page_title: White Mountains (California)
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: White Mountains (California) / Geography
caption_attribution_description: White Mountains. On route from Oakland to Las Vegas. Random shots during winter vacation. Dec 20-29, 2008.
context_page_description: The White Mountains of California and Nevada are a triangular fault-block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately 60 mi as a greatly elevated plateau about 20 mi wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to north. The range's broad southern end is near the community of Big Pine, where Westgard Pass and Deep Springs Valley separate it from the Inyo Mountains. The narrow northern end is at Montgomery Pass, where U.S. Route 6 crosses. The Fish Lake Valley lies east of the range; the southeast part of the mountains are separated from the Silver Peak Range by block faulting across the Furnace Creek Fault Zone, forming a feeder valley to Fish Lake Valley. The range lies within the eastern section of the Inyo National Forest.
context_section_description: The highest point in the range is White Mountain Peak, which at 14,252 ft (4,344 m) is the third-highest summit in California. This peak is actually an extinct volcano rising about 1,600 ft (490 m) above the plateau surface. The summit is composed of Mesozoic metavolcanic rock – lava lifted and melted by rising granite. The volcano itself is long since gone.
  The White Mountains are the highest range completely inside the Great Basin, although the adjacent Sierra Nevada Range along the basin's western edge has two higher summits.
  The entire range is within the Inyo National Forest.
caption: Aerial view of the White Mountains, looking north over the Pellisier Flats to Montgomery and Boundary Peaks at the end of the range.
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