The Lone Ranger Ambush (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.235 W118 07.125)

 

One of my favorite stops off the 395 in California is Lone Pine. It is a great hub for lots of things I like to do. Lone Pine is a small town that has only one traffic light. If you head left (west) at the light, in a few miles you will reach the Alabama Hills. The Alabama Hills area is a really great area to see all different types of rock formations and awesome views. Not only do you get to see strange rock formations, but the high Sierra peaks of Mt. Whitney, Mt. Langely, and Lone Pine peak are all in the background.

There are many reasons the Alabama Hills is an interesting area to visit. One of them is that many old movies have been filmed there. In fact, the people in Lone Pine have a film festival every year in October where they give tours, bring in old actors/directors, etc. Mostly westerns were filmed there, but occasionally a movie like Tremors will be filmed there. I know of a few locations and intend to post some of them here.

The first area on my list is the area known as the Lone Ranger Ambush Site.

This area is important in the history of the Lone Ranger since it is the first time on screen that the outlaws ambushed the Texas Rangers killing all, but one. That one person was rescued by the American Indian Tonto and became the Lone Ranger. The top picture was filmed in 1938 and stars Lee Powell. As an important footnote, Lee Powell died a few years later fighting heroically in WW2 in the Pacific. The original 15 episode serial (264 minutes) has not been restored and released on dvd. The chopped down 68 minute version released in 1940 was released a few years ago as Hi-Yo Silver. The GPS coordinates are listed above get you into the general area, and it is just a matter of aligning yourself with the above pictures.

Three Ambushes at Lone Ranger Canyon (Youtube Version)

Three Ambushes at Lone Ranger Canyon (Vimeo Version)