Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes,...

, in the US state of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range

Panamint Range

The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States.-Geography:...

, and lies in Inyo County

Inyo County, California

-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...

. From atop this desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...

, and east to Charleston Peak. The mountain was named for the great distance visible from the summit.
Telescope Peak is also notable for having one of the greatest vertical rises above local terrain of any mountain in the contiguous United States.