This morning I awoke in Lone Pine, feeling ready to sew this trip up. After making it to the headwaters of the LA Aqueduct yesterday, my ticket’s been pretty much punched.
Still, there were a few more things to see today. As you may know, Lone Pine sits directly in the shadow of Mt. Whitney, which is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. And my motel was on the edge of town, right next to the mountain range. I spent a few minutes taking it in, when I noticed a tall American flag on a hill near the motel. It turned out to be part of a memorial to Lone Pine residents who had been killed in the big earthquake of 1872. Lone Pine was virtually leveled (52 of its 59 buildings were destroyed), and 27 people were killed. Sixteen of those people were buried in a common grave, which is where I was standing as I read a plaque near the flag.
The reason so many buildings were destroyed in the earthquake is that most of them were constructed from unreinforced adobe. This morning I happened by the one adobe wall that remains. It had been part of the general store, built in 1869.
After getting some coffee from the Lone Star cafe, I headed south on US 395. Even though I didn’t really have anything left on my list, I did notice a sign for the Haiwee Reservoir, just off to the east. I remembered reading about it in the Mulholland biography. This was a major part of the Los Angeles Aqueduct infrastructure, with water storage and a DWP power plant. After traveling down a rutted road for a few miles, I encountered the familiar DWP fencing and yellow “no trespassing” signs. I was barely able to catch a glimpse of the reservoir beyond the locked gate.
I did a little research on this reservoir, and it appears that for decades now there’s been a legal war waged between local fishermen and DWP. The fishermen assert that the state constitution guarantees public fishing rights on all public lands. Newspaper articles over the years that I’ve looked at record times when fishing was allowed, and times when it wasn’t. Evidently right now is one of the times that the courts are not on the side of the fishermen.
After jumping back on the road, I almost immediately encountered another sign, this one pointing to the Haiwee Power Plant. It’s located at the south end of the reservoir. Again I took the signed turnoff, and again I encountered a locked gate. I did get a few photos of the pipeline feeding the plant, and a glimpse of the building itself, from behind a fence.
Some miles later, in the Mojave, I saw a sign for Jawbone Canyon. Again, I remembered mention of this in Mulholland’s biography. Traversing the canyon with the aqueduct pipeline was a major engineering undertaking. This is where the “inverted siphons” show their stuff. Water drops down one side of the canyon through a pipe, and then goes up the other side. And this is simply siphon action, based on gravity. No pumps are used. It’s fascinating. I took the turnoff, and found the inverted siphons amid a federal OHV park.
OK, I promise that this next photo is the last one related to the LA Aqueduct. I stumbled across the DWP’s Mojave headquarters while driving home on CA 14. It’s got that classic “DWP” architecture. The front of the building was flanked with antique equipment from the digging of the aqueduct.
But my favorite sight from today’s travels was this Joshua Tree sculpture immediately off 395, near the town of “Inyokern” (which presumably borders Inyo and Kern counties). Note that the trunk is made from welded horseshoes. What I especially liked about this is that it’s simply sitting out in the desert, alongside the highway. It’s not in someone’s front yard, where it would aggrandize the home’s owner. That would be a vanity statement. Instead, this sculpture is completely anonymous. There isn’t so much as a plaque or sign explaining it. It’s just there to provide a little whimsy for passersby. Would that we all had the motivation to simply and unselfishly take small actions to make the world a little more fun.
Soon, I was back in the Los Angeles basin, fighting 4 lanes of traffic to get home. Nothing much remarkable to report in those final miles. But what a great trip the last week and 1,100 miles have been. Thanks to all those who gave feedback about the blog, and to those who simply read it and followed my meanderings. It was good to have you along.
Stay tuned for the big Edgar Allan Poe trip in October!
sdb
BREW OF THE DAY
I had cocktails with Karen on the deck. Can’t beat that.
Chasing Phantoms 