Telescope Peak, Death Valley

[kellymoe]

Last week my son and I did a little backpacking trip to Telescope Peak in Death Valley. Telescope Peak is the highest point in Death Valley and commands a view from the summit of both the lowest point in the US, Badwater, and the highest point in the lower 48 states, Mt. whitney. The road up to the trailhead at Mahogany Flats was in pretty bad shape from recent thunderstorms and I was happy to have made the decision to take my Defender instead of my Kia Sportage. Weather was mild during the day and a little breezy and the night was cold and windy. We hiked in and camped just below the summit and were rewarded with a great sunset and sunrise. I highly recommend this trip, it is a 14 mile round trip from Mahogany Flats. No water available on the hike, hey, it's Death Valley what do you expect so you have to carry all your water. We were joined by a good friend of mine and his son and it made for a great father son trip. I did this same trip with my dad on two previous occasions and plan to make it a annual father son outing.

 

[digitaldelay]

Cool! Was it tough to find a somewhat flat spot to camp? That is my biggest issue with random camping.

Jason

 

[kellymoe]

Cool! Was it tough to find a somewhat flat spot to camp? That is my biggest issue with random camping.

Jason

No, plenty of small flat spots but all are fairly exposed to wind. You basically are forced to camp on the ridge.

 

[ETAV8R]

Very cool quick trip report. I want to do Telescope. I know how cold it gets out there. You are brave for taking that on.
How much water did you take? What sleeping bag did you use?

 

[adventureduo]

One of my bucket list hikes. Thank you for posting!

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk

 

[kellymoe]

It was dry and cool when we did it, probably 50 during the day and low 30's high 20's at night. I had a 5 degree bag and my son used a 15 degree and we were plenty warm. We probably took 8qts of water maybe 10? Hard to say, I just filled up a bunch of bottles and a few camel back bladders, I wanted to make sure I had enough to satisfy my coffee addiction

 

[Rallyroo]

I did Telescope Peak a couple years ago in the middle of November and I had to use my 12-point crampons or risk slipping off the icy sections. Weather changes so quickly in Death Valley.

 

[adventureduo]

Hey Kelly, where did you park while you hiked? Just outside the campground gate for M. Flats? OR did you park in one of the campsites? Also, i've seen the road that heads up with the locked gate to Telescope... at some point i assume that ends and you head up the shelf rocks? Is there an actual trail?

Thanks for any 411 you can offer.

 

[kellymoe]

Hey Kelly, where did you park while you hiked? Just outside the campground gate for M. Flats? OR did you park in one of the campsites? Also, i've seen the road that heads up with the locked gate to Telescope... at some point i assume that ends and you head up the shelf rocks? Is there an actual trail?

Thanks for any 411 you can offer.

We parked in the parking area just outside the campground. We took the trail in and the road out just for kicks. A few winters ago I skied up the road to the and along the ridge to Telescope and then skied straight back to my truck at the charcoal kilns, that was a fun day. The road ends at the radio towers on top of Rogers Peak, from there it's just a few hundred yards cross country down the ridge to the trail to the south, in the winter it's and easy ski or snowshoe along the ridge to the summit and the route is obvious, unless the weather moves in and starts snowing like it did when we skied it. In the summer I would just take the trail from M-flats and not the road, better views.