The Magical Stairs to Langley (Mt. Langley Part 1)

Taking a right, avoiding the trail that continued into the Sequoia National Park, I saw my destination. I saw a trail that headed into that direction, but I knew at some point it would just be a matter of either picking any trail I could find or making my own.
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.

At this point of the hike I was walking along a sandy scree area. It was actually pretty easy to traverse. A lot of people say this seems like a desert peak hike, but I did not feel that way about it. In any case, my usual strategy is to always pick trails that go higher rather than pick something that I gain nothing on or lose elevation. I saw some people hanging out near a rock in the distance to stay out of the cold wind. They waved at me. I assume they came up much later or were on a totally different hike altogether. I started to ascend more and looked back at the Cottonwood Lakes area to the south:

This is to the west:

This is another one a little higher looking to the western side:

I was making really good time, but I started to get a little nervous since I was not sure which area to climb up. It would be a sad day to get to this point and have to turn around. All I could see was a bunch of boulders to cross. That was something I wanted to avoid if I could. It turns out my hiking intution was working well today. Here is what I finally found at N36 31.126 W118 14.569:

I do not know of any easier way to do this since I did not look more on the southern side, but this was the perfect climbing area. I just started climbing the rocks which seem like a natural stairway to me and about 50 feet higher here I was:

That was the only real climbing on this trip where I had to use my two hands a bit. So, this whole hike was basically a class 1 walk up with this section being a few minutes of class 2. With that said, it still was a lot of work on the legs since 500 feet still needed to be ascended. The trail was obvious with a few dux (small rock piles) along the way. I finally looked back to see where I had been two hours earlier. Cottonwood Lakes #1-3 are pretty obvious and a few others to the upper right of the picture:

It was just a matter of time now to get to the summit. About 20 minutes or so from this point.

To be continued...

Reaching Army Pass (Cottonwood Lakes Part 2)

As I was reaching the main area that has all the Cottonwood lakes I was marveling at Mt. Langley. I had seen it in so many movies since it is just to the left of Lone Pine Peak from down below. This was a different angle. Although I had an idea in my head how the trail went I was not totally sure how I would get up to it. I was just using my intuition on the trails; there were a few times it split off.
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.

It was good to see this couple in front of me since it helped me in figuring out where I would go. They stopped a little further on the right side of this lake below and talked to a fisherman. I greeting them nearby and passed them. They said they would be right behind me, and I told them that they would probably pass me up. I was feeling good, but I figured they would have fresh legs and get up quicker than I would. This is Cottonwood #4. The trail goes on the right side of the lake. Then it starts to switchback up the headwall. You top up just a little over the middle right of the picture.

As I around and started to switchback up the headwall I looked back. The couple I had seen earlier was not going as fast as I thought they would. I believe the woman had some problem with her legs. So, I never saw them again. I knew there would be others coming up eventually since I had heard someone say they would meet them on top.

As I got higher up and I had a great shot of Lakes #4 and #5.

I can not remember how long it took to get up the headwall. It was probably no more than forty minutes to an hour at most. I was amazed at how quick I was doing this hike. Usually, I expect a few mistakes that throw me off, but since I was so adjusted and had exercised so much during the previous weeks I was really fast. Near the top of the headwall I took this:

A little explanation on the trail. I started out using the New Army Pass trail. You can use that to get to the top of Langley, but I decided I wanted to use the older Army Pass. If there is a lot of snow in the season then the headwall may be a problem. Since it was late in the summer and not a good snow year I took the obvious choice, even though it is not maintained, with Army Pass. New Army Pass goes around into a different area; someday I intend to use the new trail all the way. With that said, the one minor issue one has to deal with in regards to this headwall over Army Pass is a small rock avalanche that covers the trail. There is some exposure for a fall, but if one goes slow and is careful than one can traverse this with no problems. It is not that difficult.

At this point I was over the headwall. The trail continues toward the west. I followed this trail just past this sign, but my intuition told me that something was not quite right. Mt. Langely was obviously to the Northeast. I could see it, but this trail was going in the wrong direction.

