Alabama Hills is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots to go to along the HWY 395. Up until this last trip that I did around late October, I only visited in the middle of the day or as my last stopover on my trip before enduring a 5-hour drive back home to Orange County.
Even though this was the last scheduled stop on my trip, I made sure that I reach Alabama Hills before dawn for some sunrise pictures.
I have only been to the Mobius Arch and Lathe arch during my previous trips and driven through the unpaved dirt roads but never ventured off beaten path. This time, since I was there super early, I wanted to explore a little deep into the Alabama Hills.
Having a 4 wheel drive with off-roading capabilities also helps and opened up other possible spots which I could only have dreamed about seeing before.
I reached Alabama Hills about an hour before sunrise and quickly grabbed my gear and hiked to Mobius Arch. I know this is a popular spot and was expecting a lot of photographers and selfiers to be there and I wanted to make sure that I get a good spot before the crowd gets in.
To my surprise, I was the first person to be there. I also noticed that a few other photographers were gearing up to come to Mobius arch at the parking lot. Lucky me I got a good spot and was kind of in the driver seat, now that I was there first.
Again, I know this is a public space and made sure that we took turns and shared the space to get our shots. All the other photographers who came were very social and understanding. We had a good chat and discussed compositions and the past experiences that we had at Mobius Arch.
Overall it turned out to be a nice group of folks. I even made new photography friends Roy Goldsberry, you can check his 500px profile here.
After the sunrise shot, I did some exploring deep into the Alabama Hills. During my research on Alabama Hills and the various arches, I learned that there were close to 150 of them spread across the region. Some can be accessed only via a 4 wheel drive or a long hike for miles. I have identified a few that I wanted to explore on this trip. Some involved off-roading, some hiking, and others required some minimal rock climbing.
I did manage to go to all the spots that I had in my list except for one. I couldn’t find the landmark that I found during my research and with no cell reception and no way to cross check, I decided not to waste my time trying to find the landmark and the arch. Also, I did n’t want to get lost in the wide open spaces.
Overall I was happy with the trip and time spent exploring Alabama Hills. This has opened up other potential photography opportunities and some new ideas and composition for future trips.
Below are some of the pictures that I got from my time exploring Alabama Hills. I will soon be publishing Exploring Alabama hills in the POI section with images / GPS coordinates etc.,
More images from this trip…
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