There is certainly some great viewing from either the actual Father Crowley Overlook (which is the paved parking area with the vault toilet) or the other spot just a bit further west. At the spot further west, there is a large parking area, and you walk up a short hill to get to the place where you usually see the videos taken from. When I was there at the beginning of May, in less than an hour we had two German AF Eurofighter Typhoons followed about 30-40 minutes later by a pair of F/A-18. As I was leaving I heard someone mention that there was a pair of A-10 in the area, and they flew right in front of us a little after we turned south at Panamint.
I do plan to go back there in the Fall if I can, and I'll probably just get a room at the Dow Villa in Lone Pine.
If you've not seen the place, these might help you to visualize it. These first ones are the spot to the west of the actual paved parking lot scenic overlook.
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Lone-Pine-Road-Trip-May-2018-Part-2/i-GQbqkxp/1/9a271fc4/L/F2XT9919-L.jpg)
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Lone-Pine-Road-Trip-May-2018-Part-2/i-GhRvLXD/1/a9a57b15/L/F2XT9921-L.jpg)
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Lone-Pine-Road-Trip-May-2018-Part-2/i-5g6jjJN/1/5e2c8979/L/F2XT9979%20-%20Version%202-L.jpg)
The view from the paved overlook is a little different. The overlook is at a lower elevation than the more western spot, but the canyon is flowing downhill so to speak, so you are still above the rim. There were actually a fair amount of people there when we stopped in. Many of them were shooting video, while at the hilltop spot everyone I saw had DSLRs and big glass. My Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 lens was sorely missed, but it's not a travel camera so it had stayed home. Actually, I think it might be too much lens for this spot, but hard to say. Bring a zoom lens (and don't be like me and forget that you are using a zoom and leave it set at the widest setting), or at least an assortment of focal lengths.
This is the view you get with a 55mm lens on an APS-C sized sensor camera (equivalent to about 80mm on full-frame). More magnification would have been better, but remember if you get too close then you lose the context of the place. For scale - that's an F/A-18. This is looking more or less west. They generally fly west to east, but not always.
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Lone-Pine-Road-Trip-May-2018-Part-2/i-R4qDKp3/1/efad3654/L/F2XT0034-L.jpg)
This is almost directly in front of the paved overlook, looking more or less north across the canyon. Again with a 55mm lens on an APS-C sensor size, but I've cropped the image heavily.
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Lone-Pine-Road-Trip-May-2018-Part-2/i-xq94TzD/1/50811d63/L/F2XT0098%20-%20Version%202-L.jpg)
For Red Flag - a few years back there was a small group from SCCX that went over to the hills near Area 51 and camped. They had a great time, and said that both day and night planes were flying almost directly overhead. Not quite the same, but something to think about. I tried to find some pictures posted here but could not. It was Mitch (Soylent Yellow), Dan, John, and some guy they met from Nor Cal. It would be easy enough to ask Mitch where they were, he's still around.