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Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-09-2025
We head out early Saturday morning on our 6 year anniversary of our arrival at the Lair. Quite a different place since we arrived.
Our first exciting stop will be Bakersfield to fortify ourselves at the Black Bear Diner before making the treacherous ascent to Lake Isabella. We'll spend the next nine days going from Lone Pine to Donner Pass. I've got a couple of things on the bucket list to see plus revisiting the bustling town of Perfection. I was trying to give a film used sign from Tremors to the Lone Pine film museum but I never heard back from them. Maybe they are sick Tremors at this point in amongst the multitude of movies filmed in the area.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Drunk Monk - 05-10-2025
Black bear!
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-10-2025
We are there!
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-10-2025
In the Alabama Hills Cafe, I bumped into the brother-in-law of the Propmaster from Tremors. The BIL is in the USA from Holland for the Propmaster's daughters wedding and came to Lone Pine for a road trip.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-10-2025
BIL's name is Robert.
I visited the Lone Pine Film History Museum to donate my Perfection sign. They were very excited to receive. I'm also going to give them copies of my Behind-The-Scenes photos. They really liked those, too.
In their exhibit on Tremors, they had a Call sheet in their display case. The Call sheet was dated May 8, 1989. Which means 36 years and two days ago, according to the Call Sheet, I destroyed the roof upon which Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward and Tony Genaro stood. I really want a copy of that call sheet.
All told it's been a really fun day. We went to a couple of Tremor's sites that I remembered. The Mountains looked gorgeous. We stopped in Keeler which is a little town near Lone Pine.
We are spending the night in the Dow Villa hotel, which is where I stayed when I worked on Tremors. Although, I stayed in the newer motor court section for Tremors. I splurged to stay in the original hotel which dates from the 1920s. Our room is small and unbearably hot. They gave me a box fan to help cool the room down. It's probably the hottest day of the year so far. I think tomorrow is supposed to be cooler.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-10-2025
To get to Lone Pine, which is almost directly east of Raymond, we had to travel south to Bakersfield first. Now, we could have gone the quicker route around the end of the mountains, but I opted to take us over the mountains past Lake Isabelle along the Kern River through the Kern River Canyon.
Surprisingly, it was a beautiful drive through this steep walled canyon. We had water flowing over cascades on one side and hills turned purple by the abundance of Clarkia on the other. Hardly any traffic so I wasn't by tailgaters or people tailgating me. So enjoyable.
Lake Isabella was big disappointment. Very stark and dry around the lake. After we go past the lake, though, we got into some prettier countryside. Then it was down to the 395 and some really hot temperatures.
Our first stop was going to be me to find the town of Perfection. It has been 37 years since I was last up in that area. I vaguely remembered the kitty litter mine and the fields where they grow Alfalfa. They have even built a bypass of the 395 near Cactus Flat Road so we had to go down this sketchy AF road to leave new 395 to get to old 395 including a narrow maybe safe bridge over the Owens River Canal.
Cactus Flat Road is the road off 395 that leads to perfection and there is all this major construction along the road, including building a damn that was not there when I was there. I feared that damn was over the spot where the town used to be. But we continued up the road, and I think I found the road that ran through the center of Perfection. I could be totally wrong. The whole area around where we built the town was owned by the Bureau of Land Management. They weren't going to let us build a town on their property. There was one small bit of property that was privately owned that was more than happy to lease the land from the film company. When I found a road that was blocked off as private property, I figured that was the place. I matched up some pictures I had, too, of the town. It looked right. Could be wrong, but I'm going with it.
We left there and went to the electrical tower where Val and Earl found the first dead body. We continued around Owen's lake to Keeler looking for where the first old man was killed along with all his sheep. Good times.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Drunk Monk - 05-11-2025
You’re making a vid of this, right?
It’d get hits.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-11-2025
Just pics.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-11-2025
We got up before sunset to catch the full moon above the Sierras. Turns out the Sierras are pretty tall and the moon had already dipped behind the mountains. We headed over to breakfast only to be told, despite the fact they were open they didn't serve breakfasts until 6. We hung out in front of the Dow Villa Hotel, home of the punishingly hot rooms before heading up to Movie Road to catch sunrise. It was pretty spectacular and the photos won't capture the magic of it all.
