Apogee Photo Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHER'S GUIDE TO THE ALABAMA HILLS IN THE EASTERN SIERRAS

by Carol Leigh

We arrive in the dark, well before sunrise. Gradually the sky begins turning a cobalt blue and a rising crescent moon cradles itself between two dramatically sculpted rock formations, giving us something to photograph before the “real” show begins.

The top of Mt. Whitney directly west of us turns a lovely pink and the snowy mountainsides reflect this pink color out and up. The color crawls slowly downward, becoming fainter as the sun rises higher. Surrounding clouds, however, now take on this ethereal pinkish tone, and so we point our cameras both north and south to take advantage of the strange lighting. Almost as soon as it begins, the pink hues are gone, replaced by clear early morning light, which turns the surrounding boulders a warm, golden brown color — time to switch from big landscapes to abstract shots of rounded rocks, shadows, flowers, weeds, and lichens, texture, light and shadow. Our photo workshop is off to a great start!

The Alabama Hills has long been one of my favorite locations to shoot in California, from the very first time I visited back in the late ’70s when I became hopelessly lost among the boulders, to just this past March, when I confidently led our group to a series of locations I’d already meticulously scouted out ahead of time.

If you’ve seen Roy Rogers on TV shooting at the bad guys, then you’ve seen the Alabama Hills. If you’ve watched car commercials where the latest sports utility vehicle zooms along dirt roads between huge stacks of boulders, then you’ve seen the Alabama Hills. If you’re a fan of the movie “Gunga Din” . . . if you’ve seen television commercials with Michael Jordan striding atop huge boulders, then you’ve seen the Alabama Hills. And once you’ve visited the Alabama Hills, you will see them everywhere — from old movies to current television advertising.

Movie makers and advertising folks want their subjects to look dramatic. As photographers, so do we. The Alabama Hills area fits that bill. And there’s something there for everyone, from broad panoramic landscapes to tiny macro shots of lichens on rocks. If you’re looking for wildflowers, you’ll find them blooming generally around the first few weeks of May, lasting well into the rest of the month. Mojave aster, bush lupine, and a variety of little yellow flowers that I don’t know the names of are what you’ll find.

General location

The Alabama Hills are located just west of the town of Lone Pine, which is on Highway 395 north of Ridgecrest and south of Bishop in the eastern Sierra. To begin your photo explorations, you’ll be heading west on Whitney Portal Road from the only traffic signal in the town of Lone Pine.

How they were named

During the Civil War, southern sympathizers in Lone Pine heard that a Confederate cruiser named the “Alabama” was pounding the heck out of Union ships. They therefore named their mining claims there in the hills after the victorious cruiser “Alabama.” The name eventually applied to the entire area. Union sympathizers living just 15 miles north of Lone Pine in the town of Independence subsequently celebrated the sinking of the “Alabama” by the Union ship “Kearsarge.” As a result, we now have Kearsarge Peak, Kearsarge Pass, and the town of Kearsarge as well.

Your photographing strategy

It’s dark before sunrise. Very dark. And the winding dirt roads, the large stands of boulders (all of them looking remarkably alike), and the lack of signs makes finding your “perfect sunrise spot” very difficult. So rule number one for photographing in the Alabama Hills is to scope out your sunrise spot the day before, when it’s light and you can see exactly where you’re going to want to be the following morning.

Where to set up your tripod

There are hundreds of locations to choose from and we’ve got our favorites. Where you decide to be is totally up to you, but here are some suggestions:

Movie Road

For overviews looking west across a huge field of boulders to the mountains, check out a variety of locations along Movie Road. You reach Movie Road by turning west in Lone Pine onto Whitney Portal Road. Turn right onto Movie Road at the street sign. There’s also a plaque there that offers information about the area’s history. Although the very first section of the road is paved, it quickly becomes a dirt and gravel road which is easily passable for a regular passenger car. From this main road there are lots of little side roads that head east into large fields of boulders. Feel free to take any of these side roads and explore.

