0 comments It was suppose to be camping again . But since Hay's party was full, and we couldn't find Matt anywhere, we decided to go ahead and tag along with Ariana, Katelyn and Kristen to Canyon for dinner and a short hike/stroll.

Katelyn had a friend working at the dining in Canyon Village and so she wanted to visit her. Dinner was not too bad although i still miss my Singaporean food. I had Trout with pecans and wild rice for dinner. Lettie and I wanted to get deserts but after the main course, we were to full to stomach down a dessert.

After dinner it was a drive to the Canyon Rim Trail and we took a couple of scenic trails and pictures.. The mosquitoes are getting crazy out here! they are everywhere!!

Then it was back to the dorm to chill.






0 comments Boy was it an adventure!
#1 It was a Night Hike. Due to misadventures, we only set of on our trail at 10pm. When the sun was just setting.
#2 Lamar Valley is freaking full of wildlife! Bears, Wolves, Elk, Bison, you name it.
#3 We got blocked by bison we could hardly see and it was scary as hell. More people die from bison attacks than bear or wolf attacks in the park!
#4 There was this creepy elk cry in the hills at 1 point. Like something just died. Followed by Wolves howling. Freaked the shit out of all of us.
#5 We took a wrong turn at the second fork cause we thought the campsite was at the other trail.
#6 So duh, we couldn't find out campsite and hiked more than we should have.

We ended up camping just off the trail a little in a small clearing we found.

Thank you Buddha for keeping me alive.
Yes Mr Bison, i will keep my promise of not eating beef or bison when i have the choice.

Ok, so what happened was:
Jillian and lettie went hiking in the morning. I didn't join them because i had a bad knee and headed to the clinic to get it check. Nothing much in the end. "Just a sprain", said the doctor.
So because they went hiking, Jillian wanted to rest before going on the camping trip and we set of at 7pm. It wasn't that bad since the sky stays bright till 10pm and the hike was only 3 miles in.

Unfortunately, We were caught in about 5 bear jams. FIVE! can u believe that? Talk about bear overload. And took a wrong road so we had to turn back. Nearing the Lamar Valley, we were again stopped by a wolf sighting. Creepy.... thinking that you will be camping around here and there are so many animal sightings. Grizzly, black bears, wolves....

So now, we started off on the trail. And smartly, went on the stock trail for horses. So of cause there wasn't a bridge for us to cross the river and we were stuck. Wandering around for 30 mins, we finally decided to drive down to look for another trail head shown on the map.

And so u have it. We started at 10pm on our 3 mile hike to the campsite. It was actually very scary cos we can hardly see in the dark. Otherwise i didn't think it was be that creepy.

That's my FIRST back country camping experience. Truly back country adventure i must say.

On a side note, the moon was round and bright. Beautiful as it nests between 2 mountains and shone into the valley.

Lamar Valley is a very beautiful place and one worth hiking again.






0 comments Plan A: Chico Hot Springs with Michaela and the girls
Plan B: Camping with Zac and a bunch of other random people
Plan C: Full Moon Hike to Mt Washburn

Well, i had a bad knee last night and when i woke up this morning it was still not right. So after lunch this afternoon lettie walked with me to the clinic to get it checked. The wait was about an hour though and we came back to the dorm to wait it out well preparing for our plans A, B & C.

On the way back we headed to Osprey to look for Zac and confirm the camping trip but he was no where to be found. So we walked back to Pelican and saw Michaela's truck drive off. "Well, there goes plan A" i thought, and we went to our room to pack for the camping trip should Zac come by later in the afternoon to confirm it.

10 mins later, Michaela walks to our room and asked us if we were still going. Omg, they actually went to the EDR to look for us!So we hop on her truck and CHICO HOT SPRINGS here we come!

The Trip was a blast. Although it was not what we expected. We ended up eating at a cool restuarant, The Garage, which had car plates for menus and a freaking awesome toilet. Later headed to Target cause Ariana and Michaela needed swimsuits for the hot springs and got caught in a thunderstorm.

Yup and proof went Chico Hot Springs. So we just wandered through Target for the afternoon
waiting out the storm. Drove through Mac Donalds TWICE for frappes, got gas and drove back
home.

We did catch the freaking huge moon rise on the way back to Yellowstone though. And blasted
clubbing music through Katelyn's ipod all the way back to the lake.