We returned to the Alabama Hills cafe to get breakfast and we bumped into my new friend, Steve, from the Lone Pine Film History Museum who sat with us and demanded to buy us breakfast. He wanted to thank me for the Perfection sign I had dropped off the day before. We spent most of the meal boring the Queen to tears with stories of the film industry. At this point, she knows all my stories. And Steve's weren't all that great. He was big on us visiting a movie town built by Roy Rogers near Palm Springs called Pioneertown.
After breakfast, it was back into the Alabama Hills to find the locations for one of my favorite films. One of the things Steve had done for me was to find the exact coordinates of a couple of the sites. We found the main camp, the Temple, the Bridge, Tantrapur, and the tent city where the workers stayed. Gunga Din was kind of important because my friend Lyndell's first business partner helped build the sets for Gunga Din and lived in that tent city.
I flew the drone over the Temple Location which was in a cool canyon. And I flew it over the rocks leading to Tantrapur. We stumbled/found the rope bridge area by spotting steel anchors still embedded in the ground near the rocks they used. You could also still see where concrete was poured in the rocks to hold some boards.
From there, we did the Arch trail to see the Mobius arch and took the picture all the Instagram Famous people take of Mt. Whitney through the arch. Along the way, the Queen continued to catalog flora and fauna. She also met a dog at the Arch and we became friends with the family.
At that point, the Queen broke down due to the heat. I was ready to spend time trying to pinpoint a Tremors location near the arch but realized it was probably better to get the Queen back to the hotel.
When getting out of the car, the Queen did not realize her camera bag was open. Her camera went flying out and landed to the sound of broken glass. She feared the worst. Fortunately, it was just the filter that cracked.
I went back to the Movie museum to take a photo of me with the sign in the Tremors exhibit. Steve felt it was an honor I was there helping him hang the Perfection sign in its new home. He kept trying to excite the patrons by asking them if they had seen Tremors. None of them had. But he then pointed at me and introduced me as a Propmaster who worked on the film. He's got it in his mind. I made the sign despite me keep saying I had not.
At lunch we bumped into our new friends from the Mobius Arch. We exchanged numbers so Nathan can call me next time they go to Yosemite. We got to see their Mika again.
We rested and then headed up to Whitney Portal which is 13 miles up Mount Whitney and the jumping off point to climb Mount Whitney. I'm sure DM will clarify that with his Mount Whitney hiking adventure. It was good to get out of the heat of Lone Pine and revel in the cool of the mountains. We saw a nice waterfall. The Queen met more dogs.
We could have left it on that high, but no. I insisted we got to the Manzanar Internment camp which is about miles north of Lone Pine in just a barren and inhospitable place. The whole place made me angry and sad. The size of the place was immense. You can drive around the whole compound which we did with a stop at the cemetery and its famous marker.
Currently, we are hanging out in the room, still unbearably hot, while waiting to go out to dinner.
After breakfast, we headed back to Movie Road to catch sunrise over the mountains.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Drunk Monk - 05-11-2025
I was young when I did Whitney so I only remember certain specifics. Coincidentally my cousin Bruce, who’s went with us on our second and only successful Whitney assault, came to The Hero Re-Awakens. It was good to reconnect. He’s the other pro nerd in our family and we cross paths at sdcc.
But this is Greg’s story, the one that would’ve made a killing on YouTube. Carry on…
The flower full moon. Good time for the desert bloom.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - thatguy - 05-11-2025
I think Pioneertown is where all the cool bands play.
I was watching the local weekend weather report and it showed Bakersfield was almost 100. I do not envy you…
—tg
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-12-2025
That's what Museum Steve told us. McCartney popped in before his sets at Coachella.
It's going to be 30° in Mammoth.....
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-12-2025
After two nights in the stifling Dow Villa, we have moved on. Our next hotel is the Wayfinder in Bishop. It's a beautiful facility complete with river running through the property. The room has AC. I've set it to refrigerate. I want to stay in this room for the rest of our vacation,.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-13-2025
We escaped early and drove in the dark from Lone Pine to Bishop. Our first adventure was to find the Sky Rock and the 13 Moons. I've been wanting to see the Sky Rock since I first saw pictures of it about a decade ago. But it is a sacred place and there is an unofficial prohibition about posting the location of Sky Rock on the internet. For good reason. Just recently there was an article in the LA Times about people damaging petroglyphs in the area.
