Here I explore the artwork that has been done in nature. This usually consists of my "hiking adventures", movie locations, or just some unique place that is a little out of the ordinary.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Belle Starr's Daughter (Summary)
As I have said a few times, this is a unique find since no other movie has been filmed in these areas from what I can tell. This B-Western is rare and next to impossible to get right now. It would be nice for some company to release a better quality edition so I can get some more precise shots of the area.
The major outdoor scenes were done in two areas:
Sinnamon Meadows (N38 06.730 W119 14.345)
and
HWY 108 Sonora Pass on the way to Kennedy Meadows
(N38 21.760 W119 29.860)
To see the entries:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 (This is the one off of HWY 108)
Part 4
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Belle Starr's Daughter Locations #4
Notice the mountain in the background from the movie picture.
The above is the road that leads to the Dunderberg Mine area. Before that it leads to the scene at the end of the movie.
The chase scene heads in this direction to where the final shootout takes place.
Well, thats it. I hope you enjoyed this series. This is a unique movie location and I do not think anything else was ever filmed here.
Have a Happy Christmas and New Year!
Belle Starr's Daughter Locations #3
Now the goose is on the table and the pudding made of fig and the blue and silver candles that would just have matched the hair on grandma's wig. Ugh, yeah.
This next area is further north of Sinnamon Meadows where they shot the other locations. It is quite interesting for a bunch of reasons.
They shot this part of the movie off of Highway 108 which takes one over Sonora Pass.
You can see Highway 108 on the left side of the picture.This is the Walker River they are crossing.
In the next movie picture if you were to go just over that hill in the background you would end up at Kirman Lake which was (and still maybe on a good day) a good place to catch brook trout.
Stay tuned...
Monday, December 24, 2007
Belle Starr's Daughter Locations #2
Grandma got run over by a reindeer....dut dut da...dut dut da...okayyy....
This is the second part. Sinnamon Meadows is one big place. A lot of scenes were just running back and forth in the same big area. This is more to the western side compared to the eastern one you saw in the last entry.
I actually own a publicity picture taken from the movie. That is the best picture I have from this movie. I got pretty close with the following pictures. Not exact, but pretty close.Please click the pictures to see the details at a bigger size. Finding the exact locations with something like this is hard because trees do not last as long as rocks do. BUT, you can see some of the features that have remained for the past sixty years.
Part 3 will be coming tomorrow. Stay Tuned.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Belle Starr's Daughter Locations #1
Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!
Okay, the next few entries have nothing to do with Christmas. They are something I decided to hold on to and release about this time of the year. Usually, I do not claim my finds as being unique to me. Many of them have been found way before me.
This time I think I have found one that no one, at least online or anything I have read in location books, has found. Part of the reason for this is that this movie, Belle Starr's Daughter, is very difficult to find on video. I was fortunate to get a copy last year. I know the outdoor locations rather well. I know the quality isn't that great, but check it out: This area is known as Sinnamon Meadows. It is just outside the town of Bridgeport, CA. It is near the old mining area known as Dunderberg. This picture is looking east. Highway 395 is just beyond the rocky hills you see. Although I did not see any, you can tell that cattle will graze here during the year.
It actually took me about 30 minutes to walk close to the following picture. It is not as easy hike in this meadow because you feet tend to sink a bit on many steps.
Tomorrow, I will follow up this up with Part 2.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Final Summit Views (Mt. Langley Part 3)
Here is another shot of the north side with Mt. Whitney to the right. The clouds and shadows were all over the place that day.When I mentioned that the cloud shadows were everywhere this makes an interesting picture. Can you tell which ones are shadows and which ones are lakes?
As a side note, I have enjoyed reading High Odyssey by Gene Rose. It is an account of Orland Bartholomew's 1928-29 winter hike up the John Muir Trail. He was the first to climb Langley and Whitney during the winter. The book has a few of the same pictures I have shown that he took of this area.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Movin' on up (Mt. Langley Part 2)
A little higher. On the middle left side of the picture is an arrow or "great than sign". The tip is where Army Pass is and where I came from. Cirque Peak is the prominent peak in the picture with Olancha Peak being in the far left background.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Magical Stairs to Langley (Mt. Langley Part 1)
As I headed further there were some interting rock formations along edge of some of the cliffs. The clouds had started to come out. I think the next picture is one of my most powerful of the day.
To be continued...
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Reaching Army Pass (Cottonwood Lakes Part 2)
The following is Cottonwood #3. That morning I had hiked to this area and thought how fun it would be to get up to Mt. Langley and not see anyone at all. I truly felt I had entered the wilderness. It was right before I got to this lake that I noticed that everyone camped near this lake. Everyone was packing up for what the intended to do on this day. Some were getting ready to fish. I saw a couple take off before me. It was obvious that they were heading to where I was going.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
New Army Pass Trailhead (Cottonwood Lakes Part 1)
This is one I have wanted to do a write up for a while now. A few months ago I headed home from vacation and, with some luck, I was able to get a place to stay overnight in Lone Pine, CA. I was fully confident I would be able to do this long hike if I got a place to stay, AND was able to drive up these long switchbacks up Horseshoe Meadows Road. One ends up driving up about 6,000 feet to an elevation of about 10,000 feet.
The overall goal was to get to Mt. Langley which is another 14er about five miles south of Mt. Whitney. The first two entries will be up to the Cottonwood Lakes area, and then the rest will be the rest of the hike to Mt. Langely.
I arrived at the New Army Pass trailhead right as the area started to lighten up. The sun would not be out for half-hour or so. I hit the right time to get started on this trail. This was one of those days that everything pretty much went better than planned. I really had no problems at all as you will see. The only problem I had, which turned out to not be one, was that I did not get an quality sleep the night before, but that was the only thing. As usual, since there was not enough light out at the time, and to save battery power for the peak, most of these early pictures were shot on the way down, but I arrange them in a way to show you how the trail is from trailhead to summit.
Somewhere along the way there is an area called Golden Trout Camp which I assume is an area that Golden Trout are sent from their parents for camp for a week during the summer. Ugh...yeah...okay...moving right along...
It is always nice to enter John Muir Wilderness. I like people, but when I think of a real wilderness there is a lot of forest features and very few people. People tend to be more friendly and respectful in these areas. Not always, but usually.
I finally crossed a bridge I recognized from the photos I have seen others take. I was really moving a long quickly. I will probably say it a few times, but I really viewed this day as my last day of vacation. I was taking in the air and trying to enjoy every moment of it. I knew when I reached the top of Mt. Langely that the moment I headed down my vacation was basically over.
In my next entry I will wrap up this part of getting to the Cottonwood Lakes area and start getting to higher elevations.