Telescope Peak and Mosaic Canyon Geo-hike, Death Valley National Park
Telescope Peak and Mosaic Canyon Geo-hike, Death Valley National Park
Our annual Geo-hike event (10/20-22/2022). Our meetup point was Wildrose Campground at 5:00 PM on Thursday 10/20/2022 and we camped there Thursday and Friday nights and departed Saturday. On Friday (10/21) we hiked to the top of Telescope Peak (11,049 ft) within Death Valley National Park. This is not an easy hike and most of the trail is above 9,000 with thin air. My GPS recorded 13.1 miles roundtrip hike from the trailhead at Mahogany Flat with a net elevation gain of 3,619 feet (It's the same trail to the peak and the return to Mahogany Flat). Our moving time was 6.1 hours and we hiked at 2.12 MPH. Happy to report we all made it to the top, and back.
The Telescope Peak trail is completely in the Neoproterozoic Johnnie Formation (~600 million years old), a mix of marble and dolomitic marble and calc-silicate schist and hornfels, with stromatolites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite) and oolites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite). A shallow marine deposit the pre-dates the Cambrian expansion* at 539 million years ago. The trail offers spectacular view and panoramas of the western Basin and Range and great place to appreciate Cenozoic crustal extension. To the east are the Badwater Basin (main Death Valley), the Black Mountains, and Spring Mountains north of Las Vegas. To south can be seen southern Death Valley, Avawatz Mountains, Kingston Range, and Clark Mountains, and even more if it’s really clear. To west is the Argus Range and southern Inyo Range and beyond the east side of the Sierras and Mount Whitney. To the north is northern Panamint Range with Tin Mountain sticking up and beyond the Last Chance Range, Inyo Range, and White Mountains.
* The Cambrian explosion, Cambrian radiation, Cambrian diversification, or the Biological Big Bang refers to an interval of time approximately 538.8 million years ago in the Cambrian Period when practically all major animal phyla started appearing in the fossil record (https://www.britannica.com/science/Cambrian-explosion)
On Saturday (10/22) we hiked Mosaic Canyon and Golden Canyon. Mosaic Canyon has a lot to offer: easy to reach, easy and moderate distance trail, colorful rock layers, and several interesting geologic features. My GPS recorded 2.2 miles from the trailhead to a 50 ft dry water fall that blocks further. Elevation gain is 1165 feet. It's the same trail in and out. Our moving time was We hiked at 2.0 MPH and trip took us 2.5 hours. Geologic features along the way are debris flow deposits along canyon walls, Noonday Dolomite (a capstone carbonate associated with the end of Snowball Earth, Tucki Mountain detachment associated with Basin and Range extension and formation of Death Valley, and the Johnnie Formation in the hanging-wall of the detachment.
Since this Newsletter is getting rather long I will put Golden Canyon in a future Newsletter.
More photos at https://www.meetup.com/geo-hikes/events/286147280/
A videos of our Geo-hikes with more geologic and trail information:
One mile into hike:
Hiking the switchbacks near the top:
Taking a group photo on the top of Telescope Peak:
Quick trip to the Charcoal Kilns, Wildrose Canyon:
Entrance to Mosaic Canyon:
Some other helpful links:
Wildrose Campground: https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/wildrose-campground.htm
Mahogany Flat: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/10088780
More info on Telescope Peak trail: 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
THOMAS L. DAVIS PHD PG & ASSOCIATES LEAD AND ORGANIZE GEOLOGIC FIELD TRIPS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN USA AND BAJA CALIFORNIA FOR ORGANIZATIONS, COMPANIES, AND INDIVIDUALS, CONTACT US AT
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