Fortunately for me, I stumble upon the page of someone who gave the directions of how to find it. On the one hand, thank you. On the other hand, he can take down his page now.
Step one is climbing a sandy trail 250 feet up a cliff. I was winded when I got to the top but it wasn't too harsh. Then I was supposed to walk a thousand feed along this ridge of boulders to the Sky Rock. I just had to look for it. Well, I looked and looked and looked. No sign or hint of where it should be. The Queen was with me, having taking a tad longer for her ascent. She mentioned that I should just use the drone to look for it. She was kind enough not to end the statement with the word Dumbass.
That's right. I brought the drone with me. I noticed from all the Sky Rock pictures I had seen that the only way to get a good picture was to shoot it from directly overhead. Which meant I had to carry my Drone suitcase with me. Yes, I climbed the Chalk cliff with the suitcase. After launching the drone, it took me about two minutes to find the rock in amongst the boulders. The pictures were tricky because the rock was half in the shade. I was going to half to come back.
To getter view, the Queen and I climbed into the rock field, navigating through narrow slots and prickly sage brush. The problem with the drone case was I carried it in my good arm which left the weak arm the job of pushing of rocks for stability. That was fun. I eventually found the spot where I could view the rock with my own eyes. It was quite spectacular. Worth the struggle. The Queen had gone a different path and was on the opposite side of the rock from me. She squeezed through some really narrow passages to get to her view. I made her go back down and come up the trail I used.
From there we navigated up through the boulder field to another plateau. We crossed that plateau to another boulder field which ran parallel to the first boulder field about 500 yards away. 13 Moons was much easier to find in this field and was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. The pictures don't do it justice.
Rather than climbing back down through the Sky Rock boulder field, we circled around the end of the field and made our way back to the trail down the cliff. I stopped once more at the rock to do more drone shots now that it was better illuminated. The Queen went on ahead to start her descent.
I dreaded the hike down. I'm not as assured of my feet as I used to and this looked like it was going to be a slippery mess the whole way down. And I really couldn't stop a fall with my left arm, that would just necessitate a trip back to the surgeon's table. And in my right hand I had the drone case. Let's just say my adrenalin levels were up. Yes, I did go to my butt during one slippery section. I also found myself way off trail at one point because I was focused so much on my feet, I didn't realize the trail had turned. I spent a few feet on a really steep and slippery section before I could navigate down to the real trail. I lived to tell the tale. And I've got pictures.
From there we backtracked down the corduroy road to Bishop. I thought the car was going to rattle apart from all the undulations in the road. We got to our hotel too early to check-in. We headed next door to Shatz's bakery which is one of Bishop's landmark locations. It did not disappoint. I felt my blood sugar numbers go up just looking at rack after rack of breads, pastries and cookies. Next it was off to the visitor center to see if they had any spots where we could see more petroglyphs or wildflowers. The Queen is killing it at using her iNaturalist app to identify different flora and fauna. The woman didn't have any clues for our requests but she did say the drive up to Lake Sabrina was beautiful and there was a great place up there to have a picnic.
Capital idea. We went back to Schatz's for some sandwiches. The drive up was uneventful except for the gale force winds trying to blow my car off the mountain. Lake Sabrina was in a beautiful setting surrounded by snow covered granite peaks but snow melt had yet to fill the lake. We didn't stay long because it was cold and the wind was howling. We had the same result at the picnic spot, too cold and windy to sit outside.
We had lunch back at the hotel which had chairs, tables and umbrellas by the banks of the Bishop creek which flowed next to the hotel property. While we ate, I got a call from the hotel saying our room was ready. Our room is light years better than the Dow Villa. I wish there was more in the area that would warrant a longer stay in this place, but no.
Checking the weather reports revealed the temperature in Mammoth wasn't going to get above 40º. Neither the Queen nor I brought clothing for those types of temperatures. Before dinner, we went to a mountaineering shop that sold second hand gear. The Queen got a coat, hat and gloves. I had to go to a different store to get a heavy hoody. We might be set.
We rested the rest of the evening and went to bed. This is the Queen's designated sleep in day so we won't move until she arises.
