30 1 Day Treks to Explore in Inyo County

Checkout places to visit in Inyo County

Inyo County

Almost one-half of Inyo Country is within Death Valley National Park. With a population density of 1.8 people per square mile, it also has the second-lowest population density in California, after Alpine County.

Activities Around

1 Day Treks to Explore in Inyo County

Piute Pass trail

Piute Pass is a 11,417 feet mountain pass along the crest of the Sierra Nevada, between Inyo and Fresno Counties in the John Muir Wilderness area. The trail is generally low angle and easy to travel on. It passes by a number of lakes and meadows making it a desirable destination for anglers, pack horses and hikers. For those going deeper into the wilderness, this trail provides an easy access into the back country.

Racetrack Playa

The Racetrack is a place of stunning beauty and mystery. The Racetrack is a playa--a dry lakebed--best known for its strange moving rocks. It was nestled in a remote valley between the Cottonwood and Last Chance Ranges. Racetrack is dry for almost the entire year and has no vegetation. When dry, its surface is covered with small but firm hexagonal mud crack polygons. It is a unique attraction of Death Valley National Park that not many park visitors get to see.

Salt Creek Interpretive Trail

This short hike along Salt Creek takes hikers through one of the more unique areas of Death Valley National Park. With the surprising presence of water in the midst of the salt flats, this area looks positively lush compared to the rest of the basin.This is a very popular area for hiking, walking, and other nature trips, so you'll likely encounter other people while exploring.

Sidewinder Canyon

Sidewinder Canyon is located at the base of the Black Mountains on the east side of Death Valley National Park south of Badwater Basin. The canyon is fairly wide with a gravel bottom and forty-foot stone walls on both side. The trailhead is unmarked and the trail only has occasional cairns along the way for guidance, creating a remote trek in a Death Valley canyon. The mouth of the canyon is difficult to spot from the trailhead. Begin hiking south toward the gravel fan exiting the canyon.

Split Mountain

Split Mountain is a fourteener in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California, near the southeast end of the Palisades group of peaks. It is the only fourteener in the watershed of the South Fork Kings River, and rises to 14,064 ft , making it the eighth-highest peak in the state.Split Mountain is one of the easier California fourteeners to climb.

Telescope Peak

Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park. 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. It is also notable for having one of the greatest vertical rises above local terrain of any mountain in the contiguous United States. Hiking Telescope Peak by the normal route involves a 14 miles round trip hike.

Temple Crag

Temple Crag is a mountain peak in the Palisades group of peaks of the Sierra Nevada with an elevation of 12,982 feet. The peak's north face forms the backdrop for part of the North Fork Big Pine Creek hiking trail in the John Muir Wilderness and Inyo National Forest. It is also a rock climbing destination, with its arêtes hosting the routes Venusian Blind, Moon Goddess Arete, Sun Ribbon Arete, and Dark Star.

Thunderbolt Peak

Thunderbolt Peak is a peak in the Palisades group of peaks in the Sierra Nevada in the U.S. state of California. It rises to 14,009 feet and could be considered the thirteenth-highest peak in the state, but since the peak has less than 300 feet of prominence it is usually considered a subsidiary peak of North Palis.

Whitney Portal Road

Whitney Portal Road is a short but spectacular drive that takes you about halfway up Mount Whitney, located in Inyo County, in the eastern central part of California, in USA. It's the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 4.421m above the sea levelIt is also the trailhead for mountaineering routes such as the East Face, first climbed in 1931, and the Mountaineer's Route, first climbed by John Muir in 1873.

Wildrose Peak

Wildrose Peak is located in the Panamint Range which serves as the western border to Death Valley National Park. Wildrose Peak is an excellent peak to climb in the summer when the heat of the valley is extreme.The 9,064-foot peak is about seven miles north of Telescope Peak, the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet. Wildrose sports an expansive view of the Panamint Mountains, Badwater Basin, and the surrounding desert landscape.

Map of 1 Day Treks to explore in Inyo County