So that was our Chico Hot Springs Trip.. Cool huh?

I know. (:






0 comments So, me and Jillian had dinner shift today while Yong Xiang was off. Thus we decided to go on a hike short hike. hahha! but short hkes with Jillian are never short. But a close to 10 mile hike. The nearest one we could find on the map was Turbid Lake. But because Jillian had tried it before and lost the trail, we went for another trail just opp the carpark which was towards elk point and along the lake.

Crossing rivers are so fun! we crossed about 3 today. and all involved balancing over tree trucks across a relatively strong flowing river!

Unfortunately we couldn't find Elk point and i think we even passed it and walked more than we should.

It was Yong Xiang's first real hike with Jillian and you could see he was really tired at the end.. Jillian seriously flies...






1 comments Remember the time i talked about the Circle of Fire tour and wrote on how the grand Canyon was formed?

Yup, i went back there again. This time for a hike around this magnificent landscape. The planned route was to follow along the North Rim Trail and continue on to the South Rim Trail. All along walking on the circumference of the canyon from Inspiration point, crossing at Chittenden Bridge and ending at Artist Point.

Well, we kinda lost ourselves and started at grand view instead. Making the trail about 9 miles instead of the original 12 miles.
This is my favourite spot of the hike. Crystal Falls. Just look at the waterfall and the rainbow it created! We had lunch somewhere around here and yes, i found out that Yellowstone does indeed have mosquitoes. Big, fat, slow-flying mosquitoes.






0 comments 10 of us went to Cody today in 2 cars. 5 of us Singaporeans and 5 Americans... It was an awesome day with the great weather and company, although the Pow Wow wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be, we entertained ourselves with visits to WalMart and walking through the town itself.

So the day started of with us each paying $7 to enter the Pow Wow arena and yup, native red indians in their dance costumes and bells on their legs everywhere. But the art works were beautiful and lots and lots of dream catchers...

After we got enough of the Pow Wow, we headed off to sierra trading post just across the road to get camping equipment, bag packs, harnesses and what-nots. And it was to Walmart for detergent and other stuff we needed up in this ulu out-of-civilization-world.

Dinner was at a hong kong chinese restuarant and YES! for once! We got to eat REAL chinese rice! Fried Rice!!! omg, i ate like 3 bowls of rice today(the typical small chinese rice bowl though)... the most i have eaten since i got here. Ok, all of us Singaporeans ate alot for dinner it seems...RICE!

Faith then suggested we walk around the town area since we were here. We eventually got stuck in a Dinosaur discovery center and the guys bought a T-Rex shirt for $25 each. Spencer also bought a very random marble owl.

Ice Cream!! we ate at Peter's and read stupid books like 'How to seem like a normal person', 'a book to understanding women' written by a man. 'How to survive when you are surrounded by idiots'.

Although Jillian felt sick half of the day, she recovered after she ate the ice cream and hopefully she had a good time too.

It was a good day off. (:






0 comments Yes, it is snowing in summer on the 17th of June in Lake Village Yellowstone. Cold and windy day.... Lettie was going hiking with Jillian, Mike and Kyle but they called it off because of the weather.
So we stayed in and watched The Jungle Book and A Knight's Tale.

Look for the, bear necessities. The simple bear necessities.. Forget about your worries and your strife!

I don't remember exactly what was in a knight's tale but towards the end, it was good... Touching, in all manly honor.






0 comments So today, we went to the marina and tried to get row boats. All 8 of us, girls, squeezed into Michaela's truck and headed off 2 miles down the road to the Marina..
The weather was cool and sunny when we were out there but winds started to blow once we rented the row boats..

We were having fun though and just continued laughing and taking pictures when suddenly, it started to HAIL! omg... screaming, we started to head towards shore and the marina employees made us dock along the nearest quayside. ice chucks were hitting us and it hurts! So all 8 of us girls scurried to the nearest shelter there, the life jacket store and burst out laughing..

hahaha, it was hilarious just seeing all of us trying to squeeze into the tiny shed.

All of us in the tiny shed! Can u still see ice pieces on some of us? lol..






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With Jillian and Spencer, we took a car 5 miles past Grant Village to the trail head of this hike.

