Off the Beaten Path: A visit to Pioneertown turns up a clump of famous movie rocks

Pioneertown, Calif.

The Western town at Pioneertown, Calif., built around 1946, is one of only a handful of old Western movie town sets still standing. But in my eyes the most impressive historical artifacts in the Pioneertown area are the magnificent rock formations surrounding the town.

"Silver Canyon" (1951) — rock clump near Pioneertown

Just back from my first visit to Pioneertown, I checked my archives and found this beauty — a screen shot from the Gene Autry B-Western "Silver Canyon." Autry was a key player in the early movie and TV history of the Pioneertown area.

This is a shot of the same rock clump taken during a road trip over the weekend. This spectacular group of rocks and countless similar rock features are spread all around the area, mile after mile — a lot of needles in that haystack and a small miracle to match one up. We happened upon this bad boy after a random right turn on a barely noticeable dirt road. In other instances spectacular rock features can be found right on the highway.

Here's another beauty in the Pioneertown area — this one is next to the highway, probably less than two miles north of the Western town. Have you seen this group of rocks in an old movie or TV show? I haven't spotted it yet, but I have a feeling it will turn up. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please leave a comment if you've seen this one or any other noteworthy formations.

Off the Beaten Path is a series of posts that are not specifically focused on the Iverson Movie Ranch. Typically they spotlight another filming location in Southern California. You can go directly to the Off the Beaten Path posts by looking up the term in the long index of labels at the right of the page, or by clicking here (recommended!).