Death Valley to Mammoth Mtn Weekend (CA)

“Friday, 5/16: Got a late start, left home ~10pm, headed for Death Valley. Around 1:15am, we saw wild burros in the road. They were light brown with a vertical dark brown stripe from upper back down around the shoulder to its underside. We couldn’t resist taking pictures…one was a baby (adorable), and another was pregnant. We arrived at Mahogany Flats (8,133’) around 2am, and got to sleep around 2:30am
Saturday, 5/17: Up at 7:30. Jay and Dave from the Wilderness Club at work were outside the truck, ready to take off for our dayhike to Telescope Peak (11,049’), the highest point in Death Valley. We told them we’d catch up. At 9:05, we headed up the steep trail rounding Roger’s peak, with views of Badwater (282’ below sea level) to the east. At 2 miles, we got to Arcane Meadows, between Bennett Peak and Roger’s Peak, with views of Olancha Peak (our destination for Memorial weekend), and 14ers in the Sierra range (Mt Langley, Mt Whitney, Mt Russell, Tyndall, Mt Williamson and Split Mountain), White Mountain (another 14er) of the Inyo Range and Panamint Valley below. We continued another 5 miles, the last 1,000' of elevation gain is steep and passes through the Bristlecone Pines. Our arrival at Telescope Peak was 12:25pm, Jay and Dave were waiting, and shortly after, a group of 8 that we passed earlier arrived. Most of them were from Ridgecrest, with a few from England that were temporarily stationed at China Lake. The put their flag up, and everyone enjoyed the views, lunch, photo ops, signing of the register, and conversation. From the top of Telescope Peak, you can look down more than two miles into Badlands, Death Valley (the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere) and then turn 180 degrees and see Mount Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48) and the Southern Sierras. We all left the summit at 1:40pm. About ½ way back, at 9500’, Jay asked if we wanted to bag Bennett Peak (9,980’) since we were there. We headed up a ridge, and soon found a use trail. A quick stop to sign the register, then headed down the other side to Arcane Meadows (~9600’). Jay wants to bag Roger’s Peak too (9,994’). Sure, why not, we’re so close to it. Almost at the summit, we got to the road that leads up from the campground. SnowDude had blisters, so he waited for us (he’s never had blisters before). We followed the steep road that rounded Roger’s Peak. We could see the Mahogany Flats from the road, so first chance we got, we looked down a ridge to see if it was doable to go straight down, instead of the long switchbacking road. We saw another use trail and followed it back to the vehicles, arriving at 4:50pm. Total mileage (GPS) was 12.7 miles. With ~4000’ elevation gain and loss. Jay and Dave were hanging around Death Valley for another day. SnowDude and I headed for Lone Pine for showers and dinner, arriving at Mammoth ~11pm

Sunday, 5/18: Up at 7:45. SnowDude went out to pee, then came back and said his feet were like hamburger. We drove to Mammoth Mountain, and I hit the slopes while he studied for a test. The top was closed, and clouds were hovering. I took a few warmup runs before the Gondola opened. Ran into Shiftyrider first, and at the top, a big group of Mammoth regulars had gathered. Around noon, I heard “Snow Nymph” and turned around to see who it was. Skier11053 and Asandygal, from the SoCal Hikers site, were standing there! We were always at Mammoth at the same time, but never ran into each other. So this was very cool! We did runs down Hangman’s, Paranoids and Climax. They stopped for lunch, and I rode on. Ran into more of the regulars, and finished the day off with a total of 8 runs down Hangman’s making my turns with confidence. Well, except when my board decided to flip me over and I got road rash on my side. It was warm, so my jacket was open. Snow hurts!

SnowDude was disappointed that he missed out on Hangman’s, but I reminded him that he could hardly walk this morning. We decided then to postpone Olancha Peak, and ride Mammoth for closing weekend……yeah!!!! Everyone I rode with will be there, so it’ll be fun!!!!!!!!!!

On the way home, we did a few side trips (25 miles/1.5 hrs later), following a peacock in Olancha, looking for the Olancha Pass Trailhead, and driving to a Burro Refuge. What a weekend!

Photos: http://www.snow-nymph.com

Telescope pics are under Backpacking/Hiking

Snowboarding stuff should be up tomorrow under Mammoth Mountain
(Costco gave me the wrong CDs...twice...so this will be my 3rd
trip...check back tomorrow)”

“Was there still snow on Telescope, when we were there the first weekend in April, Crampons were most likely necessary. We were planning on making the climb but both me and my brother suffered injuries down at Badwater. I thrashed up my foot while running down the scree slope above Badwater and at the same time my bro took a header and broke his elbow. Needless to say that put an end to our Telescope Pk plans.”

“here's the link: Snow Nymph's site

Hi Dunk,
No snow on Telescope, just a few patches were seen from the top (looking south). Weather was perfect, enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable. My lipstick in the truck melted, so it was hot at 8K. Hope your brother is ok, there's always another day to do the peak.”

“Snow Nymph is the only person I "know" that can pack more into a weekend than I can into a year. Damn, living on the East Coast isn't fair! Nice trip report SN. :)”

“Excellant pictures Snow Nymph! Just beautiful.
Were most of your pics taken with a digital?
Very cool trip report!”

“Thanks, Sol! People think I'm crazy, but its good for me! Hope you can get out sometime!

Tango, I use a Canon SLR for backpacking, and a Olympus Stylus for the snowboarding pics. I'm looking for a small (not too expensive) digital for snowboarding. I was going to look at the Canon Elph Digital.

Costco gave me 2 wrong CDs (out of 3) yesterday. I called at closing time, and drove 15 min each way to pick them up. Again, one of them was someone elses. I made a third trip at lunch and they gave me $6 back. So I'll upload the third one tonight.”

“Thank you the photos, and the write up. Nicely done.

That was the peak that moodus did. The one I couldn't remember and was trying to tell you about.

http://www.angelfire.com/ok2/machimoodus/telescope.html”

“Thank you for the pictures and trip report. Looks like I missed that peak again this year. I will have to wait till next year... GEEZ,”

“why wait?
let the things on your list wait.
Im lo on cash and cant really afford to be taking trips this summer but ya only live once and i could get cancer or something if i waited til later...id be really pissed then...
I put my last trip to utah all on plastic-car rental etc...got my down bag on plastic...hell i got a trip in june to aspen/telluride thats goin all on plastic...
man,im piling up debt but got a whole winter to pay off my summer follies!!thats what credit is for...good times!!!”

“Davex, You're right about just doing it. When I was new to backpacking I would wait for someone to say "lets go backpacking" "or hiking". I'd probably still be sitting at home now. I don't have a lot of responsibilities anymore so I can live this lifestyle. It only costs me gas, vehicle maintenance and food. I have all the equipment to get by so I just go.

And Mammoth got 9" snow yesterday. Snow was in the forecast today. Can't wait for the weekend!

Pics from Sunday are up now:
Mammoth, the day after hiking Telescope Peak in Death Valley

I'm trying to be patient with Costco. Tomorrow is the 4th trip to get the CDs right. They gave $$ back on the last one, but its got streaks on all of them. I posted anyway, but I'm taking it back to get redone and will upload them later.”