the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, CAJoshua Gresham hammy Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication. I spent twenty-four long, amazing years in California, with all but four of them spent in Central California. And yet, daily I am being surprised by all the strange places and things my home state has to offer that I knew nothing about. Lone Pine, CA, known as the gateway to Mt. Whitney and Death Valley, is familiar to me only in flashes as we traveled elsewhere for our camping trip. I'd always wanted to stop and see the snow topped mountains, the desert.