#rainbowwaterfall

Then we got a couple of hours to explore the park on our own. Our guides suggested to go see Vernal Fall aka “the rainbow waterfall”, so that’s what most of us did.

What was supposed to be a “small hike, climbing up, with a chance of getting a little bit wet” turned into a 2,5 hour hike that made us soaking wet and sore the next day. It was more than they promised but so was the view. My pictures don’t do justice.

We had lunch at the parking lot before we continued our journey. No time to waste - we only had an hour to get through a specific passage to be able to get to our camping spot of that day. It opened at 3pm and they would close the road again at 4pm, due to snow issues.

We got to the passage on time and had a moment to stretch our legs while waiting for the road to open.

For at least an hour, we drove through snowy mountains. I found it pretty strange. How could there still be snow in this temperature?

We set up camp at Brown's Town Campgrounds, in Bishop.

After dinner, our guides Rachel and Sam, had 2 surprises for us.

First, birthday cake for Laura, the German girl who turned 26 that day!

Second, an excursion. They told us to put on our bikinis, take a towel and an open mind. No flashlights. We had to let our eyes get used to the dark.

Then they drove us to the middle of nowhere and dropped us at a small puddle. And the water was hot!! We dropped our stuff and got in the hot spring. The water was not that high, everyone sat down. And it was so hot you wanted to stand up every now and then to refresh. (I think it was Keough's Hot Springs.)

I don’t know how long we sat there. It was amazing... The sky above us was wonderful. Filled with so many stars. The Milky Way super clear. Shooting stars if you were lucky enough to catch them. And no sound but us 26 speechless girls in the water.