Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 4421m. It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at 282ft below sea level. The west slope of the mountain is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail which runs 211.9mi from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The east slope is in the Inyo National Forest in Inyo County.GeographyThe summit of Mount Whitney is on the Sierra Crest and the Great Basin Divide. It lies near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The peak rises dramatically above the Owens Valley, sitting or just over two miles above the town of Lone Pine 15 miles to the east, in the Owens Valley. It rises more gradually on the west side, lying only about above the John Muir Trail at Guitar Lake.