Telescope Peak, Death Valley National Park

After leaving Boundary Peak, I headed south towards Death Valley. I realized I'd be arriving at the trailhead later than my predicted time when I underestimated the size of Death Valley National Park. In a car at highway speeds it can seem like an awful lot of nothing.

A bit before 6 p.m. I left the Mahogany Flats campground and headed up the Telescope Peak trail. Quite a few day hikers were just returning from their ascents and a few took one look at my larger pack and congratulated me on backpacking in.

An hour's walk brought me to the Arcane Meadows and I hunted around for a flat, shaded and wind protected site. Part way up Bennett Peak I found the perfect site. Large enough for my tarp, protected from the west wind and shaded from the late day sun. However, the best feature in my mind was the view straight down nearly 10,000 feet into Badwater Basin. For the remainder of the evening I alternated cooking dinner and staring down into that great valley. Or getting up to watch the sunset and snap pictures of the clusters of Indian Paintbrush and weathered pines with gazing over North America's lowest elevation.

Slept a little better than the night before, even with my campsite's one drawback, the dusty ground. I opened my eyes and watched the crescent moon rise over Badwater. When I woke up again the eastern horizon just above the mountain range flanking the other side of Death Valley was glowing in pre-dawn anticipation. I woke up and had a quick meal and packed up.

By the time I had flanked around Bennett Peak the sun had broken free from the horizon. I snapped a few pictures and hurried on. The ridge top was covered in flowers and a few patches of lingering snow. I collected a handful of the melting ice and stuffed it under my hat. Amazingly, the ice didn't melt until I reached the summit nearly an hour later.

As the sun grew stronger the trail stayed on the east side of the ridge. It was still early, but I was getting hot without shade or a breeze. I was astonished to see another hiker just above me on the trail, taking a break on a switchback. She had spent the night on the summit, which is why I hadn't seen her pass by. We wished each other well, and I continued my ascent.

A slight breeze returned as the trail climbed onto the ridge top again and walked me the final 100 feet to the summit. Do to the haze I could barely make out the Sierra Nevada mountains to the northwest, but I had impressive views downward into the valleys and the other peaks of the Panamint Mountains running north and south away from me.

I signed the register and started down. I restocked the now melted snow in my hat and caught up with the earlier hiker. We chatted for a bit, and in what was becoming a theme for this weekend's trip, told me I simply must visit the eastern Sierra sometime.

I took more time with photography on the return walk, taking pictures of the lupines and the many flowers whose names couldn't guess at. Back at the trailhead register I noticed one couple had signed their address as "Base Camp, Nevada". That seemed like an odd name for a town, until I found a converted ambulance in the parking lot with Nevada plates that read "BASECMP".

After passing back through the park I returned to Nevada and headed on to the Mount Charleston Wilderness.