US-395 in California: Lone Pine to Bishop | Driving Through the Owens Valley

[@grizzfan08]

At 3:29, you drive past Manzanar, which was one of the largest, and most recognized, of the Japanese-American internment camps during WW2, with no mention of it. There are several buildings still maintained by the NPS, and it is definitely a place to visit and explore, as I did in 2012 the last time I traveled the 395.

[@briane173]

Fun fact: The Owens Valley floor is filled with sediment that has eroded off both the Sierra Nevada _and_ the White/Inyo Mountains. You would have to dig down another 11,000 ft (2 miles!) to find the basement rock inside this valley. So in actuality the Sierra Escarpment is fully FOUR MILES high from basement to crest.

[@briane173]

9:40 These hills you're driving over are actually a collection of cinder cones, formed of basaltic scoria that found its way up the normal fault that forms the Sierra Escarpment, which is a conduit for a lot of the volcanism in the Owens Valley. The area is still considered active volcanically, but these cinder cones will likely never re-erupt again.

[@stanpa4182]

Thank you for taking us on this journey. The music, as always, is very fitting.

[@mattwiser8406]

Enjoyed this one! I like your older series on 395 that you did some time ago, and good to see you're doing it again. One historical note: at 3:20 or so is the turnoff to Manzanar: the "War Relocation Center" (read: Internment Camp) for Japanese-Americans in WW II. I did Census work in Mammoth, June Lake, and Bridgeport in 2020 (stayed in Bishop) and visited Manzanar on the way back to the Fresno Area. It's worth the time to take a look at a disgraceful moment in U.S. History. A couple of other notes: there was talk in the late '50s and early '60s of reviving the 168 over Paiute Pass between Huntington Lake and Lake Sabrina: the John Muir Wilderness (1964) put paid to that idea along with a plan for a Devils Postpile-Bass Lake road in Madera Co. (Ansel Adams Wilderness).My maternal great-granddad, who owned the Dinkey Creek Pack Station for many years, got our U.S. Congressman at the time to include the area in the Wilderness Act when it was passed in 1964... The other note: the best gas prices in Bishop are usually at the Vons at 395 and 6, or at the Indian Casino on the way north out of Bishop once past the U.S. 6 junction. When I was there in '20, I got gas at the Vons, but some of my Census coworkers went to the Casino for gas.

[@flarrfan]

No mention of passing Manzanar? It may be sad history but it's important and seems to be becoming even more relevant...

[@Celebok]

Glad somebody pointed this out!

[@rosmarin2438]

The run up to Mammoth is beautiful

[@InterstateKyle]

Next video!

[@briane173]

My favorite area of CA in all truthfulness -- from Coso Junction all the way up to Mammoth Lakes. When I was a teenager we'd drive up Owens Valley every weekend for skiing, and the more we did it the shorter the route became. Owens Valley is the deepest valley in North America, thanks to how the Sierra Escarpment and Whtie/Inyo Mountains came to be. Driving through there and up/over the Long Valley Caldera rim, you're suddenly in Alpine country, and that's my fave environment of all -- that crisp dry air and the conifers and the aspens, and whether there's Snow in winter or colors changing in fall, the Mammoth Lakes Sierra is breathtaking.

[@estelleadamski308]

I really enjoyed this. We traveled on the northern part of US-395 and it was beautiful.

[@InterstateKyle]

Thank you!

[@dwood78part23]

I love your series on US 395 in CA years back. Glad to see you're doing over this.

[@nomaderic]

Driving in the mountains is great but theres something about driving right next to them towering above you that is special.

[@InterstateKyle]

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

[@briane173]

Certainly a mountain range as topographically stark and imposing as the central Sierra Nevada. As pretty as the landscapes are on the west side of the range as you rise slowly out of the Great Valley, the _eastern_ escarpment is nothing short of majestic. If that 2.5 mile high crest doesn't humble you, you're dead. Fall down.

[@loragunning5394]

Many years ago I drove I-90 east all the way from milepost 1 in Seattle to almost it's terminus in the east. In eastern Minnesota, approaching the Mississippi River crossing, the highway divides to traverse a deep cleft canyon, with eastbound lanes hugging sheer cliffs on the south side of the canyon and westbound lanes on the northern side. The grades descending the canyon are pretty steep and when you exit the canyon at the river, the highway makes a 90 degree turn south and runs along the base of towering near vertical cliffs on the right and the river of the left. The land across the river to the east is fairly flat/low rolling hills, so the contrast between the towering cliffs on one side and the flat land to the other is very remarkable. And while I, as a long term west coast resident, was very familiar with the geological formation of most of the land forms west of The Rockies, I know little about The Great Plains, so finding this very dramatic landscape along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border was a very big surprise to me.

[@briane173]

@@loragunning5394 Wow I had no idea! I'll have to check out the geology behind that. My first thought is it's gotta be glacial, just owing to its location; but I may discover it's something even more fascinating than that.

[@DrVblschrf]

That run up to, then drive through the shadow beaming down from that massive cloud in the sky was pretty cool!

[@InterstateKyle]

It looked way better on camera than it did in person for some reason. I guess cameras capture shadows better.

[@tmlashomb]

The first time I ever saw snow in July was the time I drove that section of 395 in, like, 2000.

[@markbeavers5747]

I've made this drive so many times and it's my very favorite!!!

[@garyleibitzke4166]

Charles Manson was held in the Courthouse/Jail in Independence before he was extradited back to Los Angeles to stand trial for the Tate murders.

[@NickCC23]

Bishop, CA is farther north than San Jose,CA!

[@garyleibitzke4166]

If I had to live in the Owens Valley it would be in Bishop.

[@dustino.2297]

Was California state route 180 ever planned to connect to highway 395 and if so why doesn’t it cross over connecting California state route 99 and highway 395 as originally planned?