I wish I could say “go 0.3 miles from such and such a point and turn right” but there are way too many options here to narrow it down to just a few. Also, a road that may be accessible this year may be completely blocked by a downed boulder the next. (Which has happened to us! One of our favorite vistas was available one year, blocked by a fallen boulder the next. We were just grateful not to have been there when it happened.)

You can be assured that just about any road you take that leads off to your right, or to the east, will provide you with good viewpoints of the entire field of boulders as well as Lone Pine Peak and Mt. Whitney off in the distance. You just need to scout out the area ahead of time and take detailed notes so that you can find it again in the dark.

The arch . . .

There are a number of arches in the Alabama Hills. The most written-about arch is tough to get to and equally tough to shoot through. But I’m speaking not from personal experience, just what I’ve heard from numerous photographers. Here’s the information that’s published by the Bureau of Land Management on how to get there:

From US 395 in Lone Pine, turn west at the only stop light onto Whitney Portal Road. Drive 5.3 miles up Whitney Portal Road. Turn right onto a dirt road and park near the fence. Walk through the opening in the fence and across the wooden bridge over Lone Pine Creek. Walk north up and over the hill and into the wash paralleling the ridge to the east. Note: the trail is not marked. As you walk north in the wash, keep the ridge in sight until you see the arch on the horizon (approximately 15 minutes). The arch can easily blend in with the surrounding rock formations, so keep looking to the east. Once you see the arch, it is about a 10-minute walk up the ridge and rocks to the arch’s base.

One of the prettiest arches, however, is quite accessible and is easily reached. It’s taken me a lot of soul-searching to decide whether or not to publicize this information. The arch is small, but photographs big. It provides a beautiful frame for Mt. Whitney. And just below it, and I mean JUST below it, is another arch that’s good for framing views of Mt. Whitney. (see above)  You reach this arch by parking at the end of Movie Road. You take a little pathway down to the wash, scramble up the other side, and head north about a quarter mile. The arches will be to your right. Photography here is best after the sun has risen. If you arrive before sunrise, the arch will be in complete shadow. But after the sun’s come up, the arch is lighted nicely, showing quite a bit of texture which adds enormously to your photograph. So plan to be somewhere else at sunrise and then, before you head off to breakfast, go visit the arches.

Tuttle Creek Road Circular Tour

There are lots of places to photograph along Tuttle Creek Road, ranging from a little waterfall to mountains framed with boulders to stands of bush lupine. There are also a few spots that are good for sunrise photography, but be sure you scout out this area ahead of time to make sure the place you choose has a clean, clear view looking west/northwest toward the mountains. You reach Tuttle Creek Road from Lone Pine by turning west from Highway 395 onto Whitney Portal Road. You then turn left or south onto Tuttle Creek Road. Zero out your odometer at this point. All references to mileage are from this point. Since your odometer and mine may not agree, these mileages are approximate.

You’ll drive past Portagee Joe Campground, over the Los Angeles Aqueduct (chain link fencing prevents you from getting close to the water), and past Indian Cemetery Road. The canyon begins to narrow. You have views of mountain peaks between boulderish walls at 1.4 miles. At 1.8 miles there’s another good view of the mountains framed with the boulders.

At 2.4 miles you’ll find yet another good view of the mountains, the road, and trees.

At 2.7 miles there’s a little waterfall on the left. The bright green plants growing there are watercress.

At 2.8 miles there are more good views of the mountains with trees.

At 2.9 miles look to your left for five pointy rock formations called “The Needles.”

At 3.0 miles there’s a little creek on the right that goes under a rock arch. Listen for the frogs. Then you drive past a wooden corral, past a house on your right and then emerge from the canyon past piles of boulders. The turnoff to explore these boulders is at 3.6 miles on your left. Lots of boulders, lots of good views.

Tuttle Creek Road then goes past a subdivision of homes, past Alabama Road, an adobe house, past Indian Springs Road, past the Pheasant Club. The big boulders are now all behind you. The road is flat, the surroundings are flat. The road ends at Lubken Canyon Road at 5.6 miles.