I examined the area and did notice a faint trail heading in the correct area to Mt. Langley. I started heading into that direction. As I continued I did see more use trails people have made so it was just a matter of picking one and going with it. If I continued on the trail with the sign above I would have gone down with some lakes below. I do not know much about that area, but it will be seen in later pictures in my next few entries which I get to the top.

New Army Pass Trailhead (Cottonwood Lakes Part 1)

(GPS: N 36 27.200, W 118 10.195)

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.

Since I had already had about two weeks of exercise hikes at high altitudes I just went flying up the trail. I felt great. The hike is a long 21+ mile hike, but a lot of it is on flat ground. There is very little uphill in the first two hours of the hike. One gains about 1000 feet to the Cottonwood Lakes, and then another 3000 feet to the top of Mt. Langley.
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.

There is a sign that splits the trail. I used my intuition (which was excellent on this day) and took a right up this short switchbacking trail.

To this point, most of what I saw was a beautiful forest area with lots of trees. I topped out and reached the above meadow. Cirque peak and Cottonwood Lake #1 are in the background above. As much as I wanted to go to that lake, I had to stay on the trail heading right of the above picture to this:

There is another lake in the above picture which should be Cottonwood Lake #2, but more importantly Mt. Langley, which is the highpoint in the picture, is shown. This was my first glimpse of where I was headed this morning. I was making really good time. No one was around at all. At the time there weren't any clouds around. It really was a great experience.

This is further on looking back. One thing I encountered on the way down were some horses. Apparently, they take a pack of people on horses to the lakes back here. The trails were filled with horse dung so I knew I might see some eventually.

In my next entry I will wrap up this part of getting to the Cottonwood Lakes area and start getting to higher elevations.

Veterans Day at the Nixon Library

(GPS: N33 53.375 W117 49.095)

I spent part of the day at the Richard Nixon Birthplace and Library today. Part of it my reason to go there was to show support for all veterans, but it helped that it was a free day at the library. I have been here a few times, but it has been a few years since I was last there.

I always like California Historical Landmarks. I try to make a point of visiting them when I can find them. Click the picture to see a bigger version to read the details:

Here is the house Richard Nixon was born. They give tours of the bottom floor, but are not allowed to give tours of the second floor due to safety and building ordinance rules.
Here is the well known helicopter American Presidents used in the 60's and 70's.
You can compare that to this picture:
It was very small inside. I was surprised. I had to duck down a bit while going thru:
A different angle:
His birthplace is also a few feet from his gravesite. Click the picture to see the lettering.
The birthplace house is in the background. The new East Room is the big structure on the right side. It is an exact replica of the East Room at the White House. The main parts of the library are behind me and to the left.
Presidential libraries are fun to go to. There are some things I like about them and there are things I do not care so much for, but I think if you have a chance to visit this one or any other president then you should.

The official Richard Nixon Library site.

The story behind the helicopter.

My next entry will be a quick follow up video to this entry.

I.M. Trailer Preview (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 37.830 W118 07.315)

I have mentioned this a few times, but can finally show the pictures of this one. Most of the movies I have done from this area are the old westerns, but this one will be a blockbuster movie in May, 2008. Originally, when I was working on one my Audie Murphy location pictures I decided I had enough for the day and decided to look at some videos on youtube. I saw the Iron Man trailer and then had a since a deja vu since I was not expecting the following picture:
It turns out it is only about one or two minutes walking distance from the Audie Murphy Showdown Rock location. This was very strange because it is on the northern side of the Alabama Hills and very little had been filmed here. Robert Downey Jr. was standing right next to that pebble rock below:
I was wondering if that pebble rock was something the crew put down there. They only finished shooting there the past May. Chris Langley, the Inyo County Film Commissioner, mentioned that the Iron Man crew kept referring to the area north of here as the "bombing area". That would make sense and it appears they may have even filmed some near the mines in that area. Eventually, I will check up on that for another entry. He said he told them that when they asked for permission for explosions they could kill as many humans as they wanted, but not to hurt any plants or animals. LOL!!!

