Wyoming to Yosemite - horse riding to hiking

11/09/11

A relaxing horse ride through Wyoming, remembering September 11 ten years on, a western dinner at a sports bar and Sam Stosur winning the US Open – woohoo!

Seven of our awesome team  went for a horse ride. I had Bunny to ride on and she was great at first and when I did some horse whispering to encourage her but towards the end she was getting a little stubborn and I needed to give her a few kicks to keep her going. It was great ride up the switchback trail up the mountains and had a fantastic view of the mountains and valley over Jackson. The funniest moment was Mickey’s horse going the high ride constantly and then running him into the tree repeatedly.

Afterwards we had lunch at a diner and had the best burgers in town – they were fab and loved the waffle fries. In the afternoon we had a rest, I even fell asleep in the van on a shopping stop and did a load of washing – attempting to avoid using the quarters of the states. Only a few states to go for the whole set – now a few to go for the whole set!

Went for dinner at the sports bar and was able to watch the NFL Dallas Cowboys and the baseball amongst September 11 memorials. Also watched a bit of Sam’s maiden grand slam win. Had a great fried chicken dinner – Momma’s special chicken.

Tomorrow we are off to Idaho & Nevada and an 8 hour van drive – uh oh.

12/09/11

Rolling hills, trees, more rolling trees, mountains and going to the moon!

A huge drive again and a quick stop off in Idaho at the Craters on the moon. Created by old lave flows and the remnants of these and the flora that was forever imprinted from these lava flows. Some amazing scenery and we all did our best moon walk impressions along the trails.

Back on the road and off to Nevada!

13/09/11

An ultra early morning made worse by my alarm not going off and another huge drive to Lake Tahoe – where we had fun jet skiing and a sunset sail.

Unfortunately my phone hadn’t changed time zones when I’d gone to bed but it did whilst I was asleep and I had set my alarm an hour later and because of the change it didn’t go off and I got into a little trouble pulling my tent down late – lucky I had already packed the night before.

After a long trip and a road block around an accident we arrived at the picturesque Lake Tahoe. It was pretty spectacular and a few of us decided to go on the jet ski. The boys went solo and three us shared our time. Allison and I went for 40 minutes and played some cat mouse games with the boys. After 40 minutes and sharing the driving time we came back in to share our time with Andrea. We headed to camp on the pine forest hill – very picturesque and we set up before heading back to the waterfront for our sunset cruise. We sat up the front on the bow as we sailed across Lake Tahoe. It was a great sunset with some reddish tinges in the clouds and then a lightning show to finish off with – thankfully it was far away.

We headed back to camp for a campfire after a run in with the ‘A team’ and some nasty comments after one of our crew had a jet ski prang.

14/09/11

A bear in camp, trees, giant trees and more giant trees.

Headed off to Yosemite this morning and the last of the bear country. Was absolutely envious when Christy shared her bear encounter form this morning. She went to the office at 1am in the morning and on her way back to the tent saw a black bear. She was so freaked out she spent the night in the ladies. I  couldn’t believe it but the mess around the trash was proof. The ni was just jealous she got to see a bear – although it may have been quite terrifying!

At Yosemite we had a quick picture opportunity at Half Dome before heading to the Sequoia Grove. We had a few hours to make it to the trees that are so big they cut a hole through one and used to drive vehicles through it for 80 years. Got some classic pics and then I crossed the creek and there was another one that you could crawl through length wise. I loved it and talked an old lady from Idaho into following me through as well.

We then headed for an adventurous journey to camp, down a narrow winding and bumpy road the GPS suggested. We hit a hair pin and it took quite an effort to back it up and turn around.

15/09/11

Hills, hiking and waterfalls.

6 of us set out on the hike of a lifetime. Our goal was the Nevada and Vernal Falls about 12km round trip. The journey was pretty much – up, up and away. It was so steep and the switchbacks were massive. Two and a half hours later we could see the massive waterfall of the Nevada Falls. They were mighty and powerful and freezing! Dipped my feet into them and we had our lunch in a beautiful spot.

Then we headed back down the granite mountain. A tree  branch nearly hit Kat, Jen and Mikey and then we came across the Vernal Falls – maybe even more impressive than the Nevada Falls. The only problem – the stair case down both falls – woah so steep and slippery. Two and a half hours later we finally reached the bottom and we needed a good stretch. We snoozed through the Yosemite movie before having some pizza for dinner and a quiet night back at camp!

The hike was in Mt Sinai proportions but the stunning waterfalls made it spectacular in a different way. We complete our cross country trek tomorrow and arrive in San Francisco.