Alabama Hills are situated west of a little village Lone Pine,CA. Reddish rounded hills are in sharp contrast to white-gray rocky Sierra Nevada with the highest peak in "lower 48" Mt. Whitney. From road #395 these hills do not look very special but if you drive from Lone Pine west through them the view will rapidly change. Coloration of that formation reminding me national park Arches just without "windows".
The outstanding features and environment of the Alabama Hills has attracted movie makers, commercial companies and tourists from all over the world. Since the early 1920's, movie stars such as Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger, have been shooting it out with outlaws. Classics such as Gunga Din, Springfield Rifle, and How the West was Won, were filmed at sites now known as "Movie Flats" and Movie Flat Road.
Recent Ad's and commercials filmed within the Alabama Hills during 1992-1994 include: BFCS - Ford commercial; Coppos - Volvo commercial; Burnett- Peugeot commercial; Price - backpacking ad; River Run - Clarion commercial; LeBon - Isuzu car; Smillie - Rebok commercial; Lovinger - Miller Beer; Blue Goose - Finnish gum; Sandbank - Jeep commercial; Vamos - Suzuki ad; ACC - Citron commercial; Jackson - Nissan; Bendari - Sprint; Taub - Nissan; Thorson - Mountain bikes; Coppos - EverReady batteries; Art on Film - Chevy; Miller - Toyota; Angel City - CA lottery; Axiom - Japanese Music Video; Konkal - Saab commercial; Jackal - Viper car; Stevens - Mazda; Sandbank - Honda; RSA - Jeep commercial; McCuire - Apple computer; Conkle - Ford; Bush - Yamaha; Momentum - Jeep/Eagle; Lammers - Nissan.
In Owen's Valley lives also such cute animals like for example Scorpion. There are approximately 1,300 species of scorpions worldwide, characterized by an elongated body and a segmented tail that is tipped with a venomous stinger.
Scorpions have even been found under snow-covered rocks at elevations of over 4 000m in the Andes Mountains of South America and the Himalayas of Asia. About 90 species occur in the U.S., and all but four of these naturally occur west of the Mississippi River. Scorpions are nocturnal, predatory animals that feed on a variety of insects, spiders, centipedes, and other scorpions. The larger scorpions occasionally feed on vertebrates, such as smaller lizards, snakes, and mice. The average scorpion probably lives three to five years, but some species undoubtedly live at least 10-15 years. On the average, a female gives birth to about 25-35 young. They remain on her back until they molt for the first time, usually within a week or two after birth. Despite their bad reputation, only one species in the U.S. and about 20 others worldwide have venom potent enough to be considered dangerous to humans.
Rattlesnake - one of only four venoms snakes in the USA - the Coral Snake, the Copperhead, the Cottonmouth Water Moccasin and the Rattlesnake. The rattlesnake (genus Crotalus) is the only venomous snake native to California, but other venomous snakes make their home in the deserts of the American Southwest. Rattlesnakes come in 16 distinct varieties. There are numerous subspecies and color variations. In California live along Pacific coast, deserts but also in mountains even higher than 3 000m. In Owen's Valley (from Tahoe Lake to Death Valley) live kind of Sidewinder. Average adult size is between 1 and 1.3m. The female Pacific rattler may contain from 4 to 25 eggs, from which an average of 9 or 10 hearty young are born live. Young rattlers are completely independent of the mother. Although unable to make a rattling sound, the youngsters throw themselves into a defensive pose and strike repeatedly when disturbed.