Alabama Hills (BLM Dispersed)
Lone Pine (Owens Valley) · near Lone Pine · Eastern Sierra
Camping
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Elevation
- 4800
- Campsites
- Dispersed (designated areas)
- Season
- Year-round (best spring/fall)
- Fee
- Free (permit may apply)
Permits and booking
- Reservation required
- No
- How to reserve
- FREE dispersed camping on BLM land (now with some designated sites/permits in the managed recreation area — check current rules, which have tightened). Iconic rounded rock formations beneath Mount Whitney and the Sierra crest. NO facilities — pack in/out everything, including waste. Movie Road backdrop.
What is here
- Setting
- desert
- Amenities
- Free dispersed camping · Iconic arches & rounded rocks · Mount Whitney backdrop · Famous movie-filming landscape
- Best for
- Free, scenic dispersed camping under Mt. Whitney
- Features
- Camp beneath Mount Whitney · Surreal rounded rock formations · Famous Movie Road arches · Free (with new managed rules)
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Camping detail
- Camp type
- dispersed
- Intl tip
- FREE dispersed BLM camping — but rules have TIGHTENED (managed recreation area: possible designated sites/permits, strict pack-in/pack-out including waste) — check current regulations. NO facilities — bring everything, pack out all trash and waste. Sunrise/sunset on Mount Whitney and the arches is staggering. Off Whitney Portal Rd, Lone Pine. Combine with Whitney and the Eastern Sierra.
The guide
The Alabama Hills are one of the most photogenic places to camp in California — a jumble of surreal, rounded granite formations…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Alabama Hills (BLM Dispersed) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.606, -118.118