2017 BISHOP MULE DAYS – 48TH ANNUAL - III

SATURDAY, MAY 27^TH

Saturday morning is devoted to the Mule Days Parade. We do not go often, and use this time to escape to the mountains for a hike, fishing, and/or photography. This year DawnMarie was a participant and recruited Tina to join her. We decided to stay out of town for most of the day.

   Justin joined us for breakfast in Big Pine at the Country Kitchen, and then we headed South to the Lone Pine area. Our first stop was Manzanar Relocation Camp. Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten American concentration camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed (incarcerated) during World War II from December 1942 to 1945.  Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owen’s Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, Manzanar is approximately 230 miles (370 km) north of Los Angeles. In February, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to establish Military Areas and to remove from those areas anyone who might threaten the war effort. Without due process, the government gave everyone of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast only days to decide what to do with their houses, farms, businesses, and other possessions. Most families sold their belongings at a significant loss. No Japanese Americans were incarcerated if they lived on the East Coast!! The camp was very basic and with the bare minimum of facilities. There was little or no privacy in the barracks—and not much outside. The 200 to 400 people living in each block, consisting of 14 barracks each divided into four rooms, shared men’s and women’s toilets and showers, a laundry room, and a mess hall. Any combination of eight individuals was allotted a 20-by-25-foot room. An oil stove, a single hanging light bulb, cots, blankets, and mattresses filled with straw were the only furnishings provided.

MANZANAR RELOCATION CAMP

Coming from Los Angeles and other communities in California and Washington, Manzanar’s internees were unaccustomed to the harsh desert environment. Summer temperatures soared as high as 110ºF. In winter, temperatures frequently plunged below freezing.

After exploring the museum and one of the block houses we headed for Whitney Portal. 13.7 miles (22 km) west of Lone Pine at an elevation of 8,374 feet (2,552 m).^[1] Whitney Portal is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States; it is the trailhead for the Mount Whitney Trail. We enjoyed a little walking around the area, and viewing the wonderful and fast flowing waterfall. 

WHITNEY PORTAL CANYON WALL

MT. WHITNEY, To The Right

WATERFALL DETAIL

WATER AND ROCKS

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

WHITE PINCUSHION

Once down off the steep part of the Whitney Portal Road, we turned North on Movie Road and drove into the Alabama Hills. 
 (It was the middle of a hot afternoon, so I did not do any photography here.) Here is an image from the web. One can spend hours or days here with a camera.

FROM THE WEB (Not my work :-))

The hills are named after the C.S.S. Alabama of the Civil War. More than 400 movies and hundreds of television episodes have been shot in the Alabama Hills, located just west of Lone Pine, California. The rounded contours of the Alabama Hills contrast with the sharp ridges of the Sierra Nevada to the west. Though this might suggest that they formed from a different orogeny, the Alabama Hills are the same age as the nearby Sierras. The difference in wear can be accounted for by different patterns of erosion. There are two main types of rock exposed at Alabama Hills. One is an orange, drab weathered metamorphic volcanic rock that is 150-200 million years old. The other type of rock exposed here is 82- to 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite which weathers to potato-shaped large boulders, many of which stand on end due to spheroidal weathering acting on many nearly vertical joints in the rock.
Since the early 1920s, 150 movies and about a dozen television shows have been filmed here, including Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger and Bonanza. Meanwhile Classics such as Gunga Din, The Walking Hills, Yellow Sky, Springfield Rifle, The Violent Men, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott "Ranown" westerns, part of How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd. In the late 1940s and early 50s the area was also a popular location for the films of B-western actor Tim Holt.
Once out of the Alabama Hills we headed back to Bishop for the late afternoon, and then the evening events in the main arena.
Back at the Fairgrounds I found a fairly close parking space for the duration. We went off to the City Park to browse the various vendors, and make a few purchases. Our first stop was the Garlic Festival Stand where I purchased pickled garlic and a couple of marinades for fish and chicken. George found a new leather fanny pack, and I found a very nice straw hat that had a four inch brim all around. This will replace my old straw cowboy hat. Our final stop was at Schat’s Bakkery once again to get loaves of bread for  friends back in San Diego, and some croissants for our drive home in the morning.
The evening show was fun once again. I did not take my camera this evening, and once again enjoyed the various races and the team packing race. It was a good relaxed trip overall. It was great to get together with Tina and Justin. We enjoyed some good food together, and good times at the various shows.