We first met Larry Maurice in the dark of night — with cars all lined up — forming a caravan to head up into the “Rocks.”, a geologic formation called the  Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine, California. Our destination: one of the best places on earth to watch the sunrise. There will be music, poetry and a touch of Old Hollywood on this popular event that began with one of the great character actors and continues today with the help of the Cowboy Poet.

Larry lives on his ranch north of Reno, and his biography reads like someone dearly in love with the West. For the last 35 years he’s been a working cowboy, horse wrangler, and packer in the eastern Sierra Nevada and the wilderness of Nevada; and he’s been spotted running herd of Long Horn Cattle in Nevada as well as visits to the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Larry’s poetry will dig right at your heart – and cut straight to the truth. He is a big part of the Lone Pine Film Festival each year — organized by the Museum of Western Film History. He hosts the cowboy campfire, and perhaps most famous, The Sunrise Tour.

First started by actor John Mitchum. Larry took it over 20 years ago when John passed away. Folks head up into the Alabama Hills, just west of Lone Pine — into “The Rocks,” where so many famous westerns were filmed. As the sun slowly catches Mt. Whitney, and then rides down the Sierra Nevada — finally lighting the Rocks, Larry and his guests will fill you with stories, music and poetry — it’s a powerful combination. You can see this special event in our program “A Cowboy Sunrise.”