| Lone Pine, California doesn't look like much at first. It's a | | | | walk into mazes of rocks to get to the better ones. |
| dusty desert town of a few thousand, on highway | | | | Mount Whitney |
| 395, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas. There | | | | Lone Pine is the gateway to Mount Whitney. At 14,496 |
| might still be only one traffic light. So what makes it a | | | | feet, it is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. |
| great vacation destination? | | | | Whitney Portal Road starts in the center of town, and |
| The Lone Pine Film Festival | | | | takes you 20 miles up to the trailhead and |
| Here are some of the movies filmed in this part of | | | | campground. The Whitney Portal Trail goes to the top. |
| California: Gunga Din, How The West Was Won, Star | | | | It's a strenuous hike, and the 22-mile round trip is best |
| Trek, Tremors, Springfield Rifle, Joshua Tree, Gladiator, | | | | broken into two or three days, with a night or two |
| and Maverick. John Wayne, Gene Autry, Gary Cooper, | | | | spent in the beautiful high country. By the way, you'll |
| Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, William Boyd, and | | | | find snow up there most of the year. |
| dozens of other movie stars have all spent time in | | | | The National Forest Service has designated much of |
| Lone Pine. Television series filmed here include The | | | | the Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Park |
| Lone Ranger, Have A Gun, Bonanza, and Wagon | | | | around the mountain as "The Whitney Zone." To hike |
| Train. Spend much time in Lone Pine, and later, when | | | | within this area you need a permit, which can be |
| you're watching movies at home, you'll find yourself | | | | obtained from the inter-agency visitors center on |
| saying "Hey I've been there." | | | | Highway 395, just south of Lone Pine. Plan ahead, as |
| More than 200 movies, and numerous television series | | | | permits are limited, and a seperate summit stamp may |
| have been filmed in and around the area. The Lone | | | | be required now to go to the peak of Whitney. |
| Pine Film Festival, which is held in early October every | | | | There is a campground behind downtown - to the |
| year, features the classics, as well as more recent | | | | west, and several nice motels in Lone Pine. The |
| films. If you watch many movies, you can see familiar | | | | visitor's center south of town has a lot of information |
| movie scenery any time of the year. | | | | on activities and sights in the area. The reservoir south |
| The Alabama Hills | | | | of town is good for fishing and swimming. The Beverly |
| Drive a few minutes south of Lone Pine, turn west, | | | | and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History will |
| and you'll find the Alabama Hills, one of the most unique | | | | open soon. Actors have gun battles in the local bar |
| geological areas you'll ever see. Rounded and smooth | | | | just to entertain you (no charge). |
| rocks are piled up in the most amazing formations. | | | | My wife and I love Lone Pine. Where else in California, |
| You may recognize some of the scenery from old | | | | or anywhere else, can you - all in one day - go |
| westerns. On the south side of town, at the visitors | | | | swimming, watch a gunfight, explore caves and rock |
| center, you can get free maps that will guide you to | | | | formations in the desert, then drive up the mountain for |
| rock arches, caves and other sights. You'll have to | | | | a snowball fight? |