What a fantastic trip. This park is amazing. The views were breath taking and there was so much to do I think we could have easily doubled the length of this trip and still not have seen it all. The coach was certainly an experience and we both felt sure that we would never experience anything quite like this again. The seats of the coach all turned into beds and the were bunks hanging from the celling. The general idea was for you to sleep whilst they drove so you wasted no time traveling. We were told that the coach would sleep 36. There were 23 on our trip so you would think there would have been plenty of room but it certainly didn't feel like it. By day four I think we were both ready to have our own space.
The weather was so cold on the second and third night. We had been advised to take some warm clothes but nothing had prepared us both for the low of -6 degrees that we experienced on the second night of the trip. It had snowed earlier that day so the campsite was covered with about 2cm of snow. Neither of us really had any clothes to deal with these temperatures so we resorted to wearing most of the contents of our bags to keep warm. Washing up in this temperature was an interesting experience. As soon as we had washed the plates and took them out to dry they froze. Your hands were so cold in the water they were almost painfull. We were however impressed with the food that was served and there was more than enough for everyone.
The first day in the park we completed a five hour hike up to the top of Nevada
waterfall. It was so pretty it didn't fail to impress despite almost having to crawl up some of the steepest points of the trail. Every ones legs were hurting after the climb and we really questioned the levels of fitness required for this trip if day two and three would be anything like this. Day two was a lot more relaxed though and involved a stroll around a lake and a dip in a natural thermal spring pool. As we now hadn't had a shower for two days and had almost frozen to death the night before this was a very welcomed break!
On the third day we went for another walk and a drive to see the famous Sequoias. These trees were so big it was nearly unbelievable. One tree was thought to be 4000 years old. After this it was then time to start heading back but not before a group trip to a local bar. Other than the two barmen and two very drunk locals we were the only people in there. It was nice to spend the night in the warm and we had a enjoyable game of pool with a couple from Liverpool (Keith and Hannah). We got back to the bus at 01.00 and we started our journey back to San Fransisco. The coach arrived back into San Fransisco at 06.30. A combination of the lack of sleep and the hangovers that we were both suffering from made packing up our things a task and a half.
Now at the hostel it's time to go to bed before we start planing our next stop - L.A.
The weather was so cold on the second and third night. We had been advised to take some warm clothes but nothing had prepared us both for the low of -6 degrees that we experienced on the second night of the trip. It had snowed earlier that day so the campsite was covered with about 2cm of snow. Neither of us really had any clothes to deal with these temperatures so we resorted to wearing most of the contents of our bags to keep warm. Washing up in this temperature was an interesting experience. As soon as we had washed the plates and took them out to dry they froze. Your hands were so cold in the water they were almost painfull. We were however impressed with the food that was served and there was more than enough for everyone.
The first day in the park we completed a five hour hike up to the top of Nevada
waterfall. It was so pretty it didn't fail to impress despite almost having to crawl up some of the steepest points of the trail. Every ones legs were hurting after the climb and we really questioned the levels of fitness required for this trip if day two and three would be anything like this. Day two was a lot more relaxed though and involved a stroll around a lake and a dip in a natural thermal spring pool. As we now hadn't had a shower for two days and had almost frozen to death the night before this was a very welcomed break!
On the third day we went for another walk and a drive to see the famous Sequoias. These trees were so big it was nearly unbelievable. One tree was thought to be 4000 years old. After this it was then time to start heading back but not before a group trip to a local bar. Other than the two barmen and two very drunk locals we were the only people in there. It was nice to spend the night in the warm and we had a enjoyable game of pool with a couple from Liverpool (Keith and Hannah). We got back to the bus at 01.00 and we started our journey back to San Fransisco. The coach arrived back into San Fransisco at 06.30. A combination of the lack of sleep and the hangovers that we were both suffering from made packing up our things a task and a half.
Now at the hostel it's time to go to bed before we start planing our next stop - L.A.