Turn right onto Lubken Canyon Road. You’ll be heading toward the mountains. It ends at Horseshoe Meadows Road about 0.4 miles later. If you turned left on Horseshoe Meadows Road, you’d end up at Horseshoe Meadows, a hang gliding launch site in the summer. We turn right and go past Tuttle Creek Campground and then head back through big boulders. You’ll soon reach a marker on your right explaining that the movie “Gunga Din” was filmed here in what’s now known as “Gunga Din Canyon.”

You then head back to Whitney Portal Road. From the intersection of Whitney Portal Road and Horseshoe Meadows Road, head west on Whitney Portal Road toward the mountains. You’ll go past Willow Bend Ranch and Mt. Whitney will be looming large above you. A stream lined with willows parallels the road. You have excellent views of Mt. Whitney from various locations along this road.

You drive past the Lone Pine Campground and shortly thereafter you’ll find good vantage points from which to photograph Lone Pine Peak. (People often confuse Lone Pine Peak and Mt. Whitney since, because it’s closer, Lone Pine Peak looks much bigger.) From late fall through early spring, the road continuing up to Whitney Portal is closed, at about an elevation of 6,580 feet.

If the road is open, you can continue on about 3½ miles to photograph a large waterfall where the road ends. In winter, this waterfall is frozen, offering a variety of opportunities to photograph should you take the law into your own hands and venture past the “road closed” sign, as many people do. I’m not recommending that you do this, however! Let me make that clear!

Here’s a report from someone (who shall remain nameless — oh, let’s just call him “Osman” — not his real name) who, scofflaw that he is, went beyond the “road closed” sign and lived to tell us about it. He writes: With all the stealth I could muster, I snuck past the "Road Closed" sign on Whitney Portal Road and made it to the end of the road. Not to set your expectations too high, but it was BEAUTIFUL! It’s completely different from the rocks "down below." I was wandering among pine trees with a powdery snow covering the ground. I stayed up there ‘til 11 a.m. and only left because I had to start my journey home. The waterfall was completely covered with snow and ice so it didn’t make the best subject for a picture. I feel that this place is best for its intimate details: pine needles on the forest floor, water cascading over rocks or pine cones in the snow. I could have spent the whole day up there.

Here’s how you get there. Go around the road closed sign. Go up the road about 3.4 miles. There is no snow on the lower parts of the road. However, there are some rocks on the road and it is quite steep and there is no barrier to prevent you from careening off the road to a certain death. Other than that it is a nice drive. Go past the campground entrance on the left. Then go past the lower parking lot also on the left. Park in the next set of spaces on the left. This should be close to the end of the road. Do not drive past the trail head (on the right) because that part of the road may not be navigable without 4WD (too much snow). There is a frozen pond and several streams to explore. The sun will start hitting subjects on the right side of the road around 10 a.m. It looks like a lot of the area will be in shade all day long.

Recommended equipment

Wide-angle lenses in the 20mm-28mm range are perfect for shooting in the Alabama Hills, especially if you wish to include boulders in the immediate foreground. Long lenses, too, in the 200mm-400mm range are handy for isolating the mountains in the distance. If you enjoy photographing lichen patterns and close-ups of flowers and cactus, then bring along a macro lens as well.

A polarizing filter will really max out the blue sky (if you’re shooting off to the north or south), and a warming filter (81A, 81B, 81C) will add a bit of oomph to the light brown boulders. Another filter I highly recommend for sunrise shots is Tiffen’s 812 filter, which has a peachy-gold cast to it. A graduated neutral density filter will help you even out the tones of a very light sky and a shadowy foreground. (If you’re serious about landscape photography, this is definitely a filter you should have — nothing’s worse than a gorgeous landscape photo that’s been ruined because the sky was completely washed out.) Naturally, a tripod ensures your photos are as sharp as they can be.

While you’re in the area . . .

The Interagency Visitor Center is a must-stop. It’s located 1½ miles south of Lone Pine at the junction of Highways 395 and 136. Here you can get information about the mountain lakes, seasonal road and trail conditions, maps, and books about the Owens Valley and the eastern Sierra. The rangers there are incredibly helpful, the books excellent, and the restrooms clean.

On the Internet

There’s a live webcam showing what Mt. Whitney looks like today at: http://www.whitneyportalstore.com