Today was our supposedly long hike, up Cascade Canyon from Jenny Lake. This is one of the more popular routes into the backcountry and for access to the climbs of the Tetons. Being Labor Day, it seemed doubly so.
The easy part is taking the boat across Jenny lake to the trailhead for Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Since we had already walked out to that point on our Jenny Lake Loop hike last week, we figured that we could skip that part and just take the boat. Most people only take the boat and hike up to Hidden Falls. Some smaller number continue up to Inspiration Point. Many fewer continue into Cascade Canyon. We were part of the many fