It was the busiest week of the Summer and I loved it. I started off with a trip home to visit the parents. I was only there for a day and a half, but it was still fun. I was able to spend time with both mom and dad on separate occasions. I also discovered a couple of things.
1. They are weird (in the best way possible).
2. They need to get out more, together. They leave the house, but often in their separate ways. Perhaps it would help with number one. :)
While home we had dinner with a family in the ward that was a lot of fun.
I left on Wednesday morning for Provo. I had enough time to pack, finish homework, and run a couple of errands before leaving for Yellowstone. I went with a large group to Yellowstone to go backpacking in the back country. We drove up to Idaho Falls to spend the night on Wednesday night. We left two hours late, which became the overall theme of the entire trip (insert sad face). Thursday morning we left two hours late for Yellowstone. After arriving we had the bear talk with a park ranger and headed out into the wild. The hike to our camping area with about seven miles. I did surprisingly well, for not being an avid backpacker. We got to wade through several water areas. The area was marshy with large bodies of standing water. Slightly gross, but fun. Never had to check myself for leaches before, so that was a new experience.
After arriving in camp we set up and cooked dinner. A group of us went to a smaller waterfall called the Jumping Falls. The water was very cold, put it was fun to be so close. We came back and ate dessert and went to bed. Well, the girls went to bed. The guys had some bonding time with rigging the gear. We discovered when we got there, that our bear pole was blown over in a storm and the trees in our area were not the best for handing things. Apparently they were up until two in the morning trying to rig something and having a grand old time. Fortunately I didn't hear anything. The next morning we got started two hours late to Dananda Falls (notice the theme). This fall was our main purpose in going. It was three times as big as the other one. I am inserting a picture of it to show you what I was able to play in. There were hot springs there as well that were fun to sit in. I climbed up behind the fall and it was amazing to see how powerful they are.
We went back to camp ate lunch, packed everything up, and left two hours late. We reach the ranger station around seven at night. We took a different way back that required less water and brush. We had lovely cloud cover and some light rain to keep us cool.
The gang was very hungry, so we stopped at a burger place called Big Juds. They have one, two, and three pound burgers. One in our company polished of a one pounder and got his picture on the wall. That burger was huge!
After dinner we headed back to Idaho Falls where we split in two groups. Half of us headed home. I ended up getting home a little after four. I showered and was in bed at a quarter to five. I was up again at a quarter to eight to do the annual Squaw Peak hike. It was murder on the way up, because it is so steep, but the way down is great.
The final count of hiking is between 20-25 miles. I think that counts as a successful/healthy week. I will try to post more pictures of the adventure.
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