Telescope Peak

June 3-4, 2005

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The troops cross a snow patch

 

Report by Gretchen Huie, photos by Bob Grozenski, Harlan Stockman, and Steve Nguyen

It was a nice crowd, beautiful day, and good hike. In other words, it was a lot like any other hike with LVMC. Brett was there to hand out orange-cranberry walnuts and honey-glazed cashews. Little Toby was there to keep an eye on us and lead the hikes.

The most unusual and challenging part of the hike was finding the campsite on the night before the hike. I drove up with Fiona and at about 10:00 pm (the day before the hike) we were doing donuts in her two-wheel-drive car on a slippery four-wheel-drive road. We were stuck and lost. Luckily some of the other members of the group were still behind us (the infamous burritos in Barstow had held them up) and they were able to help push us out of trouble. After we made it to the campsite, we barely had the energy to break open the booze, which shows how tired we were because Fiona is Irish. The next morning we got an early start.

The hike was really straight-forward which meant a lot of talking and looking around. A few of the hikers split off and did a quick run to the top and back, but most of us stayed together and kept a good easy pace. Towards the top of the mountain, there was a little snow, and looking down 11,000 feet into the hot valley made me glad to be up out of the heat. We got back to camp in the early afternoon and had a communal snack session (wine, fig newtons, and fruit) before heading back to Vegas.

Bob Grozenski with Telescope Peak

 

Pink Phlox along trail

 

Steve and Alda in front of the Charcoal Kilns

 

Brett points out a shortcut across a snowfield