The 395 is the quiet, rugged rival to the 1, a highway that hugs the granite spine of the Eastern Sierra and earns its place as one of California's great drives. We make it a point to make the trip at least once a year for the stillness it affords - it's a completely different cadence than the rest of the state, a slice of interior Americana and vast solitude found just a few hours outside of LA.
Branching off the main artery, the roads leading to Death Valley offer a rare sense of space -- stretches where you might not see another car for 10 minutes at a time. Here, the landscape opens up into a silent expanse that feels worlds away from the coast.
Catching the tail end of the superbloom - desert gold still scattered across the valley floor.
Lower gears and the long, rolling descent into the basin.
The Devil's Golf Course - a jagged field of salt crystals that have baked in the sun for millennia.
A soft, wind swept relief from the desert's sharper edges at the Mesquite Flat Dunes.
Mino taking in the scale of the Ubehebe Crater. Those tiny flecks at the bottom of the photo below are hikers.
A roadside encounter with the burros - descendants of 19th century pack animals abandoned by miners but perfectly at home in the desert.
Mino looking out over Rainbow Canyon - a legendary low-altitude training ground where fighter jets bank through the gorge at eye-level to the rim.
Back on the 395 through Lone Pine, the town that built the cinematic West. A Hollywood staple since the 1920's, Lone Pine and the nearby Alabama Hills have hosted icons like John Wayne and Gene Autry across hundreds of classic productions.
A very important coordinate on the map is Jake's Saloon, a local run tavern that serves as the definitive watering hole of the Owens Valley. It's dog-friendly too, so you can settle in with a cold one while your pup works the room for pets from the regulars.
Only on the 395 can you be on cruise-control and watch a pair of fighter jets buzz you from only a few hundred feet overhead, or catch them dog fighting in the distance. Here we spotted a jet topping off from a Statotanker high above the valley. That's the other allure of this road - where a meditative drive can suddenly erupt into an unscripted air show.
Further north in Big Pine, Copper Top is the final essential check-point before you hit Mammoth territory.
Mino's personality changes at 7,000 ft
Clearly in his element
Heading southbound, the highway gives us a parting gift. California goldfields blanket the roadside like a yellow brick road back to LA.