It was rolling terrains up down up down on some parts and streams to cross. one of which i almost lost balance and fell into the icy cold water.. We also notices a couple of bear footprints which sent us all shouting " Hi Bear!! where are you!" To prevent a surprise encounter with one nearby.

I also collected a whole beach in my shoe... and the sand gave my heels abrasions... grumbles. but the view was nice the weather was nice and although i think i was a little too quite cos i was busy trying to catch up and look at the surrounding, it was a nice and healthy experience. haha exercising.. Oh, and there is a campsite at the Shoshone lake banks too!

Now, let the pictures do the talking since all i can say is the view was tranquil and calming... i kept wanting to jump into the river or stream of crystal clear waters... ahhh









0 comments Gardiner! I had the most awesome day today! We signed up for a white water rafting trip with the recreation hall a week ago and it was finally here.

7.30am, we got our pick up van at the rec center and met Laurel's boyfriend, Caleb, a recreational supervisor at Canyon Village who was going to bring us to the white water rafting activity.

We headed back to Canyon to pick up another participant and Caleb let us choose a route we preferred to get us to Gardiner. We choose the road along Mt Washburn, i think. Through tower junction.

It was a fantastic drive! we saw a grizzly bear with 2 cubs just off the side of the road and they actually crossed right in front of us! and later, we even spotted 2 black bears along the road as well.Later in the day, after rafting, we took the same route back and saw another 2 black bears! We suspected that they could have been the same black bears we saw. But, that made a sighting of 4 black bears and a grizzly with 2 cubs up close! - My Yellowstone Moment.

Rafting was fun too! i got to ride rodeo in front with my legs swinging out of the boat in front. When we went through the waves, the icy cold water splashed right in our faces! There were of cos lots of screaming and cheering. Making the experience a whole lot more fun. Liz, our rafting guide was cute as a button too! hahah with 45 years of experience under her belt at the age of 20 something and rafting since 4 years of age. Impressive huh? A senior, Sam was on the boat to help her out too. So we where all in safe hands and they did took good care of us as well as provide us with information and stories about the scenic spots and wildlife in the area.

Oh yes, i have to mention what we wore. It was a wet suit over our swimsuits, with a fleece jacket and a spray jacket to keep us from getting too wet. Nice and warm. The only problem was the hands and fingers, because the temperature of the water was freezing, our fingers were frozen of course but Liz kept us rowing to help keep us warm.

And now, pictures!


Hike tomorrow! Good night!






0 comments hahaha.. Third time at Storm Point. This is starting to become a favourite stroll in the park. The ground was muddy and wet though and big fat earthworms were crawling all over. squishy worms.. hahhaa i picked one up and was tempted to bring 1 back with me. they are HUGE and LONG. 0.5cm thick i think. and we saw a coyote or a wolf from afar. it was looking at us and sitting there.. but too small for us to make out what it was. Not forgetting the resident marmots. Cute as always. The mountains are so beautiful here!






0 comments
My legs are still aching from this hike! and i got 3 big blisters on my feet... ouch. big like a 50 cent coin.

But, the weather was so great! blue sky, green grass and a soft dirt path. These lake are just in the Canyon Village area, 3.5 miles from the village.

Jillian wanted to catch up on her 50 mile hike goal.. So she asked if we wanted to hike the next day when i was doing dinner shift with her. Te initial plan was to only do 1 hike. That is, Grebe lake. But because she flew and we tried flying after her, we finished the 3-4 hour hike in 2 hours. and there was plenty of time b4 dinner shift. So she suggested another one nearby, Cascade lake.. hahha and so in total we clocked 11 miles in 4 hours.. I never knew i could possibly do that!

Hiking should be done slowly! she totally missed the hooves on the floor and zoomed pass. Luckily i spotted it. Its one of the more interesting things we have seen in the hike i must say. Oh but the views are so beautiful! if only i could get the wind to not blow and get the reflection of the mountains onto the lake. Nature can't be controlled though..

Oh ya! we also saw a Bald eagle on the way back from the hike. It was soaring in the sky like a kite!

Dinner was so tiring after that. Probably cos of the hikes and the blisters on my feet. 2 of them burst halfway though the shift... Time to rest my feet for a night or two - no hikes, period...






