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Starting to climb up from our campsite

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Up, up, up!

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You can't see the peak until you get to the very end of the trail, but it's hiding behind the highest peak visible here.

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Taking a break

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Hanging out by another tree

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A raven watched us carefully from afar. Asked Bill, "when can we stop?" and then quoth the raven "Nevermore!"

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The USGS marker on top of Telescope Peak had neither the name of the mountain, nor the elevation.

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Happy to have made it to the top

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The actual summit is very small. Another group of hikers took some pictures of us and then left us to have our lunch in peace.

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Getting ready for lunch!

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Almost ready for lunch

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Looking back at the trail from the summit.

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Looking through the haze into the valley and Badwater far far below.

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Gettin' restless

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Putting our boots back on

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Starting back down the trail.

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Contrasting beauty. We had never been so conscious of the fact that there are multiple tree lines before. Trees can't grow at low elevations in the valleys, and they can't grow too high into the mountains so there's a narrow band of trees on the mountains.

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Hiking

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Interesting stripey rock formations

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Sometimes you've gotta go up before you can go down.

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Flowers

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A view of where we've been.