I'm on a bus to Los Angeles following a great trip with Green Tortoise to Yosemite National Park. Two full days of enjoying the beauty of this vast granite valley and a bunch of new friends to boot, almost all of whose names I can't begin to remember...

Green Tortoise is a bus company that takes you on tours of America, favouring natural beauty over city life, and everyone mucks in to help with cooking, washing and cleaning. The bus runs overnight while the passengers sleep after "The Miracle" has been performed and the bus is transformed into a giant sleeping pad. In Yosemite all the meals were provided and our transport was also our accommodation!

I started the trip on the evening of the 6th, after spending most of the day securing a half-price 30-day Amtrak pass which has solved my issue of how to get across the country. I'll be taking the 50-hour California Zephyr from San Francisco to Chicago, reportedly the best train journey in the country. I also got a new pair of GoreTex walking boots to replace my old ones about a year too late! Anyway, back to the Tortoise. We pretty much slept the entire night in a "zipper" formation (top to tail across the bus in sleeping bags) and awoke to the view of Yosemite Valley at 7am! Magic!

We had a good breakfast and were dropped at the lodge to start walking just after 10am up to Upper Yosemite Falls. Hundreds of switchbacks, photos and sweat later we arrived at the top for lunch (in the snow!) before seven of us headed up to Yosemite Point for a great view of the valley. I was very interested in having my photo taken while perched on rocks high above the valley. I think I'm a bit better with heights these days.

We returned as quickly as possible and I spent at least one point on my arse while picking a shortcut down the slopes and through the snow from Yosemite Point. I cut my hands a bit and they still sting even now. In the end we were only 10 minutes late, which I thought was fairly impressive. We drove to our campsite for a flannel wash and a nice stir fry lunch, some beers, guitar, a campfire and general smiles all round. I don't mind admitting that I was crap at playing the guitar. For those who know how badly I usually play, I was even worse than that...

Six of us decided we'd sleep under the stars that night, so we wrapped up and got cosy on the tarp while the stars were slowly replaced by clouds and light showers. After a few false alarms, the rain eventually set in at 5:30am and the remaining four of us hurried to the bus to stay dry! Still, I like to think we won.

On day two we had a massive breakfast of cereal, pancakes, egg, fresh fruit and coffee. A few of us went off to the Mirror Lakes once we got back to the park and the sun had come out. We had lunch by the river, went and checked out the Ansel Adams gallery, then hopped on the Tortoise for the giant sequoias. Which were freezing. The snow was even deeper in the forest, and I was yet again glad of my new boots. We then set off to a lookout point for a huge dinner of chilli and all the rest. Another couple of beers, including one with a smashed top that I salvaged, and some hardcore team cleaning allowed us three hours in a local saloon bar. I chatted with a local couple who bought me a tequila shot while I drank ridiculously strong rum and coke. All in all a good night. I slept in the top part of the bus on the way back and overheated, then woke up in the morning in San Francisco. I spent the morning showering and having breakfast in the Green Tortoise hostel and now I'm here on the bus. It's much harder to sleep on this one!