September 2001
There is a standard hiking trail in Death Valley National Park beginning at Mahogany Flat Campground. This trail extends from the 8000-foot campground to the summit of Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet. The round trip distance is 13+ miles. That 3000-foot climb makes for a good workout for a group of sane hikers. Our group was different.

We decided to hike up Telescope Peak the hard way, from the desert floor, from Shorty's Well. This is a point 250 feet BELOW sea level, not far from the very lowest point at Badwater. A four-wheel-drive road led us nine miles in to a fresh water spring. Then we bushwhacked, through the sagebrush and cactus, over the slate rubble, for some steep miles up to the 10,000-foot ridgeline trail. Then another trail mile up to the Telescope Peak summit and some more miles out to Mahogany Flat. This made for a total climb of well over 11,000 feet and a total distance of close to 24 miles. All this is hiked in one day!

Some of us spent parts of two preparation days visiting the various historic mine areas such as Skidoo, Chloride City, and the Keane Wonder Mine, and even saw Desert Bighorn Sheep near the Keane Spring.

^ Out of six exposures, this is the only one where the bighorn looked at the camera.

That day before we started had seen a new high temperature record for that date, 114 degrees F at Stovepipe Wells. That was not a good sign. Nevertheless, we tried to grab a few hours of sleep before beginning the hike at 3 AM. The low temperature at the start was about 80 degrees. That was not a good sign either.

^ This is the view up Hanaupah Canyon toward Telescope Peak (route is to the right)

^ looking down toward the desert floor, Badwater is on the left

Basically, we hiked and drank water all day until we arrived on the summit in the late afternoon. This old hiker took almost 13 hours to get there, but some young pups were faster. Then we dragged out to the campground before dark. What a day!

^ the view from Mahogany Flat looking down toward the salt desert

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