The hiking here in Grand Teton NP looks like it has a lot to offer, with forest, lakes and mountains to choose from. It's a little early for me to tackle one of the higher elevation hikes, so we decided to start with a shorter, lower one. We'd originally planned to do the hike up to Taggart and Bradley Lakes, but I wasn't feeling too well. Too big a sandwich and too many nachos were probably the cause—it certainly wasn't too much pie. It was undoubtedly exacerbated by being awakened by the thunderstorm in the middle of the night.
So, we decided to do a hike that seemed a bit easier, the circuit of Jenny Lake, with a visit to Hidden Falls. It proved a good choice as it runs along the lake, with nearly constant views of the lake and the Teton mountains just over our heads. We did it clockwise, going along the mountainside first, then the side with the view across the lake. It rolls up and down through the forest along the mountainsides, punctuated occasionally with talus fields of large rocks that have slid down the mountain.
We walked up to the base of Cascade Canyon, which we will hopefully hike later, but with an additional nine miles and 1,100 feet of elevation gain, it was not for today. The trail took us up to Hidden Falls, which were picturesque, but with all the ones we've seen in Glacier and Yellowstone, it was just another mountainside waterfall. From the falls overlook, we could also see a small practice area where the Exum Guides give rock climbing classes. Several people were walking up friction pitches but nothing too technical.
Returning to the lake trail, we headed toward the outlet from String Lake into Jenny Lake. This lead across a large area of recently (1999) burned forest that was starting to regenerate. It was quite a contrast from the wooded walk we had earlier been through. The trees were mostly gone except for widely spaced dead ones. There didn't seem to be much new tree growth in this area, like we had seen in Yellowstone, but almost entirely grown over in shrubs—lots of thimbleberry and some huckleberries, but they were also in the forest. Near the outlet stream, we saw an osprey nest at the top of a tall dead tree trunk. It had at least one young osprey in it awaiting fresh fish. That was all we could see. The parents were obviously out hunting. As one flew by heading from one lake to the other, the chick called out but was ignored.
After walking up the outlet stream to the bridge crossing, we started back down the other side of Jenny Lake, stopping for lunch where the stream entered the lake. The walk back was much more level than the walk out, and with Ellen leading, we covered it quickly, slowed down only by the repetitive mounds of horse dung, as this trail was also used as a horse trail. Fortunately, the horse trail veered off about halfway back.
After passing the Jenny Lake campground, which was nice, but we have better views at Signal Mountain, we packed our stuff back into Speedy and returned to the campground, and finally catch up on three days of the Speedy Journal and the photos Ellen has taken.
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