0 comments Day off! Saturday! Initially, we were planning on going hiking at the Mammoth Area - Beaver Ponds with Daniel. On the way to lunch however, we met a group going out to fairy falls and decided to join them. There were 8 of us in total and we took 2 vehicles down to Old Faithful to start the hike.
The walk to fairy falls was easy with a short climb up a slope for a better view of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Midway Geyser Basin. It is the 2nd largest hot spring in the world and look at the colours! A rainbow stuck on the ground.
Fairy Falls was a little wonder of its own too, with a small stream cascading down a clear descent. There was even a piece of snow bridge in the middle with bluish hues. the prettiest sight ever. I feel that waterfalls have this calming effect as the sound of water splashes constantly and the gentle watery mist brushes arcoss your face. It's my favourite thing to be around with after a tiring hike whatsoever.
Continuing on, we stomped through marshy wetlands and followed a thermal stream towards Imperial Geyser. Another wonder of Yellowstone. It constantly erupts after every 5 mins or so and has the same beautiful crystal blue bottom and gradual changes towards the side of it.
We even encountered a herd of Bison on the way and Josh, crazily tried to get closer but quickly backed away when some bison started to look at him and walk towards him... seemingly trying to run into a charge.. A herd of Bison walking quickly towards you is not something for a faint heart...
Then starts the climb up the Twin Buttes, said to be formed by glaciers long ago that dumped 2 mounds of gravel as they passed over this active hot spring area. Climbing up was not a joke! i was so out of breathe i had to stop numerous times to make sure i wouldn't black out from the lack of oxygen at the altitude. After much huffing and puffing as well as encouragement from Daniel who was closing the rear behind me and Abigail, I made it! and lie on the grass for a got 2 mins looking at the sky and catching my breathe. From the top, we overlooked everything we just hiked! Fairy falls, the carpark, the geysers and miles further too. WOW!

Not long after, it started to rain again and worried about lightening strikes as well as the closesure of Old Faithful's Employee's Dining Room (EDR) we raced down the Buttes and back to the carpark... the climb down was hard too.. having to be careful not the slide all the way down. there were times i wanted to just sit on my but and slide down cos they were so steep!

We made it in time for dinner at the EDR and later headed back to lake in Daniel's car.

It was supper night though. i ate cup noodles at about 10pm and just as i was finishing, Lettie brought Spencer in saying he was starving for food but the snack machine was down. so we gave him a pack of maggi but could only offer him chopsticks since none of us brought a fork. hahaha it was so funny looking at him trying to eat with chopsticks. it looked nothing like what it should look like.

Lettie got hungry watching him eat and also cooked a pack for herself after that. Abel came out and was, after that, complaining about being hungry too. lol.. the supper monster was after everyone.






0 comments

Unfortunately it started pouring and we raced back to Michaela's truck. My pants we totally drenched on the left since the rain was blowing at us from the left. haha! Thanks to my jacket, my top body was dry and still relatively warm. (:






0 comments After breakfast shift in the morning, lettie and i met up with Zac who had v kindly offered to bring us down to the nearest town to get supplies.. we both needed hand creme for our very dry hands due to all the washing and sanitizing at work. I was also in need of a microwavable Tupperware to cook my maggi in.

So we headed of the Jackson instead of Cody cos we had never been to Jackson before and Zac though it was a neat town.

We passed an elk reserve and stopped by a wildlife museum to check out how much it would cost to get into the museum. After that, we decided not to go in cos we did not had enough time to visit the museum long enough to justify the entrance fee we had to pay for it.

Well, Zac was right. The town was truly quaint and pretty. We cowboy old school buildings and historically rich structures. There were even arches made out of elk antlers and movie-like sets of buildings that came out from Shanghai Noon.

We headed straight to the local K-Mart to get our supplies and headed of to the Ripley's Believe it or Not in Jackson Hole. They had a $2 discount for Xanterra employees too! So we paid for Zac's ticket to thank him for the ride out here. The weird and wonderful starts here....

After the very informative Ripley's tour, we headed to Wendy's for dinner! (haha, James? are u drooling? i'll try my best to get a set back for you... i'll try.) BBQ Bacon Crispy Chicken Burger Super Value Meal. Yum! And they can get drink refills as well, although their small coke is about the size of our up-sized ones.

And Lettie drove his car all the way back from Jackson to the Lake. Oh i forgot to mention, his car is total hippie! with loads of stickers on the back and weird crazy colourful stuff all around. Spongebob car-seat, Green aliens, orange sunglasses and even the automatic seat beat. hahaha!






