Awesome trip report Frank! That river/stream along Moffat Ranch Road was flowing pretty intense when the wife and I were up there last year (Memorial Day weekend). We found a spot to cross it and it was at least 2 feet deep.
I think my favorite photo that you posted is the second shot of the Onion Valley Road. I love what you did with the depth of field and how you used the shadows to give it even more depth, and I really like how the road is going a completely different direction in the foreground but you can still tell it's the same road by the distinguished surface. Super cool shot!
I'd be all for a visit to Star Wars Canyon with you later this year. I have a couple of buddies that are VERY into it. They get out there a couple of times a year. They are military aviation buffs, and know everything about everything when it comes to military planes. They, too, bring scanners and monitor the air traffic. I do, however, enjoy the shots you managed to get, even with the wrong equipment in your hands at the time.
Great stuff! Did you happen to check out the old abandoned airport across 395 from Manzanar? It's nothing more than a bunch of old runways, but it was fun to pretend I was an airplane trying to take off and getting some speed on them. 
Thanks Joe (and everyone else).
I guess I never noticed the old airport, and only found out about it when looking at some of your old pictures and trip report last night. I probably should have paid more attention to the map. It's hard to miss on Google satellite view. It's sort of like the deal with the waterfall at Whitney Portal. I had read about it when researching what to see up there, and figured Heather would really like to see it. She's from Seattle, and even after 25 years in So Cal she still misses the green. Of course, when we got up there everything was covered in snow and clouds, you could not tell how far back you could drive or even if there would be a way to turn around, and truth be told, I really just forgot about it. On our way back down the mountain we stopped to take some pictures, and a guy driving up stopped in the middle of the road and asked me if the waterfall was running. That's when Heather asked me "There's a waterfall up there?" in that tone of voice that can only mean "You dumb-ass, you knew there was a waterfall up there that I would love to see, and you didn't mention it?"
Onion Valley Road was a very cool drive. Heather spotted it on the map in the road atlas. The word "meadow" caught her attention.
By the way, regarding the cold beer - it was snowing a bit on Tuesday at 8,300', but by Wednesday afternoon it was already starting to melt off. Hard to say what you'll at Swansea and that area; probably not very much snow. The guy at the Whitney Portal store said it had been quite warm just the week before.
I've been driving past/through Lone Pine for years; I can't believe I waited this long to spend some time there. We'll definitely go back again. That book I have on the filming sites in the Alabama Hills was given to me by an SCCX member over 10 years ago, but this was the first opportunity to pull off US 395 and see it. Once you get past Adelanto and all that mess, the drive up is nice. I need to figure out a way to bypass all of that. We made a brief restroom stop at the Walmart in Adelanto - I came to the conclusion that everyone in that town is most likely on parole, including probably the parole officers themselves.
We never did get to Trona Pinnacles either - only got a mile or so past the railroad crossing in my last photo, then we decided to save it for another time. We spent so much time at Star Wars Canyon that it was getting late and we needed to keep going. Even then we hit some nasty traffic on I-15 that added over an hour to the drive.
