Lee Vining, California
31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Mammoth Lakes census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93541. It lies in Lee Vining Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Lee Vining quadrangle. 217 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,781 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 93 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresLee Vining fell from 222 to 217 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 222 | |
| 2020 | 217 | -5 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 31 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1901 USGS Mt. Lyell quadrangle1:125000, 12 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Mono Craters quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1976 USGS Yosemite Valley quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Lee Vining quadrangle1:24000
- 1992 USGS Lee Vining quadrangle1:24000
- 1994 USGS Lee Vining quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
68 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 68 fires within 5 miles of Lee Vining between 1992 and 2019, burning about 2,146 acres in total. 36 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 36 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | LEE VINING |
| 19 September 1992 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | not named |
| 18 September 1992 | Natural | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | not named |
| 9 August 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | PLUMB BOB |
| 9 August 2001 | Natural | 2.5 acres | Central California District | HORSE |
| 7 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | SKUNK |
| 7 August 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | MT.DANA |
| 6 August 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Inyo National Forest | TIOGA - INF 812 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Lee Vining: 7 prospects, 6 past producers, 3 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zinc, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinder Pit | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Indian & Big Horse Groups | Tungsten | Unknown | ||
| Log Cabin and Sunrise Group | Gold, Silver, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Hematite | |
| Old Glory Prospect | Lead, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Santiago | Copper | Prospect | ||
| Unknown | Gemstone | Occurrence | Wollastonite | |
| 9991 Prospect | Gold, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Black Point Cinder Mine | Pumice | Past Producer | ||
| Bushotti Claims | Zinc | Occurrence | ||
| Centipede | Gold, Silver | Prospect |
Storms near this place
5 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lee Vining in 5 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 3 heavy rain, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Flood | Lee Vining | $5,000 | The Lower Lee Vining, Moraine, Aspen, and Big Bend campgrounds are partially or completely closed due to snowmelt flooding from Lee Vining Creek. Monetary damages due to loss of income from the closed campsites and one culvert was washed out leading to higher water in campgrounds. |
| July 2002 | Flash Flood | Lee Vining | $1,000 | no account filed |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Lee Vining | - | A Cocorahs station (CA-MN-5 Mammoth Lakes) located 1.0 mi SW of Toms Place, CA, and CocoRAHS station (CA-MN-6 Mono City) located 5.0 mi NNW of Lee Vining, CA, reported total rainfall amounts of 0.80 inches and 0.72 inches respectively. |
| November 2024 | Heavy Rain | Lee Vining | - | A CoCoRAHS station (CA-MN-6 Mono City) located 5.0 mi NNW of Lee Vining, CA, reported a total rainfall amount of 0.97 inches. |
| March 2023 | Heavy Rain | Lee Vining | - | A COCORAHS, CA-MN-6, located 5.0 mi NNW of Lee Vining, CA reported 24-hour rainfall totals of 1.99 inches. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mono Lake | 3.9 miles | 24 | |
| Mono City | 5.9 miles | 24 | |
| Bennettville (historical) | 7.5 miles | 32 | |
| Lundy | 8.0 miles | 24 | |
| Virginia Lakes | 9.5 miles | 25 | |
| Mono Mills | 9.9 miles | 23 | |
| June Lake Junction | 10.6 miles | 31 | |
| Dunderberg Mill | 12.2 miles | 25 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Lee Vining | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1062203 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 262401. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.









