The John Muir Wilderness is a wilderness area that extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for 90 miles (140 km), in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist John Muir, it encompasses 652,793 acres (2,641.76 km2). The wilderness lies along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra from near Mammoth Lakes and Devils Postpile National Monument in the north, to Cottonwood Pass near Mount Whitney in the south. The wilderness area also spans the Sierra crest north of Kings Canyon National Park, and extends on the west side of the park down to the Monarch Wilderness.
Long Lake in Little Lakes Valley, John Muir Wilderness
The Palisade Crest, a major rock-climbing area
Mount Williamson and Mount Tyndall in the John Muir Wilderness from near Independence Airport
Sabrina Basin in the John Muir Wilderness. Winter conditions linger until June in many years.
Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States; Boundary Peak, the highest point in Nevada; and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, which protects the oldest living trees in the world. The forest, encompassing much of the Owens Valley, was established by Theodore Roosevelt as a way of sectioning off land to accommodate the Los Angeles Aqueduct project in 1907, making the Inyo National Forest one of the least wooded forests in the U.S. National Forest system.
Hikers can access Mount Whitney, highest point in the contiguous United States, through the Inyo National Forest
Mount Ritter and Banner Peak along the John Muir Trail
The Schulman grove of Bristlecone pines
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest at 11,000 ft (3,400 m) elevation