Sorry, I may be reading too much into your question and not sure if your question relates to camping in AH during Covid-19 or just booking there in general. If it relates to camping during Covid you’ll want to refer to California Department of Public Health guidelines. If it is general camping e.g. pre-Covid I would say NO we have never felt discouraged to camp in the Alabama Hills. That said, the BLM managers do make regular (almost daily) trips around the Hills to ensure that folks don’t park in inappropriate places and respect the flora, not parking on it. We have been encouraged to use Tuttle Creek CG, it having water, and rest rooms, but we have never been strongly discouraged to stay in the Hills. Hope this helps.

Sorry it took me awhile to answer you - went to my spam. We couldn't disagree more, We think Alabama Hills was GREAT, Albeit it was at least a year or more ago, We sold our RV last summer and have not been out since, but as we live in So Cal, this was our #1 go to place for first night out if traveling north,

This documentation from BLM actually does discourage dispersed camping: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/public-room-california-alabama-hills-map-and-guide_2019.pdf In practice, however, this has not been the case. In fact, in November 2020 we found Tuttle Creek to be significantly less crowded and better spaced than the dispersed areas. That said, announced Jan 15 2021 it looks like the BLM is planning a free permit system to relieve crowding in the dispersed areas of the Alabama Hills: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/1502669/510

It's Tuttle Creek!

We were in Lone Pine early November. There are now a lot fewer places to boondock. There’s are City of LA signs everywhere forbidding camping. Think this was in reaction to too many campers trashing the place.

We stayed 5 nights off of Movie Road over Memorial Day 2019....lots of very courteous campers that seemed to respect the area. No issue found other than a planned concert coming up the following weekend and camping wasn't going to allowed.

I boondocked there several times last summer and fall, most recently in mid-October 2020. There were several other vehicles, widely dispersed, and quiet after early evening. I understand BLM would prefer that we use Tuttle Creek, but I didn't see any signage discouraging use of AH.

My understanding is that Alabama Hills is dispersed camping, and when we were there that's what we experienced. We saw people darted around the area. There are areas where people stay more frequently. We stayed just across from the heart arch. There were a few campers in the lot just below it. I'm guessing they wanted an early start on the trail. I'd never even heard of Turtle Creek Campground until you mentioned it.

No not at all, I spent a week there and had a grand time, quite a few other campers there also, but really spread out, there are plenty of places of movie road to boondock... Who may I ask said it was discouraged?

I don't believe so. There were lots of boondockers in the BLM area.