got.