Chipmunks

Chipmunk at Estees Park

What is he looking at?

Not wanting to speak to us!

Last Day in Yosemite

We spent three nights in Mariposa at a delightful caravan park. On Sunday we returned to Yosemite to visit Mariposa Grove, the largest remaining grove of Sequoia trees. Yesterday we travelled out of the hills, after again looking at the wildflowers, and into the valley which is a huge agricultural area with some cattle, but mainly cropping - apricots, nuts, artichokes, cherries, strawberries etc. We were glad to see when walking in a wildlife refuge that if attacked by a mountain lion you are meant to fight back!

More Yellowstone random pics

Elko to Lake Tahoe

Heading off for another big drive of about 550 km's it was overcast, which is probably a good thing as most of the day was spent driving through the deserts of Nevada. We stopped in Reno for a coffee and decided as it was such a nice day by then we would spend the night at Lake Tahoe and relax for a while out of the cities. The catch was that by the time we had climbed up into the Sierra Nevada's and reached the lake we were sitting at the snowline again - no sitting in the sun reading my book!

Big night in Elko

On arrival in Elko we discovered that the Seniors Rodeo was on in town and headed off for a look. Amazing riders (although I wasn't impressed with the bull riding). Watching someone who is in their 70's (as some were) ride and rope like they can is truly impressive, even if you can't admire what they are doing with their skills. Watching the people in the audience was also very entertaining.

The Big Day

We decided to gain an extra day at Yosemite by travelling a long distance yesterday. We left West Yellowstone (Montana) at 7am and travelled through Idaho, Utah and into Nevada, spending the night at a ranching and mining town called Elko. We had covered 870 km, including a 70 km dead flat straight across a salt basin below Salt Lake City (the journey broken by the sighting of occasional art installations). The city itself was very picturesque below snow capped mountains and next to the huge lake, but it is very isolated.

Yellowstone Plants

Spring is approaching fast and you can almost see the leaves coming up on the grass and the leaves opening on the trees. There are a lot of flowers out, but they are all very small and you need to wander around to see them.