Death Valley 2002
Quick Jump
Summary |
Quick Facts |
Images |
Detail |
GPS Waypoints
Summary
On 30 Mar 2002, Terri and I drove to Death Valley National Park (California) for a
quick weekend of camping and hiking in the desert. Upon talking to a ranger, we found
that we could climb Telescope Peak w/o extra gear. We made the summit in
about four hours.
| Temperature | ~60°F Night to 90°F Day |
| Trip Mileage (From Santa Barbara) | 773 miles roundtrip |
| Telescope Peak | 11,049 feet |
| Distance | 14 miles roundtrip |
| Elevation Gain | 2,916 ft |
| Difficulty | Easy to Moderate. The trail is pretty easy, the altitude and distance make it trickier. |
Detail
Terri and I left Santa Barbara at about 9:00am on Saturday 30 Mar 2002.
We arrived at Stove Pipe Wells around 3:45pm and gassed the car. Gas
was steep... about $0.30 more per gallon.
Our first destination was Scotty's Castle. We took the 5 o' clock tour. The
grounds of Scotty's Castle are really quite lush and beautiful. There is a
chimes tower, a music room, and a huge swimming pool that has never been
filled. Scotty's Castle is supplied with water from a spring.
We started heading south towards Badwater, but just didn't have
enough daylight to see it. As the sun was setting, we pulled
over to the side of the road and watched. Unfortunately, it
wasn't overly spectacular as one would hope from a desert sunset.
Several hundred yards off the road were salt flats. We
walked out to the salt in the twilight to hear the
gentle crunching of salt. Click the image to see Tone
pointing to the salt. The salt even tasted salty.
Terri and I made the decision to stay at the Sunset campground rather
than Mahogany Flats. The reason? Sunset campground is below sea level
and Mahogany Flats is just over eight thousand feet. A
good night's sleep is always in order.
Sunset campground has an overflow area where you can pitch a
tent. Unfortunately, neither Terri nor myself realized that
you need to pitch the tent IN THE PARKING LOT! We went a
few hundred feet away. Wouldn't you know it? Ranger Rick
comes by and hassles us. He took our IDs and had us move
the tent. He even wrote us a warning. Well, a warning is
better than a fine I suppose. The regulation governing
the law we broke is summed up here.
Terri and I awoke around 3:00am to a bright moon and decided
to strike camp. We got into the car and headed to Mahogany
Flats at about 3:45am.
After a long drive, we reached the Charcoal Kilns. There are ten very
large structures that are empty. I don't know the full story on these
kilns, but they are cool to look at. Terri stands inside the doorway of
one of the kilns for
perspective. We actually took the picture on the way down, but hey!
We hit the trailhead at 6:27am. The trail was in decent condition
and the weather was not too chilly. A few times I needed to put
on or take off my sweatshirt. The altitude is really the only
obstacle on the hike. I breathe heavily the whole way and it
seems to deplete me of energy.
After four hours of hiking, Terri and I finally make it to the top
of Telescope Peak. The views are quite stunning. The weather at
the top was very nice and there were ladybugs!
Terri and I took the requisite photos, read the sign-in logbook,
then even took a 30 minute snooze. Moments after waking,
we hear three guys coming to the top. They are from
San Luis Obispo. On our way down we see about a dozen other
hikers attempting to make the top. Four of them had stopped
for a bit of an elaborate lunch of burritos.
We made it back to the trailhead at 3:27pm. We decided to head
on back home.
Death Valley GPS Waypoints
Here are some of the GPS waypoints I got on this trip.
Click the GPS image for the Waypoint+ (Waypoint Plus) file for a Garmin eTrex.
| Select Death Valley GPS Waypoints | |||
| GRAPEV | Grape Something... Maybe a campground. | 36.594642600 | -117.2156275000 |
| KILNS | Charcoal Kilns | 36.144938100 | -117.0436138000 |
| MAHOGF | Mahogany Flats | 36.134790100 | -117.0404964000 |
| PHONE | Phone | 36.295478200 | -117.1336437000 |
| PILE-1 | 1st pile of rocks towards Telescope Peak | 36.125053800 | -117.0520744000 |
| SCOTTY | Scotty's Castle | 37.015475900 | -117.2024936000 |
| STOVEP | Stove Pipe Wells | 36.362880200 | -117.0839970000 |
| THORN | Thorndike Campground | 36.140982700 | -117.0417165000 |
| TSCOPE | Telescope Peak | 36.101144500 | -117.0521037000 |
See some images of our trip.