Sunday 26 July 2009

Tetons and Yellowstone!
























Well, I have just returned from another successful trip. This time the Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone national park. Both of which were stunning!

Day 1 - Having spent a long time stuck in traffic, we finally arrived at Flag Ranch which is situated between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We sety up our tents, made dinner, and went to bed. That night I didnt sleep well. This was because we were in real bear country and bear regualry were caught going in and out of campsites! I didnt know this at the time but a woman was paid to patrol the campsite in a pickup to detur and bear that may be found wondering....she had to scare off a big grizzly only 2 weeks ago! Elk, moose, cayotes and bison also regulaly wondering into the camp, but they do not pos such a threat. Anyway, I eventually did get to sleep but woke up throughout the night and eveytime I heard anything I started freaking out. So I listened to my Ipod and that helped.

Day 2 - We decided to go on a hike to 'Hidded Falls' in the Tetons. We met up with John and Kary an their family (John is Britney's brother) and we hiked around Jenny's Lake, to Hidden Falls and then up to Cascade Canyon. It was about a 5 or 6 mile round trip, so not too long which was nice as I hadn't slept well the night before. Hidden Falls was really beautiful. They were these really high and powerful waterfalls flowing with glacial meltwater. Nice. We sat and ate our lunch (a cooked chicken we had packed) by the falls and then split off from John and Kary so carry on further down to Cascade Canyon. When we got back we went back to the campsite and made pasta and took showers which was nice. :D I slept better than night for some reason, I think it was because of my Ipod again.

Day 3 - Today we went to yellowstone. It was very nice, but becuase it was so big it meant that we had to spend alot of time in the car to get to all of the different places. We went and visited old faithful and some nice hot thermal pools. We also drove throught a massive Bison heard and saw lots of nice rivers and woods. Old Faithful was very crowded and busy, but it was still nice. The thermal pools was also really nice. You can always check my facebook for more pictures.

Day 4 - Today we climbed dissapointment peak. It is 3,541 meters high. That is very high. This was the highest mountain I had ever climbed. On the way up we ran into a mother black bear in a berry patch. This was a very scary but also really really cool. Bears get very protective of their cubs and also of their food so it is very lucky that she didnt seem to mind us too much. We were all very shaken up afer that.We took some photos of it which are also on my facebook. We hiked up to ampitheatre lake which was covered in ice. Me and Nathan left Reid and Britney there whilst we did the final few step and scary miles up to the top. We had to climb up this chute through a tiny narrow gap after having kick-steped up icy snow with a drop at the bottom. We then climbed up a route meant only for rock climbing. It had a big overhang with a 90 foot drop underneath us onto jagged rocks. But we did it without ropes and carried on along the long steep scramble to the top. When we hit the top the view was amazing. We were 3,541m up looking out over the flat valley floor and we could look out at all the other rugged mountains and the grand Teton which was just across a huge raviene. That was really nice. I have loads of photos of the on my facebook if you wana have a look! :D It was cool as we came down as we ran out of drinking wwa ter and we had to fill up from river and purify it which was fun.

Day 5 - Tday we wetn white water rafting! It was SO SO SO SO fun. The waves were huge and we were on the boat for about 90 mins which was cool. On the biggest rapid (The Big Kahuna) Nathan and Reid fell out! We struggled to get them back in before the next big rapid which was coming up soon and that would NOT have been good if they had swam that one. We also saw LOADS of Bald Eagles and Ospreys which was really cool!!! I will put up some river rafting photos and video soon as we are getting them sent to us by a company which took some as we went down.

1 comment:

  1. Oh Seb, I'm glad you are having soooo much fun!! Carry on enjoying it!! It's raining back here!!! xxx

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