LONE PINE

How far is it?

About 3 hours away from Los Angeles, on the 395, the same road you take to go Mammoth Lakes.
It is pretty incredible to have such mountain scenery that close from Los Angeles actually.
If you like mountains, this is the real thing: 10,000 feet high peaks with that alpine vibe, and you don’t have to do any technical hikes to enjoy the views if you don’t want to.
Talk about a way to disconnect from our everyday lives!

Note: if you are planning a longer getaway, you can combine your trip to Lone Pine with a stop in Bishop which is 50 minutes further north and offers amazing hikes and Hot Springs. Check out our article about Bishop here!

Best Activities in Lone Pine

Explore the easily accessible mountains

Mt Whitney’s Portal

Lone Pine is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States (over 14,000 feet high).
The “Whitney Portal” road that starts in Lone Pine goes straight up to the base of Mount Whitney at 8,300 feet.
From there, beyond the obvious long hike to Mount Whitney’ summit (which we did not do with our kids but must be epic once you get the required permit for it), you can enjoy walking around the creek, grab a drink at the Whitney Portal Store, or start a hike to Lone Pine Lake.
We arrived too late in the day to start it, but this is the description of it that I found, and Lone Pine Lake looks beautiful on the pictures I found. So if you have the time AND energy to try it, go for it: the 6.5 out-and-back trail starts just below the Whitney Portal Store.
You can find details about that hike here:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/mount-whitney-portal-to-lone-pine-lake

Onion Valley

15 minutes north of Lone Pine is Independence, a tiny village from which Onion Valley Road starts climbing into the Sierra Nevada to about 9,600 feet of elevation. From that campground and parking lot at the end of the road, you can do a really nice hike to a series of lakes if you take Kearsarge Pass Trail. We only hiked to the 1st lake called Little Pothole Lake and had our picnic there, but the next lake, Flower Lake, is supposed to be even prettier.
This 1st one was already gorgeous with the Fall colors and its turquoise shades, and a perfect moment for our little ones to start launching floating DIY boats on it. You can find details about that pretty, 4 miles out-and-back hike here:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/california/onion-valley-campground-to-flower-lake?mobileMap=false&ref=sidebar-static-map

Cottonwood Pass

Another pretty area to explore is above Lone Pine, if you take the Horseshoe Meadows Road that branches off of Whitney Portal. That road with incredible views travels up to Cottonwood Pass Campground, 10,000 feet high. It takes 40 minutes from Lone Pine to reach the parking lot at the end of the road. From there you can start a 10 minute hike on Trail Pass Trail and reach the meadows, where a peaceful creek meanders. A great spot to let the kids play, run, enjoy nature, have fun with the creek water. You can also hike an easy loop with practically no elevation gain, that you can find here:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/horseshoe-meadow-loop-via-trail-pass-trail

Be amazed by the Alabama Hills

If you take Whitney Portal Road from Lone Pine, after a 5 minute drive your will reach the Alabama Hills, a beautiful formation of rounded rocks and eroded hills. The Alabama Hills have become a popular setting for many movies, hence the name of the main drive through the formations: “ Movie Road”. This road intersects with Whitney Portal Road about 3 miles west of Lone Pine.
The Alabama Hills are home to a beautiful and rare arch in California that is not to be missed (more on that below)!
If you go in the summer, keep in mind that this area does not provide a lot of shade or any, so go early in the morning or later in the afternoon if the weather is hot or if you have young children.
The little scramblers in your family or party will love the formations as you can freely explore and walk around boulders.

So how can you find the amazing Natural Arches?
When you take Movie road, make a right at the next fork about a mile and a half away from the intersection with Whitney Portal Road and you will arrive at a small parking lot where the trail to the The Alabama Hills Natural Arch Loop starts. You can start the trail to the right side of the parking lot and walk towards Heart Arch Rock (you can see the hole shaped like a heart from the parking lot actually). You will get there in 5 minutes or less, then when the Heart arch rock is to your right, you will see a T shaped intersection: go left there, and you will reach 5 minutes later the Mobius Arch, an amazing looking arch providing a picture-perfect setting in an out-of-this-world landscape. Right through the arch, you can photograph Mt Whitney and the jagged peaks around it. This is one of the rare arches in California, and with such an easy access, I highly recommend you take the time to go see it! It is high enough for you to sit or stand under it, so that fantastic travel photo for your Instagram is just waiting to be taken

Where to stay in Lone Pine?

We decided to try a “Glamping” experience by staying at De La Cour Ranch cabins, a cute Lavender farm & ranch on Horseshoe Meadows Road, 15 minutes away from the heart of Lone Pine.
We absolutely loved our stay there, as the ranch is secluded, in a beautiful setting with the mountains right behind your cabin.
They have 3 different cabins, a larger wooden one with its own kitchen and bathroom, and a tent cabin and tiny bungalow that share a separate but very clean bathroom and open kitchen. There is complete silence there, it is incredible. They have lavender growing around the cabins/bungalows, which attracts Monarch Butterflies, so pretty. They also have trails on their property, with one of them going up the mountain right behind the cabins. We tried both the main cabin and tent cabin and slept well in both.
The owners ranch is right across the road and our kids loved being able to walk there with us to see their horses and chickens.
If your children are old enough, you can even ask the owner about horse riding opportunities, that seems pretty fantastic with the views you get from the ranch.
More info here:
https://delacour-ranch.com/

Any good spot to eat in Lone Pine?

Lone pine is a tiny town with a cool Western vibe.
It does not have a super long list of restaurants, but we tried the Alabama Hills Cafe & Bakery on multiple occasions and were never disappointed.
Their burgers are great, they have a great Breakfast menu, and their desserts are really good. We tried their Triple Berry Pie and Berry & Peach Coffee Cake and they were delicious!