Inyo County ( ) is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada and southeast of Yosemite National Park in Central California. It contains the Owens River Valley; it is flanked to the west by the Sierra Nevada and to the east by the White Mountains and the Inyo Mountains. With an area of 10,192 square miles (26,400 km2), Inyo is the second-largest county by area in California, after San Bernardino County. Almost half of that area is within Death Valley National Park. However, with a population density of 1.8 people per square mile, it also has the second-lowest population density in California, after Alpine County.
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.
The Harmony Borax Works is located in Death Valley at Furnace Creek Springs, then called Greenland. It is now located within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley and most of Saline Valley.
Devils Hole is a geologic formation located in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park and surrounded by the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada, in the Southwestern United States.
Leadfield was an unincorporated community, and historic mining town in Inyo County, California. It is now a ghost town. It is located in Titus Canyon in the Grapevine Mountains, east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park. Leadfield lies at an elevation of 4,058 ft (1,237 m). It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Telescope Peak (Timbisha: Chiombe) is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the U.S. state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount Whitney, and east to Charleston Peak. The mountain was named for the great distance visible from the summit.
Furnace Creek (formerly Greenland Ranch) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 136 at the 2020 census, up from 24 at the 2010 census. The elevation of the village is 190 feet (58 m) below sea level. The visitor center, museum, and headquarters of Death Valley National Park are located at Furnace Creek.
Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace at 1,669 m (5,476 ft) height, on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death Valley. Dante's View is about 25 km (16 mi) south of Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park.
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. A small part of the southern end of the range is in San Bernardino County. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his search for the fabled Gunsight Lode.
Sailing stones (also called sliding rocks, walking rocks, rolling stones, and moving rocks) are part of the geological phenomenon in which rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without animal intervention. The movement of the rocks occurs when large, thin sheets of ice floating on an ephemeral winter pond move and break up due to wind. Trails of sliding rocks have been observed and studied in various locations, including Little Bonnie Claire Playa, in Nevada, and most famously at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California, where the number and length of tracks are notable.
Stovepipe Wells is a way-station in the northern part of Death Valley, in unincorporated Inyo County, California.
The Black Mountains are a mountain range located in the southern part of Inyo County and northern San Bernardino County, California, in the southeast part of Death Valley National Park.
Scotty's Castle (also known as Death Valley Ranch) is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley in Death Valley National Park, California, US. Scotty's Castle is named for gold prospector Walter E. Scott, although Scott never owned it, nor is it an actual castle.
Furnace Creek Airport (IATA: DTH, FAA LID: L06) is a public airport located 0.75 miles (1.21 km) west of Furnace Creek, Death Valley, serving Inyo County, California, USA. This general aviation airport covers 40 acres (16 ha) and has one runway. At −210 feet (−64 m) under MSL, it is the lowest elevation airport in North America, and second lowest in the world.
Panamint City is a ghost town in the Panamint Range, near Death Valley, in Inyo County, California, US. It is also known by the official Board of Geographic Names as Panamint. Panamint was a boom town founded after silver and copper were found there in 1872. By 1874, the town had a population of about 2,000. Its main street was one mile (1.6 km) long. Panamint had its own newspaper, the Panamint News. Silver was the principal product mined in the area. The town is located about three miles northwest of Sentinel Peak. According to the National Geographic Names Database, NAD27 latitude and longitude for the locale are 36°07′06″N 117°05′43″W, and the feature ID number is 1661185. The elevation of this location is identified as being 6,280 feet AMSL. The similar-sounding Panamint Springs, California, is located about 25.8 miles at 306.4 degrees off true north near Panamint Junction.
Ashford Mill is a former mill in Inyo County, California. It was located in Death Valley, at an elevation of 121 feet (37 m) below sea level. The place is now protected ruins within Death Valley National Park.
Schwaub (also, Schwab) is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located in the Funeral Mountains of Death Valley 12 miles (19 km) north of Ryan.
Barker Ranch is located inside Death Valley National Park in eastern California. Used as a mining and recreational property from the 1940s to the 1960s, it is infamous due to its association with Charles Manson and his "family". It was the family's de facto headquarters.
Chloride City is a ghost town in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located 8.5 miles (14 km) north-northeast of Beatty Junction, at an elevation of 4,770 ft (1,450 m). The former settlement is in Death Valley National Park.
Darwin Falls is a waterfall located on the western edge of Death Valley National Park near the settlement of Panamint Springs, California. Although there exists a similarly named Darwin Falls Wilderness adjacent to the falls, the falls themselves are located in and administered by Death Valley National Park and the National Park Service. There are several falls, but they are mainly divided into the upper and lower, with a small grotto in between. At a combined 80 feet (24 m), it is the highest waterfall in the park. The canyon is walled by dramatic plutonic rock.
The Funeral Mountains is a short, arid mountain range in the United States along the California-Nevada border approximately 100 mi (160 km) west of Las Vegas. The mountains are considered a subrange of the Amargosa Range that form the eastern wall of Death Valley.
Greenwater (formerly, Ramsey, The Camp, and Kunze) was an unincorporated community near Death Valley located in the eastern side of the Inyo County, California. It is now a deserted ghost town.
