Sea Level to Summit

• Shuttle to Death Valley: 4 hours
• Hiking Mileage: 8 miles
• Elevation Gain: 3500 feet

Our four-day summit bid on this Death Valley backpacking trip will begin with a sunrise drive out of Las Vegas and into the Mojave Desert’s vast basin-and-range landscape. After a quick breakfast on the road, we will catch glimpses of our objective—Telescope Peak—peering over two mountain ranges ahead. Upon entering Death Valley National Park, we will be treated to morning views of the Badlands: jagged hills dazzlingly colored by volcanic metals. Once out of the Badlands, we’ll have uninterrupted views of Death Valley and the Panamint Range towering above.

After a quick stop at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to collect our permit, we’ll drive to our trailhead via West Side Road, a route that once carried the famed ‘20-Mule Team’ out of Death Valley with its cargos of borax. At Shorty’s Well, 250 feet below-sea-level, we’ll don our packs and leave the shuttle behind as we hike toward Telescope Peak looming to the west. Our first day’s route will follow along an old mining road, hand-dug by a kindly, 65-year-old miner, Alexander ‘Shorty’ Borden. Today’s hike will immerse us in a rugged and slanted desert landscape for the first several miles as we steadily gain elevation. We will pass wind-sculpted rock, creosote, and black brush while being treated to ever-growing views of the vast salt-flats and mountains behind us.

Soon after Shorty’s Road takes us into Hanaupah Canyon, we’ll find some shade for a relaxing lunch. Our last two miles up Hanaupah Canyon’s south fork will end near the lush oasis of Hanaupah Spring. There, we’ll make camp and enjoy a fresh dinner and spring water under the western shadow of the Telescope Peak ridgeline.

• Hiking Mileage: 3-7 miles
• Elevation Gain: Varied

Our second day is a chance to explore the wondrous Hanaupah Canyon at an easy pace, while pre-hydrating our bodies for tomorrow’s ascent. After a leisurely breakfast, we will leave camp set-up and hike further up-creek to Shorty Borden’s home site. Along the way, we will walk along a dazzling riparian eco-system, filled with willow, watercress, and grapevine. Shorty’s Camp holds relics of Death Valley’s rich history, including a beautifully preserved mine.

We will finish out the morning exploring the beautiful, rarely-seen narrows of Hanaupah Canyon. A hidden grotto of waterfalls flowing over blue dolomite will be our likely lunch spot. We may see waterfowl, jackrabbits, or even chuckwalla lizards.

A number of options for the afternoon are at our choosing, including a mountain hike up one of Shorty’s longer mining paths, enjoying a book at camp, or exploring further up Hanaupah Canyon. We’ll have a tasty supper and get a full night’s sleep.

• Hiking Mileage: 8 miles
• Elevation Gain: 3800 feet
• Elevation Loss: 500 feet

At dawn, we will pack up camp, eat a hearty breakfast, and top off our water before hiking down to the canyon confluence. There, we will leave the trail and begin our ascent in earnest as we crest the massive east-west ridgeline and hike high above the deep forks of Hanaupah Canyon. Our views for the remainder of the trip be absolutely extraordinary. We’ll steadily enter a forest of juniper and piñon, and occasionally enjoy hiking on flat portions along the ridgeline.

By mid-afternoon, we’ll select a flat area for our forest camp and have clear sunset views of Death Valley and the many mountain ranges and basins between us and Las Vegas. We’ll have dinner in this twilight glow, surrounded by boundless beauty—and the growing silhouette of Telescope Peak.

• Hiking Mileage: 11 miles
• Elevation Gain: 4800 feet
• Elevation Loss: 3000 feet
• Shuttle to Las Vegas: 5 hours

We will wake at dark, pack up camp, eat breakfast, and, in true mountaineers’ fashion, be hiking before sunrise. We’ll crunch through slanted fields of pine cones and, as the elevation and slope increase, take a few breaks to catch our breath, drink water, and eat an endless bounty of fresh pine nuts.

The hardest portion of our hike will culminate at the lower slope of Telescope Peak as the forest opens to a 1.5-mile, seemingly near-vertical mountain meadow of grass and talus. Scattered, centuries-old limber pines will greet us as we hike toward the sky.

Finally, we’ll reach the Telescope Peak Trail and encounter millennia-old bristlecone pine trees. With victory in reach, we will drop our packs and hike to the summit of Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet above sea-level and take a moment to enjoy what truly is one of the great hiking feats in America. With spectacular vistas of Mount Charleston above Las Vegas, Death Valley to the east, Panamint Valley to the West, and the fabled Sierra Nevada Range and Mount Whitney, your eyes will feast on the views of a lifetime.

After signing the summit register, we’ll retrieve our packs for the last five miles of the trip. We’ll take one final look the Sierras from Arcane Meadows before finishing our trek. Cold drinks await us at our pick-up vehicle, which will wind us down the beautiful western slopes of the Panamints. As we cruise east out of Death Valley, we’ll stop at the beautiful Mesquite Sand Dunes for one last dinner as we reflect on an adventure we’ll never forget.