Inyo County Visitors Guide - 11th Edition

Inyo County is home to the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mt. Whitney and the lowest spot in the western hemisphere, Badwater. Methuselah, an ancient bristlecone pine is the oldest living thing on Earth. It can be found in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Inyo County near Big Pine. The largest escarpment in the U.S. rises from the floor of Death Valley to the top of Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range. Death Valley National Park, in Inyo County, is the largest national park in the lower 48 at 3.3 million acres. The Owens Valley is the deepest valley in North or South America. Peaks in both the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains exceed 14,000 ft in elevation. All but one of California’s 15 “fourteeners” (peaks that exceed 14,000 feet in elevation) are found here. Buttermilk Country, an area of lush meadows and boulders near Mount Tom and Basin Mountain, west of Bishop, got its name when stagecoaches would make a rest stop near its dairies and passengers would enjoy a cool drink of buttermilk. Inyo County is the second-largest county in California. Inyo County has the lowest census-designated area in the U.S., Furnace Creek which is 179 feet below sea level. Bishop is the largest town in the Eastern Sierra, pop. 3,575. The lowest golf course in the nation is located in Inyo County. The Furnace Creek Golf Course is 214 ft below sea level. The first hospital district organized under the provisions of the Local Hospital District Law in California was Inyo County’s Northern Inyo County Local Hospital District, organized in January, 1946. The largest bristlecone pine measures 36 feet in circumference. A castle built based on lies between friends is located in Death Valley. Inyo County has 50 ghost towns. Seventeen structures in Inyo County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fifteen California Historic Landmarks are located in Inyo County. Inyo means “Dwelling place of the Great Spirit” in Paiute. It really did take twenty mules to pull a Death Valley borax wagon. Five Indian reservations were established in Inyo County the 1930’s. The Bishop Paiute Reservation, the Big Pine Paiute Reservation, the Lone Pine Paiute/Shoshone Reservation, the Timbisha-Shoshone Reservation in Death Valley and at Fort Independence, outside of Independence. Big Pine was named for a large tree, which fell down years ago. Lone Pine was also named for a big tree. It’s gone, too. Over 400 Hollywood films were made near Lone Pine in the dramatic Alabama Hills. Death Valley got its name after a child, in an ill-fated party of settlers, died. The settlers escaped a grim fate and as they left the valley, one turned and said, “Good bye, Death Valley,” so naming it. Tule elk, which nearly became extinct in the 1930s, thrive in Inyo County. A heard of 500 tule elk live in the Owens Valley. The first European to enter Inyo County is believed to have been Antonio Armijo who in the spring of 1830 tread the “Old Spanish Trail” between Santa Fe, NM and Spanish settlements in California. About as many cattle and sheep live in Inyo County as do people. Legendary frontiersmen, John C. Frémont and Kit Carson passed through Inyo County on the Old Spanish Trail. Death Valley prospector and businessman, Dad Fairbanks, founded Shoshone and is credited with having rescued 50 people from Death Valley. About 20,000 people hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney each year. It takes most people two days to reach the summit. 16 INYO COUNTY • 11th Edition Fast Fun Facts about Inyo County 760-876-5555 633 S. Main Street Lone Pine, CA WALKING DISTANCE TO RESTAURANTS • POOL • WIFI • LAUNDRY