The Greenwater Range is a mountain range located in the eastern Mojave Desert in Inyo County, California. They are located west of the section of California State Route 127 north of Shoshone, California.
Harrisburg (formerly, Harrisberry) is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 4987 feet (1520 m).
The Keane Wonder Mine and mill is an abandoned mining facility located within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California. It is located in the Funeral Mountains east of Death Valley and Furnace Creek, California
Saline Valley is a large, deep, and arid graben, about 27 miles (43 km) in length, in the northern Mojave Desert of California, a narrow, northwest–southeast-trending tectonic sink defined by fault-block mountains. Most of it became a part of Death Valley National Park when the park was expanded in 1994. This area had previously been administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It is located northwest of Death Valley proper, south of Eureka Valley, and east of the Owens Valley. The valley's lowest elevations are about 1,000 ft (300 m) and it lies in the rain shadow of the 14,000 ft (4,300 m) Sierra Nevada range, plus the 11,000 ft (3,400 m) Inyo Mountains bordering the valley on the west.
Skidoo (formerly, Hoveck) was an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. The geographical location of the old town site lies at an elevation of 5,689 feet (1734 m). Skidoo is a ghost town located in Death Valley National Park. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Smith Mountain, 5,915 feet (1,803 m), is a peak in the Black Mountains of the Amargosa Range in Death Valley National Park in California.
Stovepipe Wells Airport (FAA LID: L09) is a public airport located one mile (1.6 km) west of Death Valley National Park, serving Inyo County, California, United States. The airport covers 10 acres (4.05 ha) and has one runway.
Teakettle Junction is a road junction in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 4,150 feet (1,260 m) in Death Valley near the Racetrack Playa and Ubehebe Crater.
The Grandstand is a natural rock monolith located near the northerly end of Racetrack Playa, north of Death Valley in the Cottonwood Mountains of Death Valley National Park, in Inyo County, California.
Titus Canyon is a deep, narrow gorge cut into the steep face of the Grapevine Mountains of the Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada. The canyon features limestone rock formations, petroglyphs, and native plants and wildlife.
Ubehebe Crater ( yoo-bee-HEE-bee) is a large volcanic crater of the Ubehebe Craters volcanic field in the northern half of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, California, United States.
The Ubehebe Craters are a volcanic field in the northern Death Valley of California, consisting of 14–16 craters in a 3-square-kilometre (1.2 sq mi) area. The largest of the craters is the 800 metres (2,600 ft) wide and 235 metres (771 ft) deep Ubehebe Crater. Many of the craters, though, are partially buried and thus hardly recognizable. Other volcanic features there include a remnant of a scoria cone and a tuff cone.
The Grapevine Mountains is a mountain range located along the border of Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada in the United States. The mountain range is about 22 miles (35 km) long and lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the Nevada-California state line. The range reaches an elevation of 8,738 feet (2,663 m) at Grapevine Peak, near Phinney Canyon on the Nevada side. Daylight Pass is at the southern end of the range. Most of the Grapevine Mountain chain is in Death Valley National Park.
Indian Village is an unincorporated community in Furnace Creek, Death Valley of Inyo County, California.
Grapevine Peak is the highest mountain in the Grapevine Mountains of Nye County in Nevada, United States. It is the fourth-most topographically prominent peak in Nye County and ranks seventeenth among the most topographically prominent peaks in Nevada. The peak is located within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park.
Saline Valley Warm Springs Airfield, commonly known as the Chicken Strip, is a non-towered dirt airstrip not depicted on an FAA sectional chart. The airstrip provides general aviation fly-in access to the Saline Valley hot springs in Death Valley National Park. The closest airport to the airstrip is Lone Pine Airport, 20 miles (17 nmi; 32 km) to the southwest, and the closest airport with regular airline service is Fresno Yosemite International Airport, 107 miles (93 nmi; 172 km) to the west.
Rainbow Canyon (nicknamed Star Wars Canyon and Jedi Transition) is a canyon inside Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California, on the park's western border. It is about 130 miles (210 km) west of Las Vegas and 160 miles (260 km) north of Los Angeles.
Corkscrew Peak is a peak in the Grapevine Mountains in Death Valley National Park. It is named for its shape, which loosely looks like a corkscrew.
Tin Mountain is an 8,953-foot (2,729 m) summit in the Panamint Range in northern Death Valley National Park, California, located north of Teakettle Junction.
Sentinel Peak is a 9,634-foot-elevation (2,936-meter) summit in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located near Panamint City, California. Sentinel Peak is the sixth-highest mountain of the Panamint Range, and it is set within Death Valley National Park and the Mojave Desert. Precipitation runoff from this mountain's east slope drains to Death Valley via Johnson Canyon, whereas the west slope drains to Panamint Valley via Happy and Surprise canyons.
White Top Mountain is a 7,607-foot-elevation (2,319-meter) summit in Inyo County, California, United States.
Rogers Peak is a 9,991-foot-elevation (3,045-meter) summit in Inyo County, California, United States.
Ubehebe Peak is a double summit mountain located within Death Valley National Park, in Inyo County, California. Ubehebe Peak rises over the west side of the Racetrack Playa, and lies at the south end of the Last Chance Range.
Wildrose Peak is a 9,064-foot-elevation (2,763-meter) summit in Inyo County, California, United States.