Starting out at 10am at Dante's View parking lot in the middle of June. Off in the distance, you can see the trail leading up toward Dante BM (sometimes called Dante's Peak):
Early view down into Death Valley from along the trail:
One thing that makes this hike so amazing is the nonstop views along the way:
Looking back at the parking lot and tourists at the viewpoint:
Two benchmarks for Dante BM up at the first summit:
From Dante BM, we had our first view of the entire route we would be taking along the ridgeline to Mount Perry:
Zooming in on Mount Perry for the first time (front center peak):
Soon there were outstanding views on both sides of us:
Looking past some interesting rock formations down into Badwater:
From Dante BM, we had to drop down about 770 feet in elevation to reach the low point on the hike:
Another great view of Mount Perry:
Dan coming down the long descent from Dante BM to a low saddle above Upper Bad Canyon:
View down Bad Canyon toward Badwater. The small bump seen in the middle of the picture is the minor peak just above the Hades Fault:
The trail continues down and we are almost to the first of several low points:
Our final destination grows closer off in the distance:
Looking straight down the general area of Upper Bad Canyon. We earlier passed by the best access point to drop into the upper canyon:
Always looking ahead to Mount Perry. There were many outstanding views of it along the way, as seen in the next two pictures:
Such a pretty day to be out in Death Valley under the blue sky and clouds:
Daria back in Death Valley for the first time since March of 2009:
Very impressive view of Mount Perry. I love the color contrasts here:
Dan leading the way through a short section where we lost sight of the trail briefly. I had not had the chance to hike with Dan since a 2006 hike in the Greenwater Valley area:
Soon we found the trail again and kept following it:
More views of Mount Perry in the next three pictures:
Looking into Greenwater Valley and at the Greenwater Range. Check out the huge shadow made by a passing cloud:
Notice how the trail would alternate between different sides of the ridge, providing for a variety of views. Here, we are on the right side of the ridge:
This probably isn't a typically recommended summer hike. But since it was the early summer, the heat was tolerable:
And now the use trail has switched over to the left side of the ridge:
The established use trail really simplifies route finding on this hike for the most part:
This was my third hike with Patrick, who has mastered Yosemite and is now working his way through Death Valley:
Approaching the challenging Hogback Section of Mount Perry:
As you can see, the terrain changes on the Hogback Section. But it's not as difficult as it looks here. A hiker can be seen in the upper right hand corner:
Daria looking back down the trail toward Dante BM way off in the distance:
Dan and Patrick pushing on through the Hogback Section, which contains large rock outcroppings, loose boulders, and steep terrain:
Here we had to stay to the right as we made our way up and past quite a few bumps:
Daria and Patrick taking a breather after getting past another tiring section. It seemed like the Hogback Section went on forever:
Next we had to cross over this field of giant oddly shaped boulders:
As you can see, the summit was still quite a ways off:
Looking back at a bump we had just climbed past a few minutes earlier:
Even through these difficult areas, a faint trail guided us in the right direction:
A hiker standing on the summit, as the rest of us approach:
We all sat down and had lunch on the summit. The hike there had taken us about three hours:
Steve signing in to the summit register as Daria looks at what he is writing:
View west from the summit down into the Badwater Basin area:
A spectacular view of Telescope Peak from Mount Perry:
Looking straight down at Badwater Road and the road that leads to Natural Bridge Canyon:
Panoramic view to the northwest from Mount Perry of the Panamint Range and central Death Valley:
Looking to the north from Mount Perry at some of the smaller summits:
Looking to the northeast from the summit:
Zooming in on Pyramid Peak, which is near the top of my To-Do list for future Death Valley peaks. Ryan Company Town is also visible in this picture:
Looking to the east over the Greenwater Range:
Zooming in on Bat Mountain, which is a summit just outside of the park boundaries:
Here you can see the route which we took to get up to the summit of Mount Perry through the Hogback Section:
It was going to be a long journey back to Dante BM and our vehicles at Dante's View:
Finally, a view to the southwest towards the point where the Panamints and Owlsheads meet:
Daria and Steve getting a picture together on the summit of Mount Perry:
We spotted this chuckwalla during the hike back:
He climbed up on this rock to see what we were doing. We have included our favorite picture of this chuckwalla on our Wildlife Page:
