These two California towns sit just 20 miles apart across the Sierra Nevada but reaching one from the other requires a 350 mile drive

Kanawyers and Independence in California lie about 20 miles apart in straight-line distance across the Sierra Nevada. The mountains between them rise above 13,000 feet, including peaks such as Mount Williamson and Mount Tyndall. This section of the range has no roads crossing it. To drive between the two communities, vehicles must travel south through the Central Valley, then around the southern end of the Sierra Nevada near Bakersfield and the Mojave Desert, before heading north along U.S. Route 395. As a result, a distance of about 20 miles becomes a road journey of roughly 350 miles and more than six hours.