Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia)[5] is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States.

[4] It is on the western side of the Indian Wells Valley, with the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada rising to the west.

State Route 178, the main east–west artery, connects Inyokern to Bakersfield, the county seat, via Lake Isabella in the west, and to Death Valley via Ridgecrest in the east.

The climate is characterized by hot days and cool nights with extremely arid conditions prevailing throughout the summer months.

Inyokern was founded in the mid-19th century as an agrarian community located in the northernmost corner of the Mojave Desert.

In the 1930s, half a dozen irrigated farms were scattered around Indian Wells Valley, growing mostly alfalfa and livestock.

With the onset of World War II, the US Navy located its new Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Inyokern.

to the east 12 miles (19 km) and the city of Ridgecrest was established as a commercial support center for that base.

Inyokern also had a now-closed Kern County Sheriff's Office substation and a Caltrans road maintenance center and a motorcycle shop and blanket store.

The population of the town peaked circa 1988 following a period of expansion on the naval base, but has dwindled since then, and many properties were abandoned during the military downsizing of the 1990s.

Until the 1990s, the main commercial block of the town along highway 178 was a somewhat picturesque street of older buildings constructed of local rock and bricks, including a vintage post office, cafe, three bars, and a small Chinese restaurant.

Characterized by extreme aridity, Inyokern is situated in a wide valley at the base of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Rugged mountains more than 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in elevation west of the area create a pronounced rain-shadow effect, resulting in a shrub-steppe habitat zone with annual rainfall of less than 3 inches (76 mm).

The flora of the valley floor consists primarily of Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata), Burrobush (Ambrosia dumosa), and several varieties of native bunch grasses.

The transition zone of the nearby foothills also contain mixtures of pinyon pine, Joshua tree forests, and concentrated riparian habitat surrounding the small streams descending from the mountain peaks.

Indigenous animals that found in the valley floor are kit foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and roadrunners.

[citation needed] As of 2008, Inyokern had the highest insolation of any locale on the North American continent, having over 355 days of sunshine each year.

[11] The Inyokern Airport has been a popular location for car commercials, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains as a backdrop.