Here is something interesting. It is further north of this location along the road, but they are heading southeast on it. This is right before the first explosion:
This next picture was actually taken from the car through the window. I may actually redo this or do another entry some other time, but they are traveling this way. If you look really closely in the middle left of the picture you will see a sign. Click the picture and get a bigger picture of it if you can not see it. If you compare pictures you will notice they either took the sign down or edited it out. It tells you that you are entering the Alabama Hills.

Eastern Sierra Gold 2007

Actually, because of the drought year, the colors this year were not that great. There was very little red colors where I was at. The areas that had red depended on how close the leaves were to an abundance of water in the past few months. There was an a lot of gold though.
Many leaves were falling down left and right. Check out this stream filled with leaves:

The gold:

I like this shot. This is just outside of Bridgeport, CA. During the summer this is all green with cattle grazing. Sawtooth Ridge, in the background, looks very small compared to the rest of the picture. When you are there the ridge stands out, but in this picture it looks dwarfed by the rest of the landscape. Click the picture to get a better perspective on it:

Sawtooth Ridge as normally seen. Matterhorn Peak (aka the Great Silence), at 12, 279 ft., is at the highpoint at the left of the picture:

Here is a cool looking buck that allowed me to get pretty close to it. During the summer these type of deer have a golden coat. In the fall they coat changes to a darker brown color. They have a much more darker "evil" look to them.

The Gunfighter Waterhole (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 35.465 W118 11.600)

Here is one that I enjoyed getting to. In Dave Holland's On Location in Lone Pine he shows the location in the book, but doesn't tell you where it is at. It was supposed to be an area you were to find yourself.

I knew the general area of where it was, but the problem I saw was I did not know which road I would take to get to it. If I am not comfortable with dirt roads that could get me stuck I do not enter them, but I am willing to walk on them a long ways if I am sure of the area. Chris Langely, the director of the Lone Pine Film Festival gave me directions to it. It turns out that it is on a road that you do need a high clearance or 4x4 vehicle to get to. We went as far as we could, but then I just got out and walked about 1/2 mile to it. If you do intend to go to this area please be sure you have the necessary vehicle or expect to walk a long distance. Note the road that you will take is near Lone Pine Campground off of Whitney Portal Road. The road is an older one and is not maintained.

In this scene Jimmy Ringo (played by Gregory Peck) surprises three men who are after him. One being played by Alan Hale Jr. (aka The Skipper of Gilligan's Island).
At the very beginning of the scene the horses are drinking out of a waterhole:
The foundations to the waterhole are still here:
Here is Jimmy Ringo's perspective on the rock:
This is pretty close to it:
One thing to note is the area has been burned sometime recently. Most of the trees had the charred look to them.

The Gunfighter Waterhole (Youtube Version)

Firefight at the S.C. Corral

Today marks the 126th anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This past week in California it felt like the end of the world was near. The Santa Ana condition, the wind, the fires, the ugly brown and red skies, and the general panic of people not knowing if they would come back to their homes just made this last week pretty miserable around here.

If I could stay inside I did. Of all the weather we have through the year the Santa Ana condition is the one I really have a problem with. I always get sick through it and lack the energy to do very much. Fortunately, I guess you could say, I got sick about three weeks ago, but have had a cough every since. It could be a lot worse.

Say what you will about California, but when trouble happens the average citizen will drop everything to help others. Our fire fighters are doing a good job in all of this.

On Monday I came down Cajon Pass and that was my first encounter with the fires. There were embers all along the mountain sides that a few hours earlier must have been torching the area. The smokey sky felt like I had entered the apocalypse. I was just glad I was not heading to Riverside since they were dead stopped on the freeway compared to the snail pace I was on.

Today I was actually glad to see some blue sky. Things seemed to have cooled off so I hope we are on the way out of this situation for this year.

I tried to clean up some things in this blog today. I added a few links and edited a few older entries. I will do more in the next few days.

I will do another entry or two in the next few days. Unfortunately, there will not be any Halloween related hikes or sites this year like I tried to do last year. I usually like to do something like that this time of year, but the whole fire situation ruined that idea. Some of the areas I had in mind for this year are too close to burned areas. One video I recently did I was going to wait until November to put up, but I might as well put it up this weekend. Stay tuned...

edit: as of 10/27 it was actually raining for a few moments during the day. It is cool now so that should make the fire situation turn real quick. Typical California weather. One week scorching and then the next week cold temps.

