It’s not Route 66. It’s not even Route 50, the “Loneliest Road in America”. It is nevertheless intriguing, usually enchanting, and occasionally awe-inspiring; an adventure on the open road to some of the more remote and least known parts of the American West: US-395. From N to S it stretches 1270 miles from the British Columbia border to the High Mojave Desert of California, covering parts of eastern Washington, central Oregon, Nevada and California that (in some cases) can only be experienced along its track. On the way one encounters a landscape sculpted by mega-rivers that no longer exist, the remote Blue and Strawberry mountains, lakes and marshes in a thin-aired desert landscape, the nearly occluded Modoc, and… south of the strange, ethereal Mono Lake, the Valley between the Kings…
Descending the Sherwin Grade the late afternoon light fades, the faint pinks and purples of the twilight alpenglow blanket the valley’s great eastern wall; nearly to Bishop, home for the night. The Grand Canyon of the Owens River is to the left, the cleft in the ground a deeper shade of black than the rest of the shadowed landscape. The river’s headwaters are back north, rising on the other side of the higher Long Valley basin, the nearly miraculous configuration making the river possible. It is the particular configuration of the Yosemite region, especially the narrow passage to the east side of the great range that allows sufficient moisture through to the rain shadow side and into the upper Long Valley basin. Thus a desert river was born, which in turn gave life to an unusual valley…
Bishop (elev. 4150′) is the northern entrance to the valley of the Owens, the place where the river makes its easterly bend before the run to the valley’s south end. To the west are Mounts Emerson, Humphreys and Gabb, three Sierran near-14’rs (Humphreys is at 13,986′). To the east, the imposing front of the White Mountains, capped by White Peak (14,242′); the twisted forest of ancient Bristlecone Pines at the higher elevations. To stand in a place with mountains rising 10,000′ on either side…
The Bristlecone ecozone is (literally) breathtakingly high: the first encounter is at nearly 10,000′, The spur road comes up from Westgard Pass located to the south and takes you to the Methuselah Grove, where, of course, Methuselah keeps watch. Methuselah turns 4,854 this year; Happy Birthday to you, O Ancient One…
From Bishop to the south end, the valley is not very long (80 miles); driving south, old friends are encountered in turn…
The junction for California 168 is at Big Pine, the road heading east over Westgard Pass between the White and Inyo mountains. The Bristlecone Forest is not the only interesting encounter. After coming down the east side one enters the remote (and geologically fascinating) Deep Springs Valley, home to (the equally fascinating) Deep Springs College. If you like small class sizes, this is your place. The entire student population is around 30, the faculty and staff total around another 20. No tuition, room, or board are charged, but you do have to put in your time working on the college farm/ranch.
Independence next comes into view: gateway to Onion Valley, the launching point for hikers doing the E-W traverse of the Sierra. Kings Canyon and the western slope are accessed by hiking across formidable Kearsarge Pass (11,709′). At 9200′ Onion Valley is a botanical wonderland, and does, in fact, include wild onions, notably Allium validum, the Swamp Onion. No matter the time of year the nights are cold, but the stars…
Manzanar. The entrance staring at you as you drive by…unblinking.
Lone Pine. The Alabama Hills. The town is the launching point for the ascent of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 states (14,505′). The hills have been the backdrop for innumerable Hollywood westerns and have been graced by everyone from Tom Mix to John Wayne. The town itself? On March 26, 1872 the town experienced an earthquake now thought to be in the 7.5+ range. The population (estimated at about 250 people at the time) suffered a 10% mortality, and an additional 20% injured. Those dead are buried in a cemetery at the north end of town, just west of the highway…
The intersection with California 136 looms…the fork in the road. The Sierran front remains, towering, majestic. The east side however, is broken. It is the southern end of the Inyo range, anchored by New York Butte (10,668′); through the gap with the Coso Range the road heads east and then north around the immense form of Telescope Peak (11,043′) and its dizzying relief of 11,325′ above the floor of Death Valley. The other option is to continue south through Olancha on US 395, up and out of the basin and into the upper Mojave Desert.
California 136 wins out, the left is made and the NE loop around Owens Lake commences. Or what used to be Owens Lake… In the long, storied history of western water wars, this is ground zero. The lake, which covered 200 square miles as the last of the Pleistocene glaciers melted, is now a windy alkaline flat best known for its air pollution potential. The water, and a certain vitality, are headed 250 miles SW to Los Angeles. In an already dry land, it seems an exclamation point and feels like a benediction… Kittredge, writing about US 395 country a little farther north comes to mind: “We shaped our piece of the West according to the model provided by our mythology…such order had given us enormous power over nature…”.One last look back up the valley… Places with greater relief have been experienced: the aforementioned 11,000’+ in nearby Death Valley, the 18,000′ of Mt. St. Elias from the water’s edge on the Gulf of Alaska… But there is a spare grandeur and a verticality about the Valley between the Kings. One last look back…
