On day 20 and 21 (3/2 and 3/3) we visited the westernmost point of our trip. It’s a remote place near the town of Lone Pine, CA. We are only 10 miles from the summit of Mt Whitney (the tallest mountain in the continental US at 14,505 feet), but we are at about 4,300 feet in elevation (~10,000 feet lower than the summit of Mt. Whitney). We’re only 80 miles from the lowest point in the continental US - Badwater Basin at 282 feet BELOW sea level (we’ll be there soon). We're on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, so they only get about 6” of rain per year, and just a dusting of snow.
The hills here have been used in many movies (most of them little known) and there are some fascinating rock formations. There are a few official campgrounds (first come), but they have no hookups. There are also some free boondocking areas, but due to overuse they have cut back on the areas available. We found a boondock site on National Forest Service land that happened to be the closest site to the arch trailhead. It was probably available because it had a steep, curvy, sandy hill up to the flat spot. We took the challenge and made it up. This is a campsite with a view.
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| One of the best free campsites ever! |
The more exciting part the next day was backing down the steep, curved slope to get back out - but we made it without incident.
The best feature there, and probably the coolest arch I’ve seen, is Möbius Arch, which can look like a Möbius strip and frames great mountain views through the arch, including Mt. Whitney. It was only a short hike from our camp site, so I visited numerous times. The backdrop of the snow covered Sierra Nevada mountains contrasting the dry desert was also interesting.
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| Mobius Arch - Family |
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| Mobius Arch - Mt Whitney on the right edge |
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| Bebop on the Mobius Arch |
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| Paul on the Mobius Arch |
From the trail parking area there is a small heart shaped hole in the rock behind Elena. Elena loves rocks, and rocks love Elena.
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| Elena loves rocks - rocks love Elena |
On our way out we hiked to the next most interesting feature called the Shark Fin. You don’t have to have much imagination to see it. However, can you spot Elena next to the fin?
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| The Shark Fin - see Elena? |
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| Bebop wonders where's the front (bitey) part of that shark |
- Paul
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