Yosemite National Park

Our trip from Yellowstone to Yosemite was to take a couple of days crossing from Wyoming, briefly through Montana, spanning the entire length of Idaho before heading into Utah and finally into California.  During this trip we spent a night in Idaho at the quaint little town of Lava Hot Springs (the first of two hot spring towns we would stay in). We spent until late in the evening soaking our weary bones in the relaxing waters, some of the pools were far too hot to spend more than a few moments in. 

We also crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. 

Again, like most places, we were to arrive late in Yellowstone only to find that most of the camp areas were closed for winter, even though they are experiencing a very warm fall and there were people everywhere! We spent a night in an RV park outside of the park due to all camp grounds that were open being fully occupied. We decided the next day to go and reserve a camp site before exploring the park. We found a spot, paid the fee and went off for the day, safe with the knowledge we had somewhere to stay for the night. For those of you that have travelled in the national parks in the US, you will know that they get booked on a first come basis. It also relies on the honesty of the travelers as you self serve, filling in a slip that is attached to your site and putting the payment in a locked box. Unfortunately, there are some dishonest travelers in the world. When we arrived back close to 7 and in the dark, two Germans had taken out spot and claimed innocence and too many beers to move. So we had to go in search of a ranger who found us a road side spot to spend the night as the park was again full. Very, very frustrating! Apparently this is a common occurrence. 

Despite this, we spent a great couple of days looking around the park and Glen was able to catch some more trout, which was a miracle considering the lack of water at present. California is in its fourth year of a severe drought and is extremely dry. Nearly all of the creeks and rivers are dry and none of the waterfalls in Yosemite are  working. They are also undertaking major back burning due to the extreme fire risk.