Buttermilk Country
West of Bishop · near Bishop · Eastern Sierra
Mountain Biking · Stargazing
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- ~11.4 mi loop (a shorter ~2.3 mi Starlite loop option)
- Elevation
- ~5,000-6,500 ft; ~2,000 ft gain
- Best season
- Spring and fall; rideable many winter days; hot in midsummer
- Best season
- Spring–fall for Milky Way; cold clear nights year-round
What is here
- Highlights
- milky-way · astrophoto
- Landscape
- mountain
- Amenities
- Towering Sierra-crest backdrop · Giant granite boulder foregrounds · Free dispersed BLM camping · Bishop services 20 min away
- Best for
- Dark skies below the Sierra's great east wall
- Features
- Wall of 13,000-ft peaks as backdrop · Iconic granite boulders · Free dispersed camping · Dark Bishop-area skies
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Hazards
- Rough dirt roads — high clearance helps; impassable when snowy/wet · Cold nights year-round at altitude · Remote — no services; carry everything · Uneven boulder terrain in the dark — bring red light
- Beginner friendly
- No
Mountain Biking detail
- Nickname
- Bishop's Backyard Loop
- Ride types
- xc · all-mountain
- Signature trails
- The Buttermilk-Tungsten Loop · Mount Tom Views
- Ebike
- Yes
- Ebike note
- Class 1 e-MTB allowed - this is BLM/Forest Service OHV terrain.
- Intl tip
- The Buttermilks are legendary for bouldering - bring a crash pad and make it a ride-and-climb day with Mount Tom overhead.
Stargazing detail
- Designation
- informal
- Reach
- moderate
- Darkness
- 4
- Sky notes
- A boulder-strewn bench of high desert beneath the sheer eastern wall of the Sierra near Bishop — famous with climbers by day, it offers dark skies and a wall of 13,000-ft peaks as a towering Milky Way backdrop by night
- Stats note
- ~Bortle 2; giant granite boulders below the 13,000-ft Sierra crest
- Campground
- Yes
- Intl tip
- A high-desert bench of massive granite boulders beneath the sheer eastern wall of the Sierra just west of Bishop — world-famous with climbers by day, and a superb, less-crowded dark-sky spot by night (~Bortle 2), with a towering backdrop of 13,000-ft peaks as a monumental Milky Way foreground, ~20 min from Bishop's services. Free dispersed camping. Access is rough dirt road (high clearance helps; impassable when wet/snowy); remote with no services; cold nights year-round; uneven boulder terrain (bring a red light).
The guide
Buttermilk Country is Bishop's backyard classic - an eleven-mile rocky loop through the iconic Buttermilk boulders and the Tung…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Buttermilk Country — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.34, -118.49