HIKING AROUND JENNY LAKE

We get lots of questions from guests while working in the Jenny Lake Store.  Other than Where are the restrooms?, the next most asked question is Where do you go to get the boat to cross the lake?  Before we left Grand Teton National Park for the year, it was time for us to experience being a tourist again, hiking the trail at Jenny Lake.  We have hiked this trail many times before, but it is one of those traditional "must do" activities while in the Tetons.

On a day off last week, we boarded our shuttle boat for the 5-minute ride across Jenny Lake.  Here is a view of the Grand Teton peak from the boat dock.

The lake was very calm in the early morning as we crossed the lake.  Here is a picture of one of the three boats in operation this morning as it passes us heading back to the main dock.

This photo was taken as we approached the dock at the other side of the lake.  Again, notice how calm the water is.  The wooden railed fences line the first 150 yards of the trail up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.  You can get an idea of the steepness of our hike by looking at the fence line rise from right to left.

As we began our climb up to Inspiration Point, we passed yet another stream of snow melt coming down the mountain.  We never get tired of viewing this crystal clear water rushing down the mountain side.  The dead tree trunks over the stream is another example of how the National Park Service lets fallen trees alone so mother nature can take its course for the tree to eventually rot and feed the soil with nutrients.

We reached Inspiration Point after a moderate one mile climb, including about six switchbacks, parts of the trail where the trail turns 180 degrees.  The view of Jenny Lake speaks for itself.   The view down to the lake shows just how rugged this part of the mountain is.  Also, if you look closely, you can see another shuttle boat heading back to the main dock at the top of the picture.  

 The view up to the top of Mt. Owen (mountain to the north of the Grand) is impressive as well.  You can see several small glaciers which still are covered with snow.  At 11,000 ft. plus in elevation, the temperatures are much colder causing the snow and ice to melt very little. 

From Inspiration Point we hiked down to Hidden Falls and back into the woods from the main trail.  While you can hear the falls, it is not visible until you are right in front of it because of the denseness of the woods.  It was this water from the falls that formed the stream shown earlier.

We continued our hike down towards the lake and then took the trail around the west side of Jenny Lake.  We were extremely cautious as there have been bears sited along this route.  This day the only wildlife we encountered were small chipmunks and a squirrel or two. 

We did see several areas where there were huge rock slides or avalanches many years ago.  This was evidenced by "rock meadows" containing new tree growth with trees less than four or five feet tall.  We also saw several areas where there was a lot of berries including raspberries and huckleberries.  This is probably the reason for the bear activity since one of a bear's favorite foods is huckleberries.

We took this picture of the Tetons from the south shore of Jenny Lake near the main boat dock.  The picture is similar to one we took at Phelps Lake showing the contrast of the wooded mountain next to a very rocky mountain with few trees.