Updated: March 23, 2022

By Bill Hedges:

During my family vacation I got to visit the Lost in Space planet of Priplanus, also known as the Trona Pinnacles and Red Rock canyon near Ridgecrest CA. This was where the exterior chariot and rocketbelt scenes were filmed for the pilot in 1964 and reused for other episodes.

The Trona Pinnacles are ancient tufa rock formations developed at the bottom of the now dry Searles Lake basin and have an alien planet look about them, so much so, that 30 sci-fi movie backgrounds and car commercials are filmed here every year, which included Star Trek 5 and the remake of Planet of the Apes. It's so remote and undeveloped though, that when we were out there, we had the whole site to ourselves which added to the sense of being on an alien world. Red Rock canyon is also near Ridgecrest and although it is just off the highway we the only ones there too. It was fun to try and identify the sites where the various Lost in Space scenes were filmed and is highly recommended for any Lost in Space fan who wants to feel a real connection to the show. There is also a Jupiter-2 launch party that occasionslly gets together there and more details can be found at:

http://www.promisedplanet.com/Jupiter2000/index.htm