Mengel Pass - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

This is a former mining and recreational property from the 1940s to the 1960s, it is infamous due to its association with Charles Manson and his "family". It is located inside Death Valley National Park in eastern California. There is a small one-room guest house located to the side of the main house. There is also a five-thousand-gallon "swimming pool" made from cement and rock boulders towards the back of the property.

Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount Whitney, and east to Charleston Peak. It is also notable for having one of the greatest vertical rises above local terrain of any mountain in the contiguous United States. Hiking Telescope Peak by the normal route involves a 14 miles round trip hike.

Sidewinder Canyon is located at the base of the Black Mountains on the east side of Death Valley National Park south of Badwater Basin. The canyon is fairly wide with a gravel bottom and forty-foot stone walls on both side. The trailhead is unmarked and the trail only has occasional cairns along the way for guidance, creating a remote trek in a Death Valley canyon. The mouth of the canyon is difficult to spot from the trailhead. Begin hiking south toward the gravel fan exiting the canyon.

Wildrose Charcoal Kilns would probably be one of the most visited attractions in Death Valley if they were not in such a remote location.The kilns were built 7 miles out on Wildrose Rd which is mostly paved with a well maintained gravel stretch at the end of this adventurous trip. These kilns produced charcoal for the Modock Mine smelter about 20 miles to the west.The kilns closed after only three years of use. This may be the best-preserved examples of charcoal kilns in the West.

The Trona Pinnacles are a unique geological features in the California Desert Conservation Area. The unusual landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires, some as high as 140 feet, rising from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin. The Trona Pinnacles were designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1968 to preserve one of North America’s most outstanding examples of tufa tower formation.

Wildrose Peak is located in the Panamint Range which serves as the western border to Death Valley National Park. Wildrose Peak is an excellent peak to climb in the summer when the heat of the valley is extreme.The 9,064-foot peak is about seven miles north of Telescope Peak, the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet. Wildrose sports an expansive view of the Panamint Mountains, Badwater Basin, and the surrounding desert landscape.