2015 Map of Sourdough Spring

About this map

Sourdough Spring sits within a high-elevation pocket of the Panamint Range, a critical water source in an otherwise arid stretch of the northern Mojave Desert. This 2015 survey captures the intersection of desert basins and steep mountain topography, centered on the boundary between Inyo and San Bernardino counties. The majority of the landscape is protected within Death Valley National Park, where the terrain drops sharply from the heights of the Panamints toward the low-lying Panamint Valley to the west and the small drainage of Long Valley in the southeast. The map's detailed contouring reveals the complex network of alluvial fans and steep canyons that define this part of the Mojave, illustrating the natural barriers that historically dictated travel and settlement in the California desert.