(GPS: N 34° 16.440 W 118° 36.610)
Recently, I took some pictures at Iverson Ranch where a lot of movies were made. If a movie studio did not want to do a lot of traveling for a movie they would just go to one of the local ranches to make their movie. They area is not as scenic as what you would see at the Alabama Hills or Monument Valley, but it is a cheaper alternative.
With the creation of the 118 highway it made it difficult to come to the ranch since the issue of car sounds being caught on film was a problem. So, the area has developed into many houses and what you might have seen in movie at one time does not exist anymore. There is very little left of those old days.
A few things remain. The famous Lone Ranger Rock shown in the opening title to the series remains along with an area known as Garden of the Gods. Let me start off by showing the famous rock:
The ground where I am standing was not very solid. The dirt felt like it was eroding under my feet. The big problem is trying to get to the rocks since there really isn’t a trail to it. There is a street nearby, then you have to scramble and bushwhack to get to it. Although the rock is not on private property you do have to be careful in how you get to it.Behind and to the right is the Cliff of Nyoka:
Here is how the other side of the street looks leading to the Garden of the Gods which is a small part of the ranch owned by the city. There is a small trail over there. I will show a little of the public area in one of my next entries.
As I mentioned, the biggest problem I had is I did not feel too comfortable walking around the area since it is near private property. Here is the way it used to look in 1952:
Here it is today:
There are signs warning about security and such. I don’t blame them for that. It is sad that such a well known area has turned into this though.
