18 April 2006 Tuesday

The shop got the parts and finally got our truck fixed about 2 pm.  The hotel was patient with us in the room after our 11 am checkout.  On our way out, we saw a sign claiming Tonopah as the home of the Stealth Fighter.  It seems that testing for the Stealth was performed at night from 1982-1987 and then it was moved to New Mexico.  We headed back into Death Valley Park, but it took several hours to get where we wanted to be.  Death Valley is a huge park, a million acres or more!  We had driven passed the Visitor’s Center at 190 ft below sea level.  We drove to a free campground in the park, Mahogany Flats, a ridge at 8133 ft elevation.  We were looking at the face of a beautiful snow capped peak.  The 7 mile hike to Telescope Peak, elev. 11,049 ft,  began here, but it was covered in snow.  The hike description recommended crampons, ice axes and winter mountaineering skills for this hike.  I guess we’ll have to miss it this time.  Leave it to us to find SNOW in Death Valley!