Highway 395
Starting just east of Los Angeles, in the Mojave Desert, U.S. 395 provides one of
the great drives in the United States. It begins in the high desert of Southern
California, ends at the Canadian border, and in-between, crosses some of the most
desolate land in California, as well as taking you to high elevations and some of
the most magnificent mountain views in the world. This story is about the southern
part of the Hwy. 395 drive.
The Owens Valley
Lying just east of the Sierra Nevada and north of the Mojave Desert, the Owens Valley
is one of the least known and thus most underrated places for vacationing in the
state. With the High Sierra to the west and the Inyo and White Mountains to the
east, this spectacular valley provides the entrance to Mt. Whitney, the highest
peak in the lower 48 states, and to a wealth of other outdoor adventure attractions
including the John Muir Wilderness, and Death Valley National Park.
Highway 395 begins its northward trek at Interstate 15, a few miles west of Vistorville.
It passes the small town of Adelanto (motels, store) and runs through 30 miles of
open desert. Before reaching the Owens Valley from the south, we recommend taking
a 20 mile side-trip eastward (via Hwy. 58) to Red Rock Canyon -- north of the town
of Mojave on Highway 14. Red Rock Canyon State Park, with a campground situated
in a setting of uplifted layers of sandstone, lava and tuff. There is a short nature
trail and the whole park&emdash;with its canyons and unusual rock formations&emdash;begs
to be explored. Beyond Red Rock Canyon -- if you take Hwy. 14 north to return to
Hwy. 395 (about 35 miles) -- the Owens Valley appears.
If you miss Red Rock Canyon and continue northward on Hwy. 395, you drive through
flat desert, close to the Edwards Air Force Base dry lake, and then passing the
old mining towns of Randsburg and Johannesburg. Randsburg is a funky ghost town,
well worth visiting. Ridgecrest is a modern town a few miles east of the highway.
Then you approach the Owens Valley -- passing the exit to Death Valley and circling
around the northern edge of the Owens Lake bed. A shoirt trip around the southern
edge of the lake bed provides access to Dirty Socks Hot Springs -- a long-deserted
pool in the desert, off a side road from Highway 190. Be warned, the hot water stinks
from sulphur like its namesake hose.
Before the early 1900s, this long, narrow valley east of the Sierra Nevada was home
to the Paiute Indians&emdash;part of the Shoshoni people&emdash;and to pre-historic
natives. The Paiutes were nomadic desert inhabitants who were hunters and harvesters.
In the winter they lived in pit houses, covered with aspen branches, grass and shrubs.
And during the hot summers, they built more simple shaded lean-tos. Jedediah Smith,
and other mountain men discovered the valley in 1827 and white settlers soon followed.
They brought their cattle and horses, started farms, irrigated the land from the
Owens River, and drove the natives from their homelands. In the short space of 38
years, Indian life in the valley was extinguished.
Farms prospered throughout the valley and then the tentacles of a growing Los Angeles
reached into the valley and its ravaging truly began. In 1904, Los Angeles began
using the water of the Owens River for its water supply. By 1907, the first part
of the aqueduct was completed, without too much effect on valley farming. However,
Los Angeles needed even more water and in 1921, more water rights were needed and
many more farms were bought up, more water was pumped into the aqueduct and farms
quickly disappeared from the valley. Wells dried up and the desert reclaimed what
the early settlers had made green. What used to be Owens Lake is now dry&emdash;hard-baked
salt and sand. Yet even after this environmental calamity, the valley remains a
treasure house of mountain beauty and is a superb recreation area.
Traveling up the 110 mile length of the Owens Valley is a vacation treat that everyone
should undertake for historical and recreational enjoyment. Highway 395 is the main
north/south route through the valley, passing through several distinctive towns
including Lone Pine, Olancha, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop (the largest). Near
Lone Pine are the Alabama Hills with unusual twisted rock formations, where many
of the early western movies were shot including films starring William Boyd as Hopalong
Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes, Gene Autry, Gary Cooper and others.
The star attraction of the valley is Mt. Whitney, at 14, 495 feet the tallest peak
in the contiguous United States. It is possible for experienced hikers to walk to
the summit from Whitney Portal, a delightful park situated high on the Mt. Whitney
slope, easily reached by driving west from Lone Pine on a paved, winding road. The
Portal offers astounding views of Mt. Whitney amidst pine and sequoia forest with
mountain streams tumbling to the valley below. There are four campgrounds along
this road: two near Lone Pine, another half-way along the route and one at Whitney
Portal. North of Lone Pine is Independence, the seat of Inyo County which includes
nearby Death Valley. A visit to the old (and still operating) Winnedumah Hotel will
restore memories of the days of the western movies, when the actors stayed in this
very inn while filming in the Alabama Hills. The Museum of Eastern California features
displays on the valley's native heritage and mining history; outdoors is a collection
of early farm implements.
The peaks of the White/Inyo Range have elevations of 11,000 feet and over, and with
the even higher Sierra peaks to the west, the views up and down the valley are awesome.
An excellent place to view the Inyo Range and valley scenes is from the Onion Valley
Road. This road runs west for 14 miles with campgrounds along the way and in the
high Onion Valley. A trail through Bishop Pass offers eastern access to the Kings
Canyon area. The trailhead is at the end of the Onion Valley Road and the trail
climbs to the Sierra crest through the John Muir Wilderness.
Highway 395 leads further north, past the California Bighorn Sheep Zoological Area
(on the eastern Sierra) and through the Big Pine Volcanic Field, where cinder cones
and black basaltic flows are seen on both sides of the road.
The highway crosses the lava field at Taboose Creek.
Big Pine, a town of nearly 4,000 people, is close to Sierra glacier country. For
glacier views, take Glacier Lodge Road, west of town. To see the oldest living trees
in America, take Highway 168 to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where there
is an information center and then the road continues to the Schulman and Patriarch
Groves. One of the largest of the pines, "The Patriarch", is more than 1500 years
old and has a circumference of 36'8". The trees are burly, much shorter than sequoias
and have twisted, gnarled limbs and trunks. Bishop, a city of 4,100 people in the
Chalfont Valley, has a good range of motels and visitor services. Highway 395 continues
north, passing the ski and summer resort town of Mammoth Lakes, on the way to Carson
City & Reno.
North of Reno, the route heads back into California, passes west of the Cascade
mountain range and crosses the Oregon border. It ends at the Washington/British
Columbia border.