Alabama Hills, California
        Alabama Hills is in an area of unusual granite rock formations including many natural arches. West of Death Valley N.P., US 395 runs north and south. The Whitney Portal Rd. turns west at the stoplight in Lone Pine. Three miles up this road, Movie Rd. turns to the right, and shortly beyond, the Horseshoe Meadows Rd. turns to the left. These two side roads lead to most of the arches. There are many arches which can be found by simply wandering around amongst the formations; but the author can supply more specific directions if requested. The area was named by miners who were southern sympathizers during the Civil War. They had learned that a Confederate Cruiser named the Alabama had sunk many Federal ships; so they named the area where they had many claims, the Alabama Hills. The Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce has an informative web site http://www.lonepinechamber.org. Two and a half miles south of Lone Pine is an Interagency Visitors Canter which can also supply information about the area.
Mr. James Mc Donald, who works at One Liberty Plaza, just across the street from the destroyed North Tower of the World Trade Center, happened to be visiting the Borders Book store in the basement of the North Tower during the attack. He has provided the author with names for several of the un-named arches. These un-official names have replaced the numbers for arches No.3 through 16.