Lone Pine, California, may be known by many as the first real mountain town you pass through as you enter the final stretch towards the low-key, affordable California Resort town of Mammoth Lakes
, but it's much more than a gateway. Lone Pine is a worthwhile destination all its own. And if you fly into Mammoth Yosemite Airport, you can rent a car and drive an hour and a half to Lone Pine and leave the gateway thing behind altogether.When U.S. Route 395 turns into a main street lined by Old West buildings
like a cowboy movie back lot with massive mountain peaks looming in the distance, you know you've arrived. The frontier vibe makes sense since this small town has a long history of filming that particular genre, among others, and before that, it was a mining town. Yet you can't ignore the fact that those mountains really are massive. Lone Pine is the access point to Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48. Whitney and the Sierra peaks around it spread their grandeur over the small town, peeking at seemingly any time you step outdoors in this throwback to the Old West.
While the outdoor adventure accessed from Lone Pine is impressive, the town itself is worth wandering and exploring. From some unique shopping to quirky restaurants not normally found in rural towns, Lone Pine is a fun place to spend a few days. And the cowboy dive bar, Jake's Saloon, helps to drive home the Wild West feel of this old-school American adventurer haven.
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Lone Pine Is As Worthy Of Exploration As The Mountains That Surround It
Most of what to do in town is right on Main Street. Given its location as a mountain gateway sandwiched between the Inyo Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, there are some great outdoor stores like Big Willi Mountaineering Company and Elevation Sierra Adventure, where you can rent bear canisters for keeping your food safe when camping, backpacks, and more.
For food, you should hit up the storied Mt. Whitney Restaurant, which has hosted such Hollywood stars as John Wayne, Hopalong Cassidy, and Mel Gibson, thanks to the many movies that were filmed around Lone Pine (you can see some of their autographs at the Native Trading Post). Lone Pine even has a Museum of Western Film History. Given its distance, only 3 and a half hours from Los Angeles, Lone Pine has been a great background for everything from cowboys to "Iron Man."
In some ways, it's like the town of Santa Clarita, which offers a dose of Hollywood magic without the chaotic crowds of L.A. Except Lone Pine hasn't just played an Old West town on the silver screen; it was one. Lone Pine started as a real gold and silver mining town in the 1860s before the mines went dry and the people turned to ranching and farming.
If you're looking for a place to stay, there's a Best Western just outside town and a couple of motels and a hostel in town. For breakfast, you want to hit up Alabama Hills Cafe & Bakery, named after the distinct boulders to the west that lead up to the Sierra, to fuel up before your great adventure.
Lone Pine Is A Gateway To Mountain Adventure
The Inyo Mountains Wilderness to the east is home to rugged trails considerably less crowded than the famous draws to the west. From the ridges and summits, you can look over the stark beauty of Death Valley National Park, and if you time it right, on a clear day, you could catch the scenic vistas over its best sunset watching destination, Zabriskie Point. Though if you want to tackle the 14,550-ft. Mt. Whitney, go west.
Drive the winding road that ascends from Lone Pine to the Whitney Portal, where there's a campground leading up to the Mt. Whitney trailhead. Make sure you apply for the permit required to hike the Mt. Whitney trail. They even have a lottery for it since 30,000 people attempt to summit the peak per year. The standard hike up Mt. Whitney involves no technical climbing (when it's clear of snow), but it's still long, high, and rugged. Only 10,000 of those 30,000 reach the top.
Of course, this land has long been an adventure destination. The Southern Paiutes of the Mono Tribe would summer in the mountains and winter in the valleys long before the gold miners moved in. If you're into history, just a little north is the WWII Japanese Internment Camp, Manzanar, a sobering echo from our nation's past. There are also numerous ghost towns around Lone Pine left over from their mining days, with one of the best-preserved being Cerro Gordo, about 45 minutes away. The mines may be long empty, but Lone Pine has reinvented itself as a unique blend of authentic Old West town, cinematic mountain gem, and modern mountaineering haven.
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Read the original article on Islands.
