2019 10 03 - 10 09 Sonora Pass, Coleville and Lone Pine, CA

Sonora Pass, California - 3 October 2019 

Driving over the Sonora Pass took us to an elevation of 9,624 feet, the second highest pass in the Sierra Nevada on State Route 108. This is 321 feet less than the Tioga Pass. The highway (I mean really? Highway?) is extremely steep with grades exceeding 8% up and down (and don't forget the sharp, blind, almost hair pin turns). Narrow and winding, the route is not recommended for vehicles or vehicle combinations (meaning us) that are wide, heavy or long. Or any combination thereof. Guess that information would have been nice to have BEFORE we had gotten to the point of no return. Let's just say this was, without doubt, the most hair raising, nail biting, blood pressure elevating, toe curling ride I have ever taken. These pictures do not come close to showing the lack of anything beyond the pavement except the thousands of feet we could have dropped had Bob not held a stead course. I was so anxious I simply could not look out my window.  

Coelville KOA, Coleville, California - 4-7 October 2019

Following the Walker River, there are rocky troughs for catch-and-release brown, rainbow and Lahontan trout. The ATV Jamboree is held here each June after the snow melts. It is the only ATV event held in California. Behind our campground is this massive rock formation of chiseled gray granite rises up. Even though it is granite, climbing is prohibited due to instability. 

Road to Lone Pine, California - 7 October 2019

We are not sure where the namesake "Lone Pine" is located but we enjoyed the views of the famous Sierra Nevada Mountains. On the right is a small brush fire which fortunately did not become a raging wildfire. 

Manzanar War Relocation Camp, Independence, California - 8 October 2019

In 1942, the U.S. government ordered more than 110,000 men, women and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar is one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated during World War II.

President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on 19 February 1942, authorizing the military to remove "any and all persons" from the West Coast. The Army applied the order to everyone of Japanese ancestry, including over 70,000 US citizens. This scale model shows the extent of the living quarters, dining facilities, laundry, bath houses and recreation areas. 

Every person wore a numbered tag from relocation center trains to camp. Manzanar's wood and tar-paper barracks were no match for Owens Valley's wind, dust and extreme temperatures. Congressman Leland Ford, visiting Manzanar in 1942, remarked, "On dusty days one might as well be outside." Large families were assigned to one barracks. Smaller families had to co-habitat with another family.

The left picture shows the open barracks without any privacy, no interior walls, army cots with straw mattresses and plank flooring. By 1943, new screens, walls, ceilings, better mattresses, covered floors and furniture were provided. 

Thirty-six blocks of 14 barracks, housing up to 300 people with a Mess Hall, Recreation Hall, Laundry, Ironing room and Men's and Women's latrines. There were schools, churches, orchards, hospitals, fire stations, Dojos, and warehouses. Interesting, in a perverse way, the Administrative section was literally white. Surrounded and edged in white-washed rocks, the white painted bungalows stared across from the front corner at the rows of brown tarpaper barracks. 

Interior of Recreation/Mess Hall.

A reconstructed Women's latrine. Behind me is the open showers.

Several parks were built by the inmates to beautify the dusty grounds. Some were small and near their barracks. Others were larger gardens near mess halls. The above markers designate the most elaborate, Merritt Park, which was a community park where people could escape the monotony of barracks living. 

Additional areas of Merritt Park designed to be symbolic and speak of hope, resistance and beauty.

At the far back of the camp is the cemetery and monument established as a remembrance of those who were judged, not on their own character but simply by their ethnicity. The kanji inscription means "soul consoling tower". Though not permitted to bring pets, animals eventually became part of the community and were laid to rest in the Pet Cemetery. 

Inmates were required to work during their incarceration. Fields of produce for the kitchens, a chicken ranch and the camouflage net factory. Of course, surrounding the entire camp was a barbed-wire fence patrolled by Army soldiers and eight guard towers.

As a personal note, this was a troubling place to visit. For decades prior to the War, anti-Asian sentiment was fueled in the western United States. Laws prevented immigrants from becoming citizens or owning land. Children born as citizens faced prejudice based solely on their parents ancestry.  

Boulder Creek RV Resort, Lone Pine, California - 9 October 2019

Morning walk around the campground. What a surprise! several pomegranate trees. 

Alabama Hills, Owens Valley, California - 9 October 2019

Movie Road has been used by Hollywood for decades as a location for 150 of movies and about a dozen TV shows, including The Gene Autry Show, Bonanza and The Lone Ranger. One narrow valley doubled as the Khyber Pass in the 1939 epic Gunga Din. Mostly during the 1920s through 1950s, the locations have been replaced by "movie ranches" for most recent productions

The rounded contours of the Alabama Hills contrast with the sharps ridges of the Sierra Nevada to the west. The difference in wear can be accounted for by different patterns in erosion though they are both the same age geologically.

The Alabama Hills were named for the USS Alabama, a Confederate warship, by prospectors sympathetic to the Confederates. They named many mining claims after the ship and eventually to the entire range. 

Eye of Alabama arch on top left. Mobius arch on right and bottom.

Bob from the back side of Mobius Arch. 

Additional rock formations. We might not be on the Movie Road but could be a good Ram truck commercial. 

Mount Whitney, Sierra Nevada, California - 9 October 2019

A windy, well paved road leads up to the tallest peak in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14, 505 feet, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin, Death Valley at 282 feet below sea level. Water from the east side flows to the Lone Pine Creek, which joins the Owens River, which in turn terminates at Owens Lake of the Great Basin.  

So intent on getting photos of the falls, most neglected to observe three deer grazing on the opposite side. 

Skittish by nature, they diverted back up the slope.

Finding the path was challenging with these giants boulders blocking the route and the view. Sometimes we just have to go through instead of around. Did I mention this is bear and mountain lion country? No? We didn't have bear spray so every few minutes a loud "Hey bear" and clapping is our safety plan.

Many peaks are above the tree line and have an alpine climate. Since it was getting late afternoon, our return trip was getting very chilly for our shorts and t-shirts. From our vantage point, we are not looking at Mount Whitney. This is the next peak to the south. 

A view of the Owens Valley and Lone Pine. A road just outside Lone Pine, heading towards the Coso Mountains in the background, and 100 miles away is Death Valley. The road to and from Mount Whitney is the same road used in the filming of "The Long Long Trailer" in 1954 staring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.