Lone
Pine is a little town half way up the Owens
Valley, next to the southern Sierra Nevada
peaks, to the east of Mount Whitney. The
Owens Valley is where Los Angeles gets much
of its water, by channeling the Owens River
through the Los Angeles Aquaduct. It's often
used as a driving route to Death Valley, and
by Los Angelenos traveling to the ski hill at
Mammoth Lakes. For more on this area, see our
Great
Drives -- Hwy.
395.
But
long before most of us discovered it, the
desert region around Lone Pine was used by
Hollowood movie companies to film many of the
early westerns. Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott,
and Clark Gable were almost permanent
residents of the valley during those days.
Roy Rogers and Gene Autry filmed their
singing cowboy fiolms in the area,
particularly around the Alabama Hills,
just west of the town. This was the place
where Bogart starred in High Sierra, and Cary
Grant starred in Gunga Din. Most of the
Hopalong Cassidy films were made here too,
along with many made by
So,
what could be more of a natural place to
celebrate those great old movies than the
place they were shot. The annual film
festival is a celebration of the western
films of the '20s and '30s, when Roy Rogers
always got the girl (Dale), and Terry Moore
appeared in the "King of the Khyber Rifles."
This movie is being shown in CinemaScope this
year. Miss Moore is expected to be in Lone
Pine during this year's festival, to be held
on October 6, 7, and 8. Movies are shown, of
course, but there are other events, including
a concert by R.W. Hampton, a panel discussion
by the visiting western movie stars (Richard
Farnsworth, Jack Palance, Ann Rutherford, and
Loren Janes are among those scheduled to
appear), and tours of the Alabama Hills movie
locations conducted by the festival's
director, Dave Holland. Also planned are a
sunrise photo tour, a talk with film on
stunts by Loren Janes (Steve McQueen's stunt
double for more than 20 years), and a tour of
movie town sites (scattered around the
hills). $25 buys you a pass to all movies,
one tour, the talk on stunts, and te closing
campfire program. Single movie showings cost
three dollars (a donation), and each tour is
separately priced. However, $25 for a full
weekend of events seems like a bargain to
us.
The
Owens Valley is worth visiting for its own
sake. It has a fascinating history, including
the sorry story of the creation of the
aquaduct. Several other small towns are
located along the valley highway, including
Independence, Big Pine, and Bishop (at the
north end). The White Mountains with their
ancient bristlecone pines sit just east of
Bishop. The Winnedumah Country Inn,
long ago the place where many of the western
movie stars stayed while filming, is now a
fine B&B, in Independence. Big Pine has
its glacier, and the drive up Mount Whitney
to the Portal Park is an absolute delight.
The hardy may want to climb the rest of the
way to the peak.
To
get your festival program, write
P.O. Box 111, Lone Pine CA 93545
or call (760) 876-9103.
Schatt's
Bakery
Bishop
is the largest town in the Owens Valley: the
annual scene of a fine rodeo, and just about
the finest bakery we have stumbled into. It's
something of a misnomer to call Erik Schatt's
Bakkery just a bakery, for it's also an
eating place with a few tables and a
selection of sandwiches and salads, and
includes a store where you can get
accompaniments to the wonderful baked goods.
Each morning starts about 20 varieties of
bread and rolls put on the shelves, and the
daily stampede begins. The bakery began with
Schatt producing what they now call their
"original" sheepherder's bread, a wonderfully
soft, fluffy bread with a crunchy crust. Its
popularity led to further types, including
several sourdough varieties, a half-dozen
types of rolls, plus a cheese and jalapeno
round loaf that weighs nearly a ton -- it's
so loaded with cheese -- and is a meal in
itself (for four).
This
bakery is not to be missed, and you can't
miss it if you're driving along Highway 395,
through Bishop. It's where the large crowd
is---all day long.
Red
Rock Canyon State Park
Lying
just south of the Owens Valley, north of the
town of Mojave, this park is unique for its
site---where the Mojave Desert meets the
Sierra Nevada. Plant and animal species from
both areas live here, in an area which
features tilted and sculptured rock walls and
multi-colored canyons, plus old lava flows.
The shaping of the land here began about
20,000 million years ago, when the area was
covered by a sea. Volcanic eruptions
deposited lava and ash, and then the Sierra
mountains began to rise (about seven million
years ago). Several ice ages came and went,
filling lakes and eroding the
landscape.
You
get there by driving along State Highway
14. A park information office is located
on Abbot Road. A campground is also located
along this road. With 50 campsites and water,
the campground is an excellent place for an
overnight stay before driving north through
the Owens Valley, or to Death Valley. Many
visitors stay in the park for two or three
days. During the orime season (winter and
spring), park rangers conduct an
interpretation program. Trails lead through
the canyons of the park, providing views of
steep colored cliffs and dry waterfalls.
Desert plants in the park include great
horned owls, lizards, and plenty of jack
rabbits. Plant types include Joshua trees,
and scores of tiny wildflower varieties
appearing in the "rainy" season, before
summer sets in.
Fraser
Bridges
