This free California rock pile has been in more movies than almost anywhere on Earth

Somewhere between the town of Lone Pine and the tallest peak in the Lower 48, a jumble of rounded orange boulders has stood in for the Old West, ancient Rome, a hostile alien planet, and at least one comic-book universe.

Alabama Hills has done all of that in over 400 movies and TV shows since 1920, and the whole place is free public land you can drive into any day of the year.

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A century of Hollywood hiding in plain sight

The first film shot here was The Round-Up in 1920, a silent Western starring Fatty Arbuckle. Hollywood never really left.

Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, and the Lone Ranger all shot it out with outlaws among these same rocks over the following decades. Gunga Din and How the West Was Won were filmed here too, and the 1990 creature classic Tremors was shot almost entirely on location.

More recently, the boulders played backdrop to Gladiator, Iron Man, Django Unchained, and Star Trek Generations. Every October, Lone Pine throws an entire film festival around its movie history, with bus tours through the exact spots you’d recognize from the screen.

The one arch every photo of this place goes through

Nearly every photo you’ve seen of Alabama Hills points back to one arch. Mobius Arch is a wind-carved granite window about 17 feet wide, and on a clear morning it frames Mount Whitney — the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet — like it was placed there on purpose.

Getting to it takes almost no effort. The Mobius Arch Loop Trail is a flat 0.6-mile round trip with about 42 feet of elevation gain, doable in well under an hour.

Show up near sunrise if you can. The light hits the granite orange-gold, and you’ll likely have the arch to yourself before the tour vans start arriving.

Beyond Mobius, an entire boulder field to wander

Mobius Arch isn’t the only frame in the Hills, and it’s arguably not even the most fun one to find. Boot Arch, Heart Arch, Cyclops Arch, and the aptly named Eye of Alabama are all scattered within a short walk of Movie Road, each one a different shape that wind and time carved out of the same granite.

Our full Alabama Hills Movie Road guide breaks down turn-by-turn directions to each arch, plus the exact pullouts where the old Westerns were filmed.

What to know before you go

Alabama Hills earned formal protection as a National Scenic Area in March 2019, part of a public lands package passed by Congress. The designation covers 18,610 acres of BLM land, and there’s no entrance fee or gate — just the junction of Highway 395 and Movie Road, a couple of miles outside Lone Pine.

This is high desert, and BLM’s own safety guidance is worth taking seriously: carry at least a gallon of water per person, dress for sun exposure, and don’t count on a cell signal once you’re off the highway.

If you want to camp, dispersed sites within the Hills have required a free, one-year permit since October 2024 — available online or at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center — though it doesn’t guarantee you a spot, since everything’s still first-come, first-served. Tuttle Creek Campground and the Inyo National Forest’s Lone Pine Campground sit just minutes away if you’d rather have a fire pit and picnic table waiting.

Next time a movie’s alien desert or lawless frontier town looks a little too familiar, there’s a real chance you’ve already stood in the same spot — for free, less than an hour off Highway 395. Which film are you most surprised got shot here?

Trip tips: grab a rental car to reach Lone Pine, lock in a hotel if you’d rather skip the desert wind at night, or book a camper van and pull straight into Tuttle Creek yourself.

Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.

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