Telescope Peak, CA (W of Death Valley)

LVMC trip led by Joel B.

Harlan W. Stockman
Saturday, June 4, 2005

Today's phrases were "redact" and "exponential atmosphere".

The previous night was spent at Mahogany Flats Campground. The road from Charcoal Kilns to Mahogany Flats was very rough, possibly made worse by this winter's precipitation and run-off. The road may not be 4WD, but it definitely begs for a high-clearance vehicle.

The round trip hike was ~13-14 miles, with ~3200 feet accumulated elevation gain. We crossed a lot of snow, but didn't need any special equipment. In the summer or late spring, this hike is simply a moderately long class 1 slog; substantial snow probably makes a much harder trek. I was somewhat reminded of the White Mountain hike, as there is high desert vegetation much of the way. But this trail is distinctly prettier, and none drive vehicles to the top! One travels through pinyon, then limber pine, and finally bristlecone forests near the summit. The views are too expansive and grand to be captured in photos. The view of Badwater is all the more impressive when one realizes the Death Valley flats are over 11,000' below.

GPS trace on map. We took varied routes near the top, to get around snow drifts.	Charcoal kilns, Steve and Alda for scale.	Camp, ~6:30 AM. We had a view of Death Valley and Charleston Peak.

First rest stop, view SSW to Telescope Peak.	2^nd rest stop, just S of Rogers Peak. View S to Telescope.	Gretchen leads hoi polloi across the first snow. View NE.

Snow bank on the summit ridge. The group is visible in distance. View N. Death Valley is at right.	Random view SE.	3^rd Rest stop, view ~NNE. The ridge at left is on the S side of Rogers Peak; the lower part of the trail is visible as a faint diagonal line on that ridge.

Looking at Sierras, view NW.	Trudging up the snow bank.	More trudging, view SE.

View N, nearing the "last" false summit.	Steve and view NW to Sierras.

Looking W, Alda shows off her LVMC shirt.	Mike pontificates, view SE. Here's a nice group summit shot from Steve.	Panorama from summit, to N.

Look at me!	I wandered down ~100' below the summit and took this shot S. There is a quartz "vein" to right. Most of the way, the rocks were lightly metamorphosed, vaguely pellitic (shaly), with green epidote on some surfaces.	The group leaves the summit and heads N. Death Valley at right.

I turn around and look back S at the summit. The pointy things on top are people.	View S as group heads back.	Brett fearlessly leads us up the kick-step route. Fiona and Alda look on, duly impressed.

Blue flax.	Pink phlox. (Yellow moons! Green Clovers!)	Heading back on S side of Rogers Peak. Snow-covered Charleston Peak (NV) is visible on skyline at right.*

More of the trail on S side of Rogers.	Monkeyflowers.	Lupine.

Purple lupines on trail, ~0.25 miles from campground. Almost back!

*OK, I dodged this picture slightly, enhancing the contrast on Charleston so it would be visible at this resolution.