Pictures/Writing: Lyle Such
Camera: Canon 5d MkIV
For Thanksgiving of 2020, with the pandemic raging, we decided to isolate ourselves and stay in a place we’ve always talked about visiting…Alabama Hills. Only a few hours away, it wasn’t hard to get to, but we had never included it in our travel plans until now.
After finding our campsite, we headed out in search of arches. Our first arch was heart arch, a small but distinct formation near the beginning of the trail.
We came across a number of balancing rocks.
We decided to take a detour and explore this incredible valley full of rocks.
Luckily Thu had on her red jacket so she was easy to spot.
Looking back at our campsite.
The main attraction was Mobius Arch, right in the middle of the park. We didn't have much time before the sun started to set, so we had to rush to get a few fun pictures.
Back to heart arch. We took a turn off the trail as a shortcut back towards camp.
A majestic desert tree?
Or a tiny little plant.
The sun started to disappear behind the rocks.
Beautiful light with the Sierra's as a backdrop.
We headed up the mountain behind camp to see what we could see.
Not much there but the other side of the mountain and the moonrise.
This was our "campsite." We decided to just sleep in Joupe, so we found a secluded spot with some shelter to stay for the night.
Thanksgiving meal.
Our camp. If we got lost, they could see our sleeping bag from space!
Not a bad view!
The moon was full so the stars were a little harder to see, but it was still worth hiking up the mountain to do some star gazing.
We woke up the next morning well before sunrise to climb up the nearby mountains.
The light spreading over this landscape was worth the cold and wind.
The warmth of sun finally reaching us.
Thu modeling in the landscape.
The Eye of Alabama Hills Arch. It was small, but really was in the perfect spot to give you an "eye" over the land.
The highest mountain in the Sierra's is Mt. Whitney (on our list of things we were supposed to climb but couldn't because of wildfires), perfectly seen through the arch.
Unfortunately for Mt. Whitney, Lone Pine Peak looks bigger and makes for a better picture.
I decided to get out the macro lens and see what was down on the ground.
The view looking back down to camp.
We discovered one of the best views was in the giant pile of rocks directly above camp.
A final picture of one of the main roads running through Alabama Hills.
Road trip food, or Thanksgiving leftovers!