—The Great Outdoors

Owens Valley is synonymous with the Great Outdoors. Inyo County is 10,000 square miles in area (larger than New Jersey) with only 18,ooo residents and 1.7% of its land area in private hands. Because of the overwhelming percentage of public accessible land, one can pretty much go anywhere without fear of trespassing. Of course one will come across cattle gates with signs reading ‘please close gate.

100 year old dirt roads remain navigable due to the area’s relative aridity, so one cannot only legally go anywhere but there are untold miles of mining and ranching roads that lead to every corner of the land.

Owens Valley is the convergence of several physiographic/climate zones:  The Sierra Nevada, The Mojave Desert, and the Basin and Range Province, with influences from the Sonora Desert and weather patterns originating every which way. This adds up to a variety of outdoor spaces from alpine meadows to sub-sea level dry lakes, all possible within a day’s exploring.

Visit this here for more photos of Sierra East.