Friday, October 30, 2015

Wrapping Up Our Time in Lone Pine - Leaving the Sierras for Now

Nine days went by too fast, and if there weren't a wedding and a grandbaby to get to, we'd have extended our time here. 

Wednesday is another attempt at locating fish. Which means we find some more really awesome boulders and views and dirt roads....but no fish. I suggest we go look for rocks and see if fish show up.......

I lost my lens cap and thought maybe it was when we were at Eric and Laurel's campsite, so we start the day at Tuttle Creek Campground. No lens cap, and although there's water in the creek, it is too narrow, and moving too fast for fishing. The trees and brush are really thick as well. Since Bill left the machete in his other pants, there is no way to access the water.

From there we head east where the map looks like the creek is wider near Tuttle Creek Road. Maybe, but it's on private property :-( .

However the road itself is a wonderful surprise, curving tightly through steep cliffs of boulders. Unlike other areas in the Alabama Hills, this is a long, narrow canyon with rock formations on both sides. There's even a rock with a door in it. 


The door is no longer there, just a concrete frame and large chain - and little ghosts flying around the opening
The interior isn't dug out - it is a solid two-chambered rock "flow" of some kind - only goes back about  20 feet
I'm melting.....
Mountains of rock, not rock mountains - see, totally different!


The road takes us back to town, but we're not ready to go home, so we head north for Hogback Creek. We're nothing if not optimistic.


Green (for a desert), but no water
The abundance of greenery indicates water, but it's underground and the creek bed is dry. The Sierras look amazing with some cloud cover - looks like it's snowing up there - so we continue until we pick up Movie Road again.






Saving some Alabama Hills dirt for "later"
Another stop at our favorite Lone Pine restaurant, The Alabama Hills Cafe, for a late lunch, and we make our way home.

We join Dave and Sue at John and Pam's lovely (very!) home for our last happy hour (until our paths cross this winter), once again enjoying lively conversation and delicious hors d'oeuvres with these wonderful new friends.

Thursday the wind blows hard all day so we stay in and get things ready for travel day. Bill loads the "goes-in-the-Jeep" stuff, and after football we say good-night to Lone Pine - for this time.



19 comments:

  1. Losing lens caps happens too often. Those little lens keepers are handy tools until the stick'em weas off. Windy days make for great chilling days.

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    1. I've been so careful about keeping it in the camera bag - I think Gremlins were involved!

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  2. I am always losing the lens cap. Eventually it shows up in the strangest places like the washer, behind the jeep seat, or in the basket where I left it!

    What a great time with friends. And all the adventures you have had sure make that route one to look forward to.

    So where will you be this winter? Joe and I will be in San Diego (San Diego Metro KOA in Chula Vista) for Dec and Jan, then back to Tucson for doctor and PET scan in Feb.

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    1. I keep hoping it's going to show up somewhere weird! We're doing an Arizona-back-to-Borrego Springs loop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, then Quartzsite the middle of January, then we're not sure until the end of April in Laughlin for a high school annual reunion. Would be great fun to cross paths with you guys!

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  3. You've made some great discoveries along 395 and now I am looking forward to our next foray along that road!

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    1. I never knew there was so much to see and do, just that it was beautiful in the fall. We're really glad we took our time!

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  4. So glad you got to meet some fellow bloggers. Have you tried one of those little lens cap keepers, I could never hang on to one but now it's always attached to my camera!

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    1. Me too, we had so much fun with them :) I think when I replace it I'll get one of those as well!

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  5. We found the flowing lava and mine door yesterday!! Very cool! Poor Bill! Sorry he never found any fish:( Wasn't it so very cool driving around below watching those clouds around the mountain tops! Only in the west!

    It was so nice having a second visit and more time to spend together:) Can't wait til later this winter to meet up again!! Enjoy that beautiful grandbaby:) Post lots of photos!

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    1. So glad you found it - just a little piece of fun in some more rocks!! We miss waking up to those mountains :-(

      OMG he's so cute!!

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  6. I'm just catching up on your travels. Looks like some great memories. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Glad to have you back - looking forward to seeing what you guys got up to in San Francisco!

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  7. Isn't it nice to know you can return. Safe travels.

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  8. Ha! We found your lens cap! Eric thought it was mine. :-) We'll mail it to you. Safe travels -- it was fun meeting up along beautiful 395.

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    1. Too funny!! I'll email you the address if you have a chance to send it off, we're here for a month. Hope you're having a great time in your travels east :-))

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    2. I'll definitely send it to you right away -- email me the address whenever you have a chance. :-) We're having a grand time but still have a long way to go to get to Florida!

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  9. Now that's amazing.....the hunt for the missing lens cap ends in a blog comment. Well that's pretty neat and so is your getting to spend time with all these people I follow. Pretty envious here. Alabama Hills is definitely going on my list. Love the door. What do you think it was originally for?

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    1. Right?! We have the same camera so I probably should have asked her :-) It was a pretty hefty concrete door frame so might have been for storing gold, but it also could have been cool storage for food. Not big, but really different.

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