Alabama Hills is a hidden gem. It offers travel enthusiasts, photographers, and explorers a wonderful assortment of rock formations and a complete view of Mount Whitney and the rest of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Whether you’re there to hike, camp under the stars, or watch the mountains light up beautifully during sunrise, Alabama Hills is the place to visit!
First and foremost, you DO NOT have to pay to visit Alabama Hills. It is part of the Bureau of Land Management and is completely free to visitors.
Order of Arches/Popular Locations (in terms of driving and spotting them)
- Miss Alabama
- Heart Arch
- Lathe Arch and Mobius Arch
- Eye Arch
- Movie Road Shot
- Boot Arch
- Cyclops Arch
Directions
Located just west of Lone Pine, California, Alabama Hills is a popular spot for Hollywood movies and a desert paradise for photographers.
Once you turn on Whitney Portal Road, the real adventure begins. Immediately you will be greeted by a sign of Alabama Hills and have a clear view of Mount Whitney. After about 2 miles, you will see Ms. Alabama located on the right side.
This one is hard to miss as it is a huge rock covered in graffiti. Although I am not a fan of graffiti, it is luckily the only rock that I saw that had any on it, and it resembles a nice smiley face.
After your stop there, you will continue for about another mile on a paved road and then turn right onto Movie Road.
Two things to know about Movie Road:
- It is a dirt road
- All of the other famous arches explained below exist on this road
Continuing on Whitney Portal Road will just take you to private properties.
Heart Arch, Mobius Arch, Lathe Arch
Mobius Arch
Heart Arch
After turning right on Movie Road, you will continue straight for 2 miles before you see a parking lot. In this area, you will have hiking access to Heart Arch, Mobius Arch, and Lathe Arch.
Heart Arch is visible from the parking lot.
There are two ways to get to Mobius and Lathe Arch.
- One way is a loop trail, taking you to Heart Arch first, and then to Mobius and Lathe Arch.
- The second way is a short trail leading directly to Mobius and Lathe Arch. This shorter trail to Mobius Arch is located to the left of the parking lot and is about a 5-minute walk.
The loop head trail starts right in front of the parking lot and points in the same direction as to where you view Heart Arch.
If you decide to take the shorter trail, you will see Lathe Arch first, which is a very small and skinny arch tucked away on the right side between two rocks. Continuing forward you will see the famous Mobius Arch.
Lathe Arch at night.
One of the cool things about Mobius and Lathe Arch is that they both frame Mount Whitney and some of the other Eastern Sierra Mountains. These make the arches hot spots for sunrise photos!
Mobius Arch during sunrise!
Something to mention is that Mobius Arch and Lathe Arch are 20 feet apart from each other.
Eye Arch
The next arch after Mobius, Lathe, and Heart Arch is Eye Arch. To get to this arch, pretend that you didn’t stop at the parking lot and continue along the dirt road.
You will go down a hill and it will curve left. Once you curve left, look for Eye Arch on the right side. There is no trail to get to this one but it is halfway up a hill next to some other rocks.
One of the cool things I saw with Eye Arch, (mainly for photographers) is that there is a cactus right in front of it that can act as a nice foreground subject. There is no parking lot for this one, so just pull off to the side of the road and you should be fine.
Movie Road Shot
After you visit Eye Arch, you will continue down the road, curve right, and go up a steep hill. The top of the hill is where you will spot a famous shot of Movie Road.
The view consists of the hill you just drove up leading toward Mount Whitney and the rest of the mountain range. For this shot, there is also no parking, so you can also just pull off to the side of the road.
Movie Road can also be a great place for night photography!
Boot Arch
After stopping at the Movie Road spot, you will continue following the dirt road to end up at Boot Arch.
Boot Arch during sunset!
Once you curve left, you can actually spot Boot Arch straight ahead as you descend a small hill.
For this arch, there is a parking lot, and it is on the left side of the road. After turning left, you will drive on a skinny one-way road for about a hundred feet before you see a pullout area on the right side.
BE CAREFUL in this area, as it is easy to get stuck on rocks or in the sand. When I was out there, a guy turned right into the pull-out area and got stuck on a rock.
I also want to remind you that you are basically in the middle of nowhere and calling for a tow truck can and will take a couple of hours if not more. It is a pretty small “parking lot” however so be mindful of the space you take up and make sure to not block anyone in.
There is no trail to Boot Arch, but it is very easy to spot from the parking lot. It will take you approximately 3-5 minutes to walk to Boot Arch from the parking lot. Be careful to not get caught on any bushes or cacti.
Cyclops Arch
This is the only arch that I did not visit, however, I do know it is close to Boot Arch.
When to go?
I went during August so the temperatures were around 80-90 °F (26-32 °C) during the day and 60-70 °F (15-21 °C) at night. If you are planning on traveling during the summer months, definitely bring lots of water!
During the winter months, the Sierra Mountains can be seen covered in snow which can create amazing pictures!
Although it is mostly a desert, there are plenty of flowers and cacti scattered around, making the location a great place to visit during the Springtime as well!
Where do you stay?
A nice feature to Alabama Hills is that camping is absolutely FREE! There are multiple open areas on certain parts of the road where you can easily set up a tent. Some of these areas have fire pits set up as well.
When I went, I found a nice open area that had a front-row seat to Mount Whitney!
If you are considering camping, please, please, please clean up after yourselves and leave the area better than you found it!
If you are not that interested in camping, there are several motels very close to the “entrance.” One of the highly-rated ones is the Best Western Plus Frontier Motel.
For Photographers and Explorer Enthusiasts
As a photographer, whenever I start researching a new place I plan on visiting, I always wish I could have a clear, simple description of which spots are good to photograph during sunset, night, or sunrise.
So, here is that list for Alabama Hills! (The ones with stars are in my opinion the best spots for that given time)
The Milky Way over Boot Arch!
Star Trails at Mobius Arch!
There you go! A complete guide of Alabama Hills for photographers and travelers! Have fun, photograph a lot, and keep exploring!
