Telescope Peak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Telescope Peak | |
|---|---|
 Panamint Range looking toward Telescope Peak |
|
| Elevation | 11,049 feet (3,392 meters) |
| Location | Inyo County, California, United States |
| Range | Panamint Range |
| Prominence | 6,167 feet (1,880 m) |
| Coordinates | [1] |
| Topo map | USGS Telescope Peak |
| Easiest route | trail hike |
| Listing | DPS Emblem peak[2] |
Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the US state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west across Panamint Valley to Mount Whitney and the Sierra Nevada in California, and east across the Badwater Basin in Death Valley (the lowest point in North America) to Charleston Peak in the Spring Mountains of Nevada. Hiking trails from the base to the summit total 7 miles. The mountain was named for the great distance visible from the summit.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Telescope Peak is also notable for having one of the greatest vertical rises above local terrain of any mountain in the contiguous United States. Its summit rises 11,331 feet (3,478 m) above the floor of Death Valley (Badwater, -282 ft/-86 m) in about 15 miles (24 km), and about 10,000 feet (3,050 m) above the floor of Panamint Valley in about 8 miles (13 km).[3] This is comparable to the rises for other large US peaks such as Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta, and Mount San Jacinto. (It is even somewhat comparable to the rise of Mount Everest above its northern base on the Tibetan Plateau, a rise of roughly 13,000 ft (4,000 m). However Everest rises much more, and much more steeply, above its southern base in Nepal.[4])
Since it is the high point of a range surrounded by low basins, Telescope Peak also has a particularly high topographic prominence of 6,168 feet (1,880 m), ranking it 22nd in the contiguous US by that measure.[5]
A variety of trees can be found on the mountain, including pinyon pine, limber pine, and, at the highest elevations, ancient bristlecone pine.
[edit] Climbing Telescope Peak
From Ridgecrest, Hwy. 178 leads northeast into Death Valley National Park. The road turns to unpaved about 50 miles later as it loses its highway status. It winds up through Wildrose Canyon up to a parking lot where the trail for the summit starts.
Hiking Telescope Peak by the normal route involves a 14 mile (23 km) round trip hike. The trail starts in the cool western part of Death Valley National Park at a campground named Mahogany Flat. The trail slowly winds itself up to the summit 7 mi (11 km) later.
Another climbing route is from Shorty's Well (elevation around -250') to Telescope Peak. This provides a net gain of elevation of roughly 11,300ft. The trail follows Hanaupah Canyon for over 10 miles until Hanaupah Springs is reached; this spring runs year round (unconfirmed). This route can be done in one day by experienced hikers and has one of the largest elevation gains that can be done in a single day.
[edit] See Also
List of U.S. National Parks by Elevation
[edit] References
- ^ Telescope Peak. Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
- ^ DPS Peaks List. Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
- ^ Southern California Atlas and Gazetteer, DeLorme Mapping, 1990.
- ^ Mount Everest (topographic map, second edition), National Geographic Society/Boston Museum of Science/Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, Bradford Washburn, project director, 1991.
- ^ US ultra-prominent peaks on peaklist.org
[edit] External links
- Telescope Peak is at coordinates Coordinates:
|
||||||||||||||
