GETTING THERE

Death Valley National Park straddles the border of California and Nevada. If you are coming from the west of the park it is most easily accessed off of the highway 178 (otherwise known as Trona Road). Usually you will end up taking the 190 into the park as this highway bisects the park from the west and east side, but for Telescope Peak we found that it was quicker to continue strait on Trona Wildrose Road. We took this road all the way up to Emigrant Canyon Road, where we then turned right (toward Wildrose Campground). We drove all the way up to Mahogany Flat Campground, but you will definitely need a vehicle with good tires and clearance to get up there. The road get's particularly rough starting at Charcoal Kilns and then 1.5 miles up to Mahogany Flat Campground. Our friends, who didn't have a 4WD car, met us at Charcoal Kilns and then we road up together to Mahogany Flat Campground in Michael's Jeep. Also note that sometimes the gate to get up to Mahogany Flat Campgrounds is closed in the winter, depending on conditions, if this is the case, you can park at Charcoal Kilns and start your hike from there (which adds about another 3 miles to your total hike.

You can see below, depending on where you are coming from you could expect a 2-5 hour drive to the park. Unless you are further away (sorry San Fran), then you might want to plan a bit longer than a weekend to visit... unless you are just hardcore like that. There are some further instructions for directions on the National Park Service website, or click the map below for an estimate on Google Maps.

So again, more simplified, if coming from west of Death Valley: