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The Alabama Hills in California is a place of wonder. Because I wonder why we don’t visit more often!

It’s insane that places like this exist and being RVers with the flexibility to work remote, it’s a dream come true. Located just outside the beautiful small town of Lone Pine, CA is this rocky area. The best part is you’re able to stay here for up to 14 days FOR FREE!

It’s been used in many movies and was very popular for filming old westerns. It still is used quite a bit by Hollywood. A few years back while I was rock climbing in nearby Death Valley, my friends and I went to grab a bite and a beer at the nearest town from where we were climbing, Lone Pine!

We ended up sitting next to Mike Rowe at the bar sharing camping stories. He was there to shoot a commercial for Ford out in the Desert. Very nice down to earth guy.

The Camping

There are a lot of established campsites spread out in this area. We made sure to unhook at the entrance and drive down a few miles to scout out the best route and site for our large 44 ft 5th wheel. I had my doubts we’d find a spot that would fit our rig but it wasn’t a problem at all. In fact, we had a number of open sites that would have worked.

Most sites are very secluded however some of them are designed for groups to come together and enjoy time with friends and family around a central fire pit.

Time of Year

The wildflowers were booming during our visit in the spring. Gorgeous views were in every direction. The weather was perfect as it was in the 80 degree F range in the day and down to the 50 degree F range at night. This area gets very hot in the summer and fairly chilly in the winter, although coming from Minnesota I bet it would be beautiful to be at the base of the snow engorged mountains and wouldn’t be too much effort to keep warm in the RV while Boondocking. I may have to find out…

Cell Service to Work Remote

Can you beat this office view? Sitting at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the cozy RV with all the conveniences of home!

I still work full time, actually being an Entrepreneur I work MORE than full time. It’s critical that I have access to the internet. We have Sprint, Verizon, and At&t while we travel. The Spring and Verizon worked poorly, the At&t worked well. I still headed to town a few times to work at the local coffee shop. It was one of the more fun ones I’ve been to, the staff is great but the crowd of outdoors-people mixed with local farmers is entertaining.

Sprint Cell Service: None

Verizon Cell Service: Poor

AT&T Cell Service: Good

Coffee Shop: Good

We haven’t talked too much about our business, mainly because our travels are the thing we hope to share with family and friends. But more and more people are asking us to share about working and running a business from an RV so we’ll be blogging more about that in the near future. The cliff notes are: we provide social media for the Camping and RV Industry and if you have any content or social media needs, let’s chat.

The Highest Peak – Mt Whitney

Mt Whitney is the highest peak in the continental USA. It towers over rest of the Sierra’s at 14,496 ft.

For many, it’s the pinnacle of peaks in the Sierra’s. A monster that can kill, but also technically not difficult during much of the year. Around 10 years ago, with Crampons I climbed on up to the peak in 22 hours straight. It was a big deal to me at the time, being somewhat of a novice to climbing…

Just for the record, it is stupid to climb to the top of a mountain in freezing temps in jeans, wear proper gear that will help protect you if you run into challenges on your adventure.

The Alabama Hills have you staring directly at this beast. While we were here, the Ranger said there was roughly 20 ft of snow at the top and the road part way up the mountain to the trailhead was closed.

The Stars at Night

If you’re looking for a place away from the city lights where you can immerse yourself into some star gazing, this is a great place for it! On nights where there is a moon often it lights up the Sierra’s with the wild rock formations in the foreground creating an otherworldly look.

Fishing the Los Angeles Aqueduct

Ever wonder how LA gets its water? Multiple man-made sources provide this mega-metropolis their H2O. The Los Angeles Aqueduct is one of their main sources. It corrals water runoff from the mountains and then runs it all the way down river to LA for cleaning and consumption.

It’s also a good place to go fishing. There are multiple sand traps that allow RVers to toss in a line and reel in some fish.

Don’t Be Stupid or Bubba Will Visit

We have taken on some pretty big mountains over the years and after coming down the mountain at an 8% grade from Death Valley it was time for us to replace the brakes on our truck.

While I was at the shop I was speaking to them about this massive beast “Bubba”. They said that monster is what they use to pull out RVs usually from Death Valley because they think they can go off-road to Boondock but realize that the sand can’t handle that type of weight and they get stuck. He said they’ve had to rescue quite a few RVs in the middle of nowhere and he also mentioned it was VERY costly to the RV owners…

Hitchhiking with Friends

We’ve made some good friends over the years and always enjoy with hanging out with our friends from His & Hers Vlogs. We found out we were within a few hundred miles of each other and decided we should become neighbors for a little while.

We ended up eating some fish that he caught and brought from Alaska and another night had some Caribou that they harvested and brought in their RV Freezer. Yum!

They bring their ATV with them when they travel so we did a lot of scenic drives exploring the endless supply of back trails and roads. Every turn would open up a secluded rock paradise. I think that is one of the things that is so unique about this place, it’s beautiful in the macro, but most of the individual sites feel very secluded and tucked back into the rock area and can even feel like you have your own cave dwelling.

Alabama Hills Hiking Trails

This entire region has TOP NOTCH hiking! Our campsite was direction on one of the trails so it was easy to grab the dog and head for a walk on the trail.

If that doesn’t satisfy your need for world-class hiking, you are at the base of the Sierra’s with incredible access to the mountains. Mt Whitney has great hiking directly above the campsites. Onion Valley just 12 miles to the North I personally think is one of the rarely known hidden gems of this earth. Absolute outdoor paradise! Death Valley is a short day trip into the desolate desert, in fact, you can hike near the highest peak in the continental USA and then in the same day hike the lowest point at Badwater Basin which is 272 ft below sea level.

Toddler Hiking Backpack

Danielle bought this baby backpack at some point on our travels so this was our first time checking it out in nature. It was surprising how much it distributes the weight in areas where it limits how much you can feel it. Totally worth it! Ella loved it I was able to carry the weight easily and comfortably. 

Do you have a favorite or unique Boondocking place you’d like to share? Let us know!