0 comments TIRED!!!

Both Lettie and I worked dinner that night. so with the morning free, we decided to join Jillian and Mike on a Hike starting at Fishing Bridge.... They talked as if it would be a relatively short hike, in time for dinner.. haha! little did we know what was going to happen.

The hike up to LeHardys' Rapids Overlook was actually relatively decent. The only problem was, it did not stop there. The majority wanted to continue on the trail and cover more distance.. and, that was what we did. There were a total of 7 of us. Gradually, it split up to groups of 4s and 3s. The 4 in front walking at the speed of light being Spencer, Mike, Jillian and Emily, and the 3 of us, Lettie, Jay and I trying to walk as well as look at the surroundings.. not something u can do walking at the speed of light. (The only major concern walking that fast was to look at the gound in case i tripped or fell off the path. Scary)

It was an interesting hike though.. walking through marshy grassland and crossing rivers. At one point, we even walk through a burnt part of the forest and Jay was doing crazy stunts here and there. Trying to jump 10 ft, climbing a tree.... haha ultimately, he dropped his knife along the way and upon crossing the next river stream, we decided to turn back in advance to look for it as well as start our journey back. The 3 of us were getting very tired and there was no sign of the 4 others in front.

After much huffing and puffing, we finally reached fishing bridge. Lettie, being extremely responsible, wanted to first leave the guys a message on their cars about us being back in case they came back thinking the 3 of us got lost. However, Jay and I were so tired and hungry, we wanted to first stop over at the General Store which was right in front, for a rest, before heading to the carpark some distance down. Over ruled, we headed for the general store first and melted into their rocking chairs.. haha!

Heading down to leave a message, we realised that we had no pen! Instead, we took a stick and i wrote a huge-ass message on the dirt in front of their cars. "Back to Dorms" with 3 stick-mans At the back representing the 3 of us. Later Lettie borrowed a pen from a passer-by and wrote a note on Jay's paper grocery bag and stick it to the car-wipers too. Then, we hitch-hiked a ride back from a fellow employee driving pass.

Later that night, DINNER SHIFT! haha... tired as hell for obvious reasons but it was a good thing i had very helpful servers and they helped out a lot with clearing off tables and plates which made my work so much faster to do. Thank god!






0 comments We managed to borrow a car from Abel's new roommate Alex! Thus, we set of for storm point trail early the next morning 8am...

The trail was a relatively easy one as compared to Elephant back, but the view was nothing short of spectacular too! On the way, we encountered a family of marmots living in the plains.. they seem accustom to humans though since Yong Xiang and Abel were both able to get really close for their pictures.

Spencer, our American friend even managed to call home on his cellphone since there was reception at our scenic stop. he almost drop it into the lake though...

As we finished up the trail and headed back, the car refused to start.. hur... it was a good 3omins or so and we even hail for help from passer-by cars. Eventually after much coaxing the car purr-ed to life. YES! off we were, to the gas station and the General Store at fishing bridge down the road....

At the fishing bridge General Store, we met Rob. One of the people we met on our elephant back night hike. I got myself a souvenir penny press (Whatever that is called) It is said that there are a number of such machines all over the National park each with 4 different prints. I might probably try to collect a few. like 1 from each machine? hahhaa ill try...

pictures when i get them!

Hello my dears!
Excuse me if i dont update regularly.
Currently, my location is in Norway-Oslo
and i'm using this blog as a journal or travel log as u may call it.
I hope i will be able to keep it up day to day.
Current location: USA-Yellowstone, Lake Village
Enjoy the reads and cheerios!
Connection is slow and pictures cannot be uploaded go to facebook for them~

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Bernice. 14 Sept.

Olav M. Troviksvei nr.12
H1012
0864 Oslo

UPS/FEDEX Deliveries:
1 Lake Village,
Yellowstone National Park,
WY 82190

Post Office Deliveries:
General Delivery Lake
Yellowstone National Park,
WY 82190



Dear mummy,
my posts per page is set to 3. if u wan to look a the pass logs, just go to cheshire's trail and click on the month of your choice.

Places i have visited and completed blogging.

Oslo
Paris
Belgium
Amsterdam
Berlin
Bremen
London
Tromso
Copperhagen


•history •Fiona


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