Telescope Peak Geo-hike, Death Valley

EVENT IS CLOSED, FILLED TO THE MAX AND A BIT BEYOND!

PLEASE READ THE BELOW CAREFULLY:

Our annual Geo-hike event. There's a wait list for this event and the most active members of Geo-hikes have priority plus the group size will be small. If you have never done a long hike with Geo-hikes then please provide a short description of your hiking abilities. Keep in mind this is not an easy hike and most of the trail is above 9,000 ft where many find long hikes difficult.

We'll hike to the top of Telescope Peak (11,049 ft) in the Death Valley National Park on Friday 10/21. It's a 14 mile roundtrip hike from Mahogany Flat with a net elevation gain of a tad over 3,000 ft (It's the same trail to the peak and the return to Mahogany Flat). Our meetup point is is Wildrose Campground at 5:00 PM on Thursday 10/20 we'll camp there Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. At Wildrose the campground sites cannot be reserved (first come gets the camp sites) and one of the reasons this event starts late Thursday afternoon (Wildrose does fill often on the weekends). On Friday morning we can the decide which vehicles to take to the Telescope Peak trailhead at Mahogany Flat (8133 ft), the upper portion of the road is rough and high clearance vehicles do best. On Saturday and Sunday we will do some local hikes-I'd like to scout out some new trails, like Pinto Mtn and Tucki Mtn.

This is car camping and you will need to bring all your meals, and camping items. Potable water is available at the Wildrose Campground. There are fire rings at the campground so please bring firewood.

Weather for the hike should be in 70's and 80's and very sunny (there's little shade on the trail), so bring lots of sun protection and water. There is a slight chance that it could be in the low 90s midday, possibly very windy, or a thunderstorm (we'll not be taking any risks with that and will call the hike if there is a chance of a thunderstorm). Please check the weather right before trip: Google search, mahogany flat campground weather

WARNING: TELESCOPE PEAK, MAHOGANY FLATS, AND WILDROSE CANYON ARE IN A REMOTE PORTION OF THE DEATH VALLEY PARK (SOUTHERN PANAMINT RANGE). YOU'LL NEED TO LOOK AT A ROAD MAP IN SOME DETAIL BEFORE DRIVING OUT MAKE SURE YOUR VEHICLE AND ITS TIRES ARE IN GOOD SHAPE. TAKE PLENTY OF WATER IN YOUR CAR FOR THE DRIVE OUT. FROM HWY 395 TAKE HIGHWAY 178 THROUGH TRONA TO PANAMINT VALLEY ROAD. IN PANAMINT VALLEY TAKE THE EMIGRANT PASS ROAD. YOU'LL BE ON A GRAVEL ROAD IN LOWER PORTION OF WILDROSE CANYON. AFTER A FEW MILES MAKE A RIGHT ON THE WILDROSE VALLEY ROAD AND THE CAMPGROUND WILL BE ON THE LEFT RIGHT AWAY. KEEP IN MIND, THE SLOWER ONE DRIVES ON GRAVEL ROADS THE LONGER BETWEEN FLAT TIRES. BY THE WAY, CAN YOU FIX A FLAT? YOU'LL BE DRIVING THROUGH THE PANAMINT VALLEY AND OTHER DESERT VALLEYS THAT ARE STILL HOT THIS TIME OF YEAR (+100 F). THERE IS NO CELL COVERAGE IN WILDROSE CANYON AT THE TRAILHEAD, ON MUCH OF THE TRAIL, AT THE CAMPGROUNDS, OR IN MUCH OF THE VALLEYS. ON THE CREST OF PANAMINT RANGE I SOMETIMES GET CELL COVERAGE BUT ITS SPOTTY.

You are responsible for all your meals and getting to the meetup point-make sure you understand the route there and if you haven't been there before I advise against driving in the dark.

Wildrose Campground: https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/wildrose-campground.htm

Mahogany Flat: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/10088780

More info on hike:
https://www.summitpost.org/telescope-peak/150584

https://rootsrated.com/stories/everything-you-need-to-know-about-hiking-to-tallest-point-in-death-valley-national-park

Here's a link to the geologic map of Telescope Peak:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ngm-bin/pdp/zui_viewer.pl?id=15515
It's truly amazing the amount of cross county hiking in extremely rugged and complex terrain these geologists accomplished.

Please do not sign-on to this hike if you are not very serious about going, know that you won't be called for work or have the possibility of other last minute issues that prevent you from going (be fair to others that end up on the wait list).