Alabama Hills National Scenic Area — Attraction in Bishop

On our way to Whitney Portal, we stopped by the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area, located just a mile west of Lone Pine, California. The road is accessible by any car. The loop hike is only 0.75 miles but worth the drive. This time of year, the temperature in Southern California goes over 38C (above 100F), so morning or evening is the best time to visit it.

The Alabama Hills are known for their natural arches and beautiful granitic formations. Mt. Whitney and many other peaks in the Sierra Nevada provide a stunning backdrop to this high desert landscape. The Alabama Hills are a formation of rounded rocks and eroded hills set between the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the geologically complex Inyo Mountains. Both geologic features were shaped by the same uplifting that occurred 100 million years ago.

The Alabama Hills is a great place for photography, rock climbing, exploring natural arches, and viewing the swaths of wildflowers that bloom every spring. If you are visiting that location, add it to your...

Any park that I visit three times is going to be absolutely amazing, and that includes Alabama hills. This is truly an otherworldly vista and experience. The hikes to find various arches will always include the discovery of interesting flora and fauna. There are porta potties at the day use areas. I visited mid-May and it does get into the '80s F during the day. Strangely most of the winds seem to be coming at night, out of the North. There were plenty of spots to be found for camping any given day of the week we were there. My last visit a year ago was mid-April and it was...

Amazing scenery and good place for car camping. However there is a lot of noise from OHV on the trails during the day, so if you want peace and quiet you have to hunt around for the best camping spot farther in. In the last couple years they've transitioned from open dispersed camping to only allowing camping at certain spots, so you have to search for the ⛺️ signs - many "day use only" signs are now posted all over the park which does detract from the landscape a bit - but I supposed much less so than irresponsible campers...