Aspen Tree Fall Yellow Color off Conway Summit

Conway Summit ( el. 8,143 feet (2,482 m)) is a mountain pass in

Mono County, California Mono County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,195, making it the fourth-least populous county in California. The county seat is Bridgeport. The co ...

. It is traversed by

U.S. Highway 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

, which connects

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

and the

East Walker River The East Walker River is an approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 17, 2011 tributary of the Walker River, in eastern California and western Nevada i ...

on the north side of the pass to

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alka ...

and Lee Vining to the south. It marks the highest point on U.S. 395, which also traverses high passes at

Deadman Summit Deadman Summit is a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California. It crosses the northern rim of the Long Valley Caldera, connecting the northern end of the Owens River watershed with Mono Lake via U.S. Highway 395. The pass, and ...

and

Devil's Gate Pass Devil's Gate Pass is a mountain pass in Mono County, California, traversed by U.S. Route 395. The pass is named for the Devils Gate, a granitic formation located west of the summit of the pass. Location Bridgeport and the East Walker River ...

. Conway Summit is named after John Andrew Conway, a settler in the area in 1880.US 395, Part 8: Mono County (Mono Lake to Bridgeport)
Floodgap Roadgap. Geographically, it was formed from an upland plateau by the sinking of the land in the Mono basin area.. The Sawtooth Ridge of the eastern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, topped by

Matterhorn Peak Matterhorn Peak is located in the Sierra Nevada, in California, at the northern boundary of Yosemite National Park. At elevation, it is the tallest peak in the craggy Alps-like Sawtooth Ridge and the northernmost peak in the Sierra Nevada. Th ...

, rise to the west of the pass; Green Creek and

Virginia Lakes Virginia Lakes refers to a basin of lakes in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California. Virginia Lakes is located a few miles off U.S. Highway 395; the road to the lakes turns off U.S. 395 at Conway Summit, roughly halfway between ...

, in the Sierra Nevada to the west of the pass, are two local destinations for fishing, camping and aspen trees. The

Bodie Hills The Bodie Hills are a low mountain range in Mono County, California, in the United States. The Bodie Hills are between Bridgeport and the Nevada border, where they become the Bodie Mountains in Mineral County, Nevada. The Sierra Nevada lies to the ...

and the infamous Bodie ghost town lie to the east. The Conway Summit

Area of Critical Environmental Concern Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) is a conservation ecology program in the Western United States, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ACEC program was conceived in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act ( ...

(ACEC), managed by the BLM, "offers some of the most accessible and spectacular fall color viewing areas anywhere in California." The backdrop is formed by 12,000 foot peaks of the

Ansel Adams Wilderness The Ansel Adams Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada of California, United States. The wilderness spans ; 33.9% of the territory lies in the Inyo National Forest, 65.8% is in the Sierra National Forest, and the remaining 0.3% cover ...

and

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

References

External links

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Conway Summit
at

Sunset Magazine ''Sunset'' is a lifestyle magazine in the United States. ''Sunset'' focuses on homes, cooking, gardening, and travel, with a focus almost exclusively on the Western United States. The magazine is published six times per year by the Sunset Publish ...

BLM Photo gallery
Mountain passes of California Landforms of Mono County, California