When we leave June Lake we make our way over 118 miles to Lone Pine, California, which is near Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills.
Mt Whitney. That is not snow, it’s light color rock.
Mt. Whitney is in the Sierra Nevada Range and is the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14, 505 feet in elevation. It towers about 2 miles above the little town of Lone Pine, and is only 15 miles down the road.
It really does ‘tower’ there, rising mostly straight up on its east side. Pretty impressive.
Not as much color change here as in the June Lake area, but there is some.
Between town and the Sierra Nevada range are the Alabama Hills, an area of…well…rock formations and piles of rocks! It looks something like some of the old cowboy movies you’ve seen…you know…the typical ‘out west’ or ‘Indian country’ scenes.
It looks like that because in many cases it IS that. Many cowboy movies and TV shows were filmed here, at least in part. But not just cowboy movies, but movies like “Tremors”, and parts of the various “Star Wars”, and even “Man Of Steel”.
One of the roads we explored in the Alabama Hills, with Mt. Whitney in the background.
Much of the Alabama Hills area is BLM land. (Bureau of Land Management), and boon docking…dry camping…is allowed there for up to 2 weeks. There are also some ‘official’, very low cost campgrounds close by.
My thought has been to explore the area while I’m staying at the RV park here, in search of a good place to camp for a couple weeks for free or low cost….if the weather would cooperate. By cooperating I mean, if it’s cool enough. The way things stand now, there will be a few days in the 70’s, but then it’s going to get hotter again. Also, I’m not feeling ok about camping at the BLM area, and the official campground I liked, Tuttle Creek, is having some serious ‘road repairs’ over the next couple of weeks (read major dust, since the roads are dirt), and also half of the campsites there will be closed. If I continue south, it just gets hotter right now, so for a week, at least, I’m back tracking about 90 miles to Crowley Lake, about 15 miles south of Mammoth. It’s predicted to be cooler…downright cold with nights in the 20’s, but the dogs, Joy particularly, will deal better with that than 90 during the days. So will I! I’ll need to figure out something to protect my outside pipes though.
Mt. Whitney with the Alabama Hills in the foreground.
In other news….
Joy is losing small patches of fur on her back and tail. It started awhile back and I took her to a vet when we were in Salmon, ID. Among other things, she prescribed a shampoo that seemed to help. I’m using that again, but it’s HARD to bath a big dog frequently and in an RV Park, so I’m spot washing her and applying other medication between the washings.
Shiloh has never shown any sign of the problem so I don’t think it’s something contagious. I believe it’s immune system and age related. In a month or so we will be in the ‘home place’ for a visit and Joy will be seeing her own vet.
Recently my microwave has been acting weird. After 30 seconds give or take, it continues to run but stops heating. Using a microwave that doesn’t work properly seems risky to me so my plan is to remove it, put a new and smaller one in its place, and order a cupboard door for the space from Casita to match the other cupboard doors.
This is how it looks now, with the panel holding the microwave in place.
I thought the thingies that hold the panel in place were weird screws, but with the help of the Casita Owners Face Book page, I come to find out they are rivets and must be drilled out.
I don’t have a drill, but I should have one, so I will be buying one, and see what I can do about removing the rivets.
So Monday we move on…err….back….towards Mammoth and cool temperatures! Looking forward to it!
Last nights sunset.
Wandering Spirit 
Beautiful country! BTW, be sure to heft your drill before you buy, they can be heavy! Safe travels!
Thanks Maureen. Yes, I don’t want a huge one, in fact I’d like one that is on the smaller side. Those batteries attached to them are heavy though.
Good to know there’s a Casita page with information and advice. Love that mountain and the rocks and of course that sunset!
Hi Dawn, yes and long before the FB page was the Casita Forum,and that has been so helpful to me many times.
Glad you like the pictures! It amazes me that the brownish rocks are so close to the whitish mountains. This earth is just amazing. And have you seen the full moon tonight? Beautiful!
Saw the full moon come up while we were driving home from visiting 101 year old Aunt Vi. Wished I was out somewhere more scenic and with a camera. Ah well. Slept outside in the back yard in my tent which was lit all night by that moon. It was lovely. Today is cloudy, so no moon rising tonight.
This is one of our favorite areas! So jealous!!!
