Welcome to the Eastern Sierra and the Owens Valley

The Promised Land
The Bardini Foundation resides in Bishop, California – 260 miles north of Los Angeles and 200 miles south of Reno, Nevada on U.S. Highway 395. We live in the Owens Valley, the “Deepest Valley”, lying at an elevation of 4200 feet – surrounded by 14,000 foot peaks – 10,000 feet below the the Sierra Nevada crest on the west and 10,000 feet below the crest of the White Mountains on the east.

Allan Bard described the Owens Valley as the “Promised Land”. An old high school chum of his once asked him, “If money was no object and you could live anywhere in the world you wanted, where would you live?” He answered promptly, “I already live there! What more could a man like me want? In summer the climbing on firm Sierra granite is the best there is in the world. The lakes, streams, peaks, and meadows blanketed in wildflowers are breathtaking. Few mountains, if any, compare. This is John Muir country. In winter and spring a deep Sierra snowpack turns this summer playground into an even larger and more incredible playing field.”