Lone Pine Weekend Alone

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Instead of heading down to the madness that is known as TDS, Cindy and I decided to change things up this year and head up north to Lone Pine for some well needed alone time. Along the way, we made a stop over at Pearsonville to say hello to the Uniroyal Gal, explored the shores of the Owens Dry Lake, spent some time at an abandoned airfield, wheeled up into the Inyo Mountains and went hunting for 235 million year old Ammonite fossils before calling it a night. Before heading for home the following day, we decided to take a long cut home to play on some rocks and explore some old mines. Here are some pics from our trip, I hope you enjoy.

Shot of us heading up the beautiful 395...
main.php


Stopping to say hello to the Uniroyal Gal in Pearsonville...
main.php


main.php


Of course, Pearsonville is also known for being the "Hubcap Capital of the World"...
main.php


Time to ditch the pavement and do some exploring...
main.php


Our first stop was over to the old Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns along the shores of the ancient Owens Dry Lake...
main.php


It sucks that they have to be fenced off like this but, I do understand that without it, the yahoos would destroy it...
main.php


Down by the waters of the not so dry Owens Dry Lake. In recent years, the DWP was forced by the EPA to help prevent the air pollution created by blowing dust and part of that solution was to divert some water back into the lake...
main.php


main.php


Beautiful divided sky overhead...
main.php


Our next stop for the day was to check out the old Manzanar Airport which was abandoned back in 1956...
main.php


main.php


Mother nature reclaiming the land...
main.php


X marks the spot! Section of the airfield that is relatively intact....
main.php


Exploring the surrounding area, I found this old glass vial partially buried in the dirt complete with rusty tin cap and some kind of white pills inside...
main.php


Leaving the airfield, we headed up into the Inyo Mountains to do some fossil hunting...
main.php


Shot looking down a cool looking wash as we hiked the rest of the way to the fossil beds...
main.php


Fossil hunting is hard work!! After spending a couple of hours digging through the rocks, we were only able to find a handful of Ammonite specimens, aquatic creatures that lived in an ancient sea over 235 million years ago...
main.php


Shot of some Fishhook catus with the Sierra's in the background...
main.php


After our fun at the fossil beds, we decided to hike up to an old mine high up on the mountain side...
main.php


It was a hell of a hike but well worth it. Because it was hard to get to, it was also is incredible shape - no trash, no bullet holes and no signs of vandalism...
main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


Watching the last of the sunlight illuminating the eastern ridgetops...
main.php


With the sun down for the day, it was time for us to head back down the mountian...
main.php


main.php


Home for the night...
main.php


More pics below...
 
The following day was so beautiful, we just couldn't head back for home without doing some more exploring first. Here's a shot looking east across the Panamint Valley...
main.php


Rubicat posting for a shot...
main.php


main.php


Ahhh, a road less traveled...
main.php


Time to air down...
main.php


Tessa soaking in the sun...
main.php


And we're off - heading up the Argus Range...
main.php


Cool!! An old mine to explore...
main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


This goes a long way down...
main.php


Working our way up the canyon...
main.php


main.php


Beautiful folds in the rock formation...
main.php


It's play time...
main.php


main.php


It's been a while for Rubicat so she decided to do some stretching...
main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


Sizing up a temping tub/waterfall...
main.php


main.php


While it was totally doable, there was definitely the potential for damage or a break and, being that we were by ourselves, we decided to play it smart and leave this obstacle for another day when we have friends along...
main.php


Working our way further up the canyon...
main.php


So many routes to explore and so little time in a day to explore them all...
main.php


Way cool! Our destination for the day - the old Defense Mine...
main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


main.php


Exploring the extensive network of tunnels...
main.php


Looking up one of many vertical shafts...
main.php


So, what do you think... would you go in?
main.php


Posing for a shot before heading out...
main.php


Working our way down the mountian...
main.php


A really sad sight we came across along the way...
main.php


Making a stop to check out some huge concrete pads...
main.php


main.php


Almost off the mountain, we came across an old Volvo...
main.php


Kicking up some dust as we head back to pavement...
main.php


The end of a great day out in the desert. Now, only 5 more hours till we get home...
main.php


I hope you enjoyed our weekend trip up to Lone Pine and back. :cool:
 
Looks like a really fun trip I would love to do that once I get my lift! :thumb: 


Ray ⛺
 
Last edited:
Awesome pictures! One of these days I'll have to head down south to check this place out.

I'm waiting on the gates to open up in the mountains just north of you. Snow wheeing is all I can do right now.
 
Anybody else on the East Coast get crazy jealous when looking at a trip like this?

That looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
 
Oysterman said:
Anybody else on the East Coast get crazy jealous when looking at a trip like this?

That looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Our Western friends sure are lucky.

Great writeup, love to admire the pictures. Love, another jealous city slicker
 
Awesome photos of a beautiful trip. That trip has been on my bucket list for a while. Is the location of those fossils in a guidebook somewhere?
 
That is a really cool area! Is the fossil dig area just an off the map kind of thing? Looked like those were pretty good ammonites :yup:

I love the geology out there. Lots of great pictures! Thanks for sharing.
 
Beautiful photos and I love the background and history with them. It makes the trip so much more.
I thought sure you were going to tackle the flexy rock climbs solo, but "with age comes wisdom.":thumb:
 
WOW! awesome pictures, I spent about 6 months in Lone Pine working at Owens Dry Lake Bed. Suck I never had a chance to explore the area but also I didn't have my Jeep then.. Great place to explore thank you for sharing!! :thumb:
 
Certainly something I needed to see! Glad to see you guys out there doing what you love and enjoying life! Quite a beautiful dog too!

Again, thanks for being out there promoting what you love!
 
Oysterman said:
Anybody else on the East Coast get crazy jealous when looking at a trip like this?

That looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Very jealous .. You would think that since GA is mostly woods and open land that's we would have tons of places to wheel... Definitely not the case whatsoever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom