This trip was inspired by my trip to Death Valley National Park in January of 2018, where I drove west from DVNP and met the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains. The Sierras rise relatively gradually from the Central Valley in the West and then cut off sharply on their Eastern edge, which is where Mt. Whitney (the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States) and many of the other tallest peaks in California are located. Owens Valley is just east of the Sierras and opposite the Sierras are the Inyo Mountains and the White Mountains, reaching 11,000 and 14,000 feet respectively. Thus I wanted to create a trip where I drove up the Owens Valley, one of the deepest in the US, with towering mountains on either side. This trip covers the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley National Park, the Inyo Mountains (Union Wash), Kearsarge Pass and Bago Peak in Kings Canyon National Park (in the Sierras), the White Mountains, Devil's Postpile National Monument, the ghost town of Bodie, Mono Lake, and Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park.
