Our day 14 (October 12, 2018) location was a drive through Lone Pine on the 395 highway. This is kind of on the way to Yosemite but more through Mammoth Lakes. If you are looking for a road you can drive endlessly on, this is it. There were some stretches of road that we saw no cars at all. You also have a great view of Mt Whitney in the horizon.
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Directions
Lone Pine/395 Highway
The drive to Lone Pine to see Mt Whitney was tranquil. There were hardly any cars around and we could stop anywhere we wanted to for pictures. For any long drive, you need to make sure you have enough gas so pay attention to signs that tell you how many miles until a rest stop or gas station.
This was one of the gas stations we stopped at –
For breakfast, we stopped by a nearby McDonald’s (can’t go wrong with McDonalds) and grabbed something to eat in the car.
There were many great views with the mountains in the horizon. We would stop in a shoulder on the side of the road to take photos like these –
To get the photos that are exactly in the middle of the road, we made sure there were no cars around and just crossed the dotted lines briefly (this is dangerous so be aware of your surroundings!).
Nightmare Rock
One landmark along the drive is Nightmare Rock. It got its name because of the shape and how artists would draw faces on it.
Movie Road
Another popular attraction in Lone Pine is Movie Road. A lot of movies have been filmed on this road in Alabama Hills. Some of the more recent movies that were filmed here include: Godzilla, The Lone Ranger, Django Unchained, and Iron Man.
Alabama Hills
If you have time, you should visit the Alabama Hills. These rock formations and hills are near Mt Whitney and the Sierra Nevadas and are a great photo spot. Some movies have also been filmed here.
Drone Footage
One of the reasons why I wanted to make this drive was so that we could have a lone road where we can do some drone shots.
Here is a short video of when Brea flew the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom following my car. The second part of the video is using active track. The drone gets really close to the car in the end!
Personally, I thought that this detour on the way to Yosemite was worth it. Having an open road to ourselves really let us experiment with different photography shots as well as drone videos. If you don’t like driving for hours, then maybe this isn’t the route for you. But if you don’t mind the drive, definitely make this one of your road trips!