Come visit the wild side --the east side of the Sierra Nevada. You can drive to this destination from the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay area within a half day! Dutch Pete's is a stand-alone off-grid home, powered by solar panels and a back-up generator in the Adobe Valley. The compound sits at the edge of the meadow, close to the site where the stage coaches stopped to rest in the late 1800s. Nevada's highest peaks, Boundary and Montgomery, hovering around 13,000 feet, a good 8,000 plus feet above the great alluvial fans above the Benton valley, are uniquely framed by the Benton Crags. Dutch Pete's is a wonderful, rural jumping off place, from which to explore the Eastern Sierra. It is conveniently located about 45 minutes from Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, and Lee Vining at Mono Lake. At the north end of the Adobe Valley, wild horses roam. Our guests are able to roam the 160 acres on foot. Cows can be found grazing during the non-winter months. to reveal salt deposits. Black Lake's alkaline waters nurture microbial life including bright purple bacteria. There are larval treats for migrating birds. It has a border of lush salt grass; this aquatic pasture is visited by a herd of wild mustangs. In spring and summer range cattle, birds and birdwatchers are in harmony with the tranquility. This 500+ acre parcel was recently donated to the Eastern Sierra Land Trust for conservation purposes.
Visitors will find serenity in this high desert oasis. The nearest towns are Mammoth Lakes, 40-50 minutes to the southwest, Bishop 40 minutes south, June Lake and Lee Vining, each about 60 minutes drive to the northwest, Tioga Pass of Yosemite National Park just 20 minutes beyond. Death Valley and Las Vegas are four to six hours away, respectively. The Mammoth Lakes Airport is about ten minutes closer than Mammoth Lakes. The ghost town of Benton Hot Springs, really a historic and active settlement of 13 persons and its sister-ville Benton, population 400, are 5 and 10 minutes South. Lunch, dinner, drinks, basic groceries, gasoline and pay phone can be purchased at Benton Station, in Benton, six miles to the south.
We celebrate the proximity to our neighbor, a rustic gem, the Inn at Benton Hot Springs, and if travelling as a larger group, we recommend renting rooms there as well, as their rooms (or tub sites) come with a natural hot spring tub. As a renter of Dutch Pete's Ranch, under management of the Inn at Benton Hot Springs, you will have a designated hot tub available to you during your stay.
Summer can bring dry, hot sunny days with occassional afternoon thunderstorms, with evening temperature falling in to the 50s. Sunrises and alpenglows are spectacularly colorful.
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