hey guys. Planning a road trip for middle of November. Planning to hit the three parks above spending 5 nights between the three. Any advice as far as trails to check out, places to camp. We are taking my jeep and would prefer to make this a mostly car camping with day hikes kinda trip, but we don't want to camp in big campgrounds with lots of people/kids.

Should be a fun trip. J-Tree is a great place to park and just go rambling and scrambling amongst the boulders. I've only passed through once, and can't recall specifics.

Death Valley should be great that time of year. If there's not too much snow and/or wind, the hike up Telescope Peak is really quite spectacular, and the two campgrounds up that way are very nice as well. A bunch of the "usual" dayhikes to Mosaic Canyon and Darwin Falls are also good fun.

I second Dave's recommendations for Death Valley. Telescope is a must do as long as there isn't too much snow.

A few other quick points I think are well worth stopping at on the way in/out (no hiking involved) are Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, and Badwater.

Jay,

JT can be crowded in November. The south part of the park is furthest from LA, and the least used. If car camping, stay at the Cottonwood campground. Mostly snowbirds who go to sleep at 8:00pm and astonomers who are quiet. There is a nice trail to Lost Palms Oasis. Crowded for the first couple of miles. Or you can drive to other areas.

Mead - lots of campgrounds. Take the dirt road to the Rim of Fire trailhead (get a topo map). Not a lot of trails in the area, but a nice hike to the Rim of Fire. If there was a recent rain, there is a slot canyon on the other side of the west ridge of the Rim. You will have to look at the topo and see what wash to hike. I can't remember the name, but it is too strenous for a day hike to climb over the ridge from the Rim of Fire, but there is a dirt road from the Rim of Fire trailhead to the wash.