East of the Sierra Nevada we drove the long way from Mono Lake Tufa State Preserve to Lone Pine where we changed directions towards Death Valley. On the way we stayed one night on a campground in Bishop after an intensive day consisting of the drive out of Yosemite National Park over Tioga Pass and the visits of Bodie State Historic Park and Mono Lake Tufa State Preserve. This gave us the chance to reach Death Valley early in the morning and to enjoy its sights on the way to the visitor center and all the campgrounds on that same day.

There are some more smaller state parks east of Sierra Nevada around Mammoth Lakes that we did not visit but that would probably be very interesting and so be worth a visit.