highest mountain in California and the contiguous United States
Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya) is a mountain in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, and the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). It lies in East–Central California on the boundary between Inyo and Tulare counties, and 84.6 miles (136.2 km) west-northwest of North America's lowest topographic point, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, at 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. The mountain's west slope is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail, which runs 211.9 mi (341.0 km) from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The eastern slopes are in Inyo National Forest in Inyo County. Mount Whitney is ranked 18th by topographic isolation and 81st by prominence on Earth.