RE: Eastern Sierra 2025 - Greg - 05-14-2025
Free breakfast at the hotel and then farewell to the Wayfinder in Bishop. They had these nice Nalgene bottles with the Wayfinder logo and motto "Slow is Good" on them. The desk clerk had no idea of the price so he couldn't sell them to me.
This was another day to be thankful we didn't bring El Señor with us.
Our first stop was right out of town, right off the highway, an easy hike to the Rosetta Stone. Plus, there was a bonus cave for the Queen to crawl into. No idea why this particular petroglyph is called the Rosetta Stone but that is its name. Oddly on this empty stretch of freeway a car pulled in after us. At first I thought the other driver pulled in to see if we needed help. Then I feared he was there to rob the car once we left for the trail. Turns out he was a bird photographer and was probably pissed we were disturbing his private bird trail.
Crowley Lake is known for its weird columns. I've seen pictures. I thought it would be fun to see. When I mentioned we were going to Crowley Lake to the guide at the Bishop, she asked "why?" When I mentioned the columns, she accepted that as a good enough reason to go.
We never made it to the columns. A third of the way into the drive, the paved road gave way to gravel. Not a problem. We'd done gravel roads on the trip. Then it started to washboard. Also done on this trip. Then we came to the giant sandy undulations in the road. I gassed it and made it up the first one with minimal tire spinning. The second set stopped me. I felt I could have goosed it up but I didn't think it was worth it. Especially if we bottomed or got stuck. It was about a three mile walk to the nearest people. Plus, my envoy is old and tired and didn't deserve this treatment. We did one bounce so hard that the check engine light came on. I turned the car around and head to spot two.
We did stop on 395 at a scenic vista spot. The Queen got out her spotting scope and we were barely able to see the columns across the lake.
Next stop was famous Convict Lake. It's famous for some shootout or other. It was another quick drive up to 8000 feet. The setting for the lake is spectacular, but much like at Lake Sabrina, the winds howled and the temperature dropped. There is a path to walk around the lake. We were satisfied to stand at the dock and take pictures before retreating to the warmth of the car.
As many of you know, Mammoth is very geologically active and they do have hot springs. Hot Creek is one such area. We drove down another dirt road to see them, much less treacherous than the road to Crowley. The river runs through a narrow gorge so it was a bit of a walk to the river side. Plenty of signs warned us not to get too close to the bank or the pools. The most colorful one was across the river, but we could all sorts of bubbles coming up on our side of the river as well. A posted sign for the fisherman stated this was a catch and release stretch of the river because this was a stream with rare wild trout in it. I called bullshit on the 'Wild Trout' because we passed a fishery on the way in along the creek. Needless to say, we bumped into a lot of fly fishermen lining the banks of the river a little ways up from the active thermal area. It's in a beautiful spot.
Since, we were going through our itinerary, we decided to head to a spot mentioned by The Queen's hairdresser. It was the Obsidian Dome trail. Supposedly there was a ton of obsidian along this trail and otherworldly. Okay. Why not?
Well, the why not was another poor trail that kept getting worse and worse. Plus the occasional snow flakes we had been seeing turned into snow flurries. And the 'beautiful obsidian dome' looked like a giant pile of rocks with a few shiny bits. More retreating.
We had lunch at the Warming Hut with a waiter who should have been named Moonbeam and was baked out of his mind. But he did do an excellent job. Sun gave way to snow as we ate. We drove up to lakes that are part of Mammoth Lakes. Snow got heavier. The Queen scheduled a massage for the afternoon. I dropped her off and went back to the lakes in the hope of getting in a hike. No such luck. As I sat there, the car became covered in snow. I feared I might be trapped up on the hill so I went back down. I tried to drive to the Ski Resort but the conditions just kept getting worse.
I ended up going to the hotel to see if I could check-in. The exterior of the Cinnamon Bear Inn was not promising after what we enjoyed at the Wayfinder. My room was ready and they did let me check in. The place is old and kind of kitschy. I feared the Queen would hate it but when I picked her up and brought her back she did not completely hate it. I think the best feature of the room is its own little gas powered fireplace.
The snow was really coming down by the time we braved the elements to go out for dinner at a local pizza place. We spent the rest of the day reading. I tried valiantly to not go to sleep too early.