Care Bears

Recently, I encountered two bears. One really cared, but the other did not. This one was the scared bear: This one was the chillin' bear:

Reflections on Lone Pine Film Fest 2007 (at the Tall T)

I was at the annual festival last weekend in Lone Pine. I had a great time and was exhausted by the time it was over. Too many events and too little time. The first thing I noticed when I got out of my truck at Olancha to get gas was how cold the wind was. I was not looking forward to sleeping that night out in the Alabama Hills. The motels are all booked a year in advance. To sleep outside seemed like a good idea back in April, but then 38 degree weather did not show until last week.

I was constantly going to each event they had and you never can do everything because of schedule conflicts. My few days went like this:

Anchor Ranch tour, watched Loren James stuntman clips, the Bad Day at Black Rock tour, Company of Heroes panel (John Wayne Tribute), and the 3 Godfathers tribute. I then went to sleep at The Tall T location. The following picture is actually next to the Gunga Din bridge in the movie:
In the movie they make it look like the elephant crossing is way off the ground, but it was only a few feet up. There are some remains of the foundations to the bridge there. Here is what I call The Tall T rock formation because it was used almost exclusively in the last half of the movie:

Those pictures were done at around 6:30 am that morning.

I took a shower at a local RV park. Then it was the Top 10 Singing Cowboys with Dave Matuszak, then a panel called Stories from the Movie Business (Louis Gossett jr. was there), I went to another panel after that, then the South bus tour, I caught Harry Carey Jr. for a book signing right as they were taking him away, another panel on movie history, Petrine Mitchum (Robert Mitchum's daughter) signed her book on horses for me, and then watched Tycoon. I could not keep my eyes open so I took off for my favorite location again.

I slept a little better on Saturday night. Got some good morning shots of Whitney and then did the shower again. I met with Chris Langley (who is the director of the festival) to have him sign his new book on Lone Pine. He was helpful in telling me where one of the locations is that I have had a hard time trying to figure out. I then went on the Audie Murphy tour which was fun. I took off for the Eastern Sierra museum in Independence because they have the Gulag exhibit going for a few more weeks. I had a few other reasons to go there. I then ate pizza at my favorite place in Lone Pine and took off home.

Anyways, I had a good time. I have to admit that the theme on Singing Cowboys was probably not one that would bring in lots of people. It did not seem as many people were here this year. Still I learned some about the singing cowboy craze and why people liked it during the depression era. It had its importance for that time period.

Out of the Past Locations Index

(Edit (5/28/10): these two video links replace the old Youtube version I put up a few years ago. I added a few more tidbits down below.)

Out of the Past Locations (Youtube Version)

I covered some of these areas in Bridgeport, CA with pictures before:

Out of the Past (Part 1)

Out of the Past (Part 2)

Out of the Past (Part 3)

Out of the Past at Upper Twin Lake (Correction)

Originally, in those entries I decided not to post a picture of one of the historic houses since it is private property, BUT, you will see it in the new video...it is a historic house and there have been tons of pictures taken of it both old and modern. It is even on the cover of a book, so I just "gave in" on the video. However, if you go there be respectful and don't be an idiot. :) Basically, the movie begins and ends in Bridgeport. It has other locations as listed here.

Interesting enough, I had a sense of deja vu with regarding these locations in the past year. I have found out something new that I am not sure many have realized about the director filming this movie here. I will reveal that sometime in the future.

Out of the Past at Upper Twin Lake (Correction)

(GPS: N38 09.245 W119 21.470)

Originally, back in January, I had an entry regarding this movie where the location was not quite right. I did not have a good recent picture of this area so I had to wait until August to get it. As I noted, sometimes I have read and seen that some people say this scene was located at Lower Twin Lake. That is not the case. It is Upper Twin Lake.
Edit: I added slightly better pictures on 10/24

My next entry will be a recap of this movies Bridgeport, CA locations on video.