The Planning

We are currently still at the planning stages, although the trip time is quickly catching up with us.

Currently we are hammering out the dates so we can book the flights, currently the flight from Dublin -> Las Vegas and then Seattle -> Dublin cost about $850 each. not that cheap but considering the distance it’s not bad working out at €680 each, but we plan on shopping around some more to see if we can get it cheaper.

The biggest problem we have come across is the car issue. Car is king in the USA and some of the national parks are only accessible via car with no public transport at all. So we are currently trying to find out how we can get to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park via bus or train, not as easy as one would hope. We plan on renting a car but some places it isn’t practical as we would have to hike around the parks in a circle returning back to the car! Most of the time we want to hike across the parks to see as much as possible, the big ones Yosemite, Grand Teton and Yellowstone have public transport access so at least we won’t have to worry abut them.

Just ordered all the maps needed for the parks so will have an update soon, including some maps of the plan.

Loch Lomond

A trip to Loch Lomond last week in Scotland to test out all our gear and do a bit of training for the USA. It was fantastic, all our gear lived up to there price and the scenery was beautiful, I have included a photo of the lake below. We did a seven mile hike and a four mile hike, just to stretch the legs, that will be the normal distance required each day in most national parks.

Loch Lomond

First night under the stars

We received our new MSR Mutha Hubba Tent in the mail on Wednesday so we decided to camp out Wednesday night to give it a test. It was extremely easy to set up and only took a few minutes.

As for space, I am 6ft 3″ and there is more than enough room for me, I can even sit up without incident. Also the entire tent only weighs 7lb or 3.3kg perfect for hiking.