This photo was taken from the Alabama Hills just above Lone Pine, CA. The hills were a frequent film/tv location in the 40’s and 50’s. In the background you can see the Mt Whitney Portal road carved into the mountainside. The jagged ridge along the skyline is part of Mt Whitney.
If you click on the image to enlarge it, the road to Whitney Portal becomes much more prominent as the scar across the hillside to the right side of the image. Whitney Portal is one of the access points for climbers heading up Mt Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 with an elevation of 14,505 ft (4421 m). It is in California just to the west of Death Valley National Park and less than 100 miles from the lowest point in North America.
According to some historians, the Pi Ute [Paiute] Indians called Mt. Whitney Too-man-i-goo-yah, which means ‘the very old man.’