Bear scare

Hiking through Yosemite was the order of the day for most of us. Split into our various hiking groups, we made our way up to the stunning Nevada Falls.

Our new parallel trek group was close by at camp and was led by a fetching young Antipodean who coincidentally(!) was Mark's wife, Mel and we were surprised to learn that they were quite newly-wed - hope we made your 'honeymoon' interesting guys!

As we were in bear country, all food & scented materials had to be stored in bear-proof boxes away from tents. Mark had warned us of bear visits & that night some of us were woken by a loud crash as our cutlery box was overturned, followed by shouts and clapping to scare the 'bear' away. Since no-one actually saw the animal, many of still wonder whether it was just a prank played by our own Mark van Etten...! But on a serious note, bears are a real threat out there, so if you do go into bear country, don't be tempted to keep food or anything fragrant in your tents at night.

Bart & balls

The Alisa Hotel on Bush, a stone's throw from the city's famous Chinatown, was our cosy San Fran base. That evening, we eagerly tested out the city's train system, amusingly called Bart (well, it amused a few of us!) and went to watch the Seattle Mariners vs Oakland Athletics - that's baseball folks! Some consider the game to be dull but I think we proved them wrong by probably making the most noise in the whole stadium!