Tupman, CA

Tupman is a tiny Kern County community sitting about halfway between Bakersfield and Taft, near the eastern edge of the Elk Hills. Home to fewer than 200 people, the settlement was established in the 1920s to house workers drilling the surrounding oil fields. Life here is quiet and distinctly rural, with open desert vistas, pump jacks on the nearby hillsides, and the California Aqueduct flowing past town. It is also right next door to the Tule Elk State Natural Reserve, offering residents a rare front-row view of native elk roaming the Central Valley grasslands.