The Peeler Lake Hike (Part 2)

(GPS: N 38° 07.405 W 119° 28.056)

Okay, this is close to Peeler Lake. The trail is pretty easy to follow although there were a few points I was not sure about, but I used good judgment; nothing too complicated here. You really do feel like you are out in the wilderness, but there is a lot of “closed” in type of walls like this you go by.

Funny thing is I expected to not see many people on this trip. I saw one person on the way up coming down from his trip from the Virginia Lakes area. He was trying to convince me to go to Crown Lake. Saw a young couple at Peeler, but there were about a total of twenty people coming up as I went back down. More than I expected being that far out. Most people were going to spend the night coming up in the afternoon. I just went early in the morning so I could be back by the afternoon.
I finally reached Peeler. I was happy to finally make it. It took me about four hours, but I think I could have done it quicker. You can see some snow on the left. I did encounter some snow below in the picture above, but it was pretty easily traversed. Although, one should always has to be careful of surprises when dealing with snow; one step and you can sink below or slide fifty feet down.


At the beginning, the lake looked really murky at the shoreline, but as I went around it was very beautiful. It was a very clear and reflective lake. No wind, but a bunch of mosquitoes were out.
The shoreline is interesting in that you still feel like you are walking on a major hiking trail around. I felt like it would drop off at some points in the lake if you are not careful.
I believe that is Matterhorn Peak in the background. I had been to the Matterhorn before looking this way. I intend to do a write up of that adventure showing the picture looking down this way at a later time.
It looks like a rocket ready to launch. Although I did not continue it, the border to Yosemite is not too much further. I regret not going a bit further to see the border, but I am sure I will do it again eventually. The lake looks like a good fun fishing lake. Nothing big, but worth fishing in if you were back here compared to all of the other lakes in the area. I enjoyed it, but a week later I would have an even more awesome and interesting hike than this which I will have to detail at a later time.

The Peeler Lake Hike (Part 1)

(GPS: N 38° 07.405 W 119° 28.056)

For a change of pace, I have decided to write about one of my day hike trips. This was on the 8/1/06. It was my first full day in the Eastern Sierra on my trip. My right foot had been in pain for the past two weeks, and, as I write, I still have a bit of pain there. However, I knew this was going to be my only time for major hikes this year so I forced myself to hike through the pain.

I have been on this hike to Barney Lake many times before which is a few miles before Peeler Lake. I don’t really enjoy the Barney Peeler hike since it is long in a boring sense. It starts out at Mono Village near Twin Lakes which is near Bridgeport, CA. The very end it starts to go uphill to switchbacks which are the best part. One arrives at Barney Lake at just under two hours.

Barney Lake from two directions: N 38 08.559, W 119 26.241 (coords for near the above)
In the last picture I am shooting back to where I came from. After continuing for about 20 minutes you enter the first of two crossings. Yes, you do get wet. After about 10 more minutes you cross back. The feet do get wet some just above this next picture, but the major stream crosses are over.
This smaller mountain peak is next to you as you continue along. The scenery after Barney Lake is a lot better in my opinion than the earlier hike to Barney. Lots of switchbacks. It was fun for me.
The following is looking back from where I came. You can't see it, but that furthest mountain in the distance and then down the canyon to the right is where Mono Village is! It really is not that far, but the switchbacks make it a 9 mile hike to Peeler.
Okay, this is the junction. If you head right you go to Peeler. In this picture you just go straight. The left takes you to Robinson Lakes, Crown Lakes, and Snow Lake. Those will be the subject of another blog since I came back to this same junction about a week later.
Tomorrow I will finish up this blog with the last hour of the hike.

Seven Men From Now Gunfight (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.165 W118 07.735)

Here is one that is in a completely different area compared to the previous entries. The area is known as Cattle Pocket. This area was used to put cattle in it. Since it really only has one entrance the area could be blocked off so the cattle would not escape. I parked my truck at the entrance and just went into the area.

The above movie is taken from Seven Men From Now which is one of my favorite Randolph Scott westerns. Here is where the final gunfight duel takes place between Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin.
Scott comes out behind the rock on the right side.
The Randolph Scott POV:
Something like this. When I redo this picture someday I will try to get it a little higher.

Video:

Scott vs. Marvin POV Location (Youtube Version)

Westward Ho (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.235 W118 07.125)

This is the last one I have of the same general area. This would be looking a little more to the north compared to the others which are more west. This is from a John Wayne movie made in the 1930’s. To be honest, the movie is not really that great. It was cheaply done, and John Wayne, who is the main star, did not have as great role like he would in his later years. However, the scene is kind of interesting with the men trying to ambush John Wayne who would be in the lower middle of the movie scene heading toward the camera.

Three Ambushes at Lone Ranger Canyon (Youtube Version)

Hangman's Knot (The Alabama Hills Series)

(GPS: N36 36.235 W118 07.125)

Here is another one in the same area. While the Lone Ranger Ambush area is shot to the west, this area is shot to the north. The angle I shot of it is not quite right, but it is close enough. The way I figure these areas out are I look at the rocks. People change, environments change, but rocks are slow to change.

In this picture there is a “skull” looking rock facing down. If you compare that rock with the movie photo above you can see that rock looks smaller. Also, the higher rock looks a little off. It looks like if I wanted to get a closer looking shot to the original movie shot I would have to move back a bit and then move left.

Hangman's Knot is an interesting movie. This is one of those westerns that doesn't completely follow the rules. Randolph Scott is actually on the wrong side on this one. The Civil War has just ended and the scene above was done without them knowing the war was over. As Confederates they were still fighting the war. Most of the movie deals with the Confederate band trying to get out of the mess they have created. The first 30 minutes is shot in Alabama Hills in the above area.

Three Ambushes at Lone Ranger Canyon (Youtube Version)

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)

The GPS

One of the coolest things to get is a global positioning system receiver. It is the satellite navigation system that can tell you by latitude and longitude coordinates where you are at any point on the planet. I have a Magellan Explorist that I have been using since Christmas. The reason I bring this up is just in case someone will not know what I am referring to when I use coordinates to show where some of the places I like to go. The coordinates I will give will get you pretty close to the things I will be talking about. So, if something sounds interesting to you, then you just plug in the coordinates and follow the arrow. Some of the locations I have found were through a gps based game called geocaching. People go out and hide stuff in different containers, you find them, and log your finds. I really enjoyed the game because it sent me to a lot of cool locations, but I kind of burned out of it for a few reasons. Anyways, if you don't have a GPSr then go out and find a one. You will not regret it.

Why Am I Doing This Blog?

I have to admit I am not really into "blogs". I guess they give people a chance to vent or state their opinion. Looking over the internet the past 11 years I have seen lots of people write all sorts of stuff. Sometimes I wonder about people that write long rambling type of messages and think that people are "hanging" on ever single word and syllable they write. I often joke to my friends about me writing "award winning messages" on the internet. I tend to think people exaggerate and make themselves look a little more important on the net than they really are. I hope I do not do that here.

The reason I decided to create this blog is I am putting together a few of my interests. This will be done mostly for people I know, and I will refer them here. However, it is certainly okay for others to look around. I like going on interesting hikes and places that are a little out of the ordinary. I intend to record them here with GPS coordinates so you can see where I was at. Along with that I intend to talk about some of my favorite movies which, believe it or not, relates to why I like to go hiking and to strange places. So, you should see some things related to westerns, samurai, and noir movies I have collected over the years. Finally, some history related to the above will be talked about too.