Highest Peak in the Park - aka Pushing into the Panamints (Nov 2021)

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The 20-hour drive home - that concluded our Lowest Peak in the Park - aka Into the Owlsheads trip - gave me a lot of time to think. The trip had been brilliant, with some predictable highlights, and some unexpected surprises. And I have to admit that joking around as we climbed Owl Peak - that it was the lowest in the park, perfect for the serial underachiever - had been a lot of fun.

But it also got me thinking. In the nearly four years that I've been visiting Death Valley, Owl Peak is the only summit I've ever climbed. And, I thought, what if I followed it up with the highest peak in the park? I mean, by doing the lowest and highest, it sort of follows that one has done them all, you know?

And so, now less than two weeks later, we're headed back. To hike to the top of Telescope Peak, and to explore areas in the Panamints - areas that we've driven by many times, but always enroute to somewhere else. Not this time though - this time, we're Pushing Into the Panamints.

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You have a way with words. Then there’s the photo skilllz. You’re posts are fucking adventure porn. Thank you. Namastè.

 

And so it begins. Sand dunes, arches, and one of the most pleasurable canyons I've had the opportunity to drive - we head into the Panamints at the start of our next adventure.

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Through Dunes, Arches and Canyons - Panamints 1​

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Through Dunes, Arches and Canyons - Panamints 1​

 

...I found my fellow explorer napping in the truck, the sun warming the cab to just the right temperature, and after filling her in on the maze I'd discovered, I asked her if she'd been down to the end of the road beyond the mine. In fact, she had, and told me that it led to the Skidoo Mill - the whole reason we'd come to Skidoo in the first place. I wasn't going to miss that, so once again, lunch had to wait....

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The Legend of Skidoo - Panamints 2​

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The Legend of Skidoo - Panamints 2​

 

...And with that, we reached the summit! The views - as one can imagine - were beautiful. Stretching for a hundred miles in every direction we could see well into Nevada to the east and across Panamint and Owens Valley to the Sierras to the west. For a while, we just soaked it all in....

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Highest Peak in the Park - Panamints 3​

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Highest Peak in the Park - Panamints 3










That's the end of this adventure. Merry Merry everyone!







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