Virtual hugs,
Judie
I can see how it would be one of your favorite places Judie. Gosh looking at the mountains here it’s like I’m looking through one of those 3D viewer thingie we had when we were kids. There are rows of them behind each other. Then there is the contrast of the light color pointy mountains with the brownish rounded rocks. I just shake my head in awe!
395 is just an amazing road that gets a fair amount of publicity. Maybe that’s not such a good thing. We hung out there a lot when we lived in California a few decades ago! Still on our minds as one of THE most beautiful places on earth!
You are spending time in our favorite areas!! We spent so many vacations camping in that area with our kids!! The mountains are so beautiful!!! I hope you find cooler weather!! It’s been raining with extremely high winds here in Oregon!!
Hi Sue,
So great that you spent lots of time with the kids in this beautiful area! What great memories they must have….and you too.
I’ve been hearing about the very bad storms in Oregon and Washington! I hope you are hunkered down somewhere safe! Take care.
Hi Mickey! Great post and fantastic photos! I never got to that area but wish I had. As for the pipes, I bought two hanging light bulb holders and put 100 W bulbs in them (the old kind of bulbs) and that worked well for me. Not sure where you would find the old bulbs now though. Here is a story for you. About two hours into my maiden voyage I heard this noise in the back of my class C. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that my microwave had fallen out of its cabinet and was hanging above the stove by its electrical cord!!!!! When I found a place to pull off the road I found out that the screws (your rivets) had fallen out. Ugh. I stood there assessing the situation and finely decided on the “wooden match stick” trick. Worked like a charm. The microwave stayed firm until it stopped working and I had to buy a new one. I sure miss being on the road!!! Thanks for the great post. Stay safe out there.
Hi Krystina, good idea with the light bulbs. I’m going to the hardware store today to see what I can find. My first night out there looks like it will be the coldest at 20 degrees. It’s supposed to go into the 50’s and 60’s during the days I’m there, and be sunny too, so I think that should help.
Yikes, your microwave! Glad you were able to save it. I guess mine won’t be going anywhere like that as there are 12 of those rivets holding it in place. I think I’ll wait till I get back to the ‘home place’ to work on the microwave project. Maybe I’ll find someone to help me there. Meanwhile I’ll be looking on Amazon at drills….reviews and such. That should help me decide what I need.
Glad you enjoyed the pictures!
Hi Mickey! Thanks for the lovely pics of Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills. It is nice to know that 395 is a great route south in the fall. It is already snowing up here at around 5000′ on Mt. Hood. It’s hard to believe you’re heading north for cooler weather!! The rainy season has arrived in full force here, our first since moving here…..I am already sick of it, and we have months to go!
Chris and I sold our Rialta a couple of weeks ago, and are now in the process of buying a Dodge 2500 van set up for towing. After we get it, then we hope to find a Bigfoot 17′ trailer, as they have heated tanks, and most have insulated windows……But we did run out and look at the Nash 17 after reading your post about Kerry. It’s a strong contender, but unfortunately it is misnamed as it is around 22′ long, with double axles, and we would prefer something lighter and shorter. Looking for a new rig is always so much fun! We sold the Rialta as it would only sleep the 2 of us, and we would like to take the grandgirl (and another on the way!) with us eventually.
Enjoy your trip south!
Sharon
Hi Sharon, wow, you sold your Rialta! Those are kind of hard to come by aren’t they? But yes, it sounds like something a little bigger will be more comfortable for you in the future.
A Bigfoot sounds great! I hope you find what you are looking for. Yes Kerry’s Nash is 22 feet I believe. I know it’s quite a bit bigger than WS. I wonder why the one you looked at is called ’17’. That really is misleading.
I’m now more in southern CA than not, and there is a heatwave coming….like in the 90’s and I just don’t want to be around for it. LA is predicting 100 degrees this week. Not that I’m near LA. The weather is just all over the place, but of course elevation makes a difference too. I’m hoping that when I come down out of the mountains again in a week or so, the heat wave will be past!
I wanted to make a recommendation for a drill if I may. I love this little guy and my husband uses it for work, all day long. Home Depot – Cordless, Milwaukee M12. There are a variety of tools that use the same battery: flashlight, radio, sawzaw, circular saw, etc. I have sever bone damage in my hands from arthritis and I can easily handle this drill. They also make an M18, but it is a much heavier which gives you more power.
Hi Linda, thank you for the recommendation! I will definitely look into that one. Exactly what I want…small enough, but big enough. Just wrote it down. I appreciate your help!