Death Valley --- Telescope
Peak (Snow in Death Valley?)
November 2003
First of all, you might want to read the September 2001 trip report. Since
the weather was warmer then, it will give you a completely different perspective.
Thursday had a short hike to Darwin Falls in the Panamint Springs area,
then a loose group met in the Wildrose Canyon area of Death Valley National
Park.
The old 19th century charcoal kilns there still stand in good shape.
Despite the sunlight, it was actually a pretty cool morning. Lisa and Stan shown here.
The group hiked up Mosaic Canyon for a warmup.
The main slot canyon can only be hiked so far, but we managed to find the bypass trails that lead around the vertical falls.
Lisa was exhibiting great Spiderman climbing form on rock.
Everybody got into the climbing act.
Low angle climbing got to be a group sport.
This year had a pair of interesting hikes up Telescope Peak (11,049'). One
hike went from Thorndike Camp (7400') to the summit over 7.5 miles each way.
The other group started from Shorty's Well (250' below sea level) and made
it to the summit in less than twelve hours. They finished at Thorndike also,
so their total distance was near 24-25 miles. They had started at 2:30 a.m.
and had finished by 5 to 7 p.m. But, if you did the math, that was
well over 11,000 vertical feet of ascent in one day! One hiker did it wearing
sneakers instead of boots!
There was less than six inches of snow around the trail due to wind blowing it away, and the summit was mostly exposed.
Then the weather started to close in.
Rich and Stan approaching the summit.
Even in this inhospitable environment, a few trees live.
The pinyon pines
give way to limber pines and bristlecone pines.
This pine overlooks the Panamint
Valley.
Little desert bushes push past the snow.
One sunset shot of snow on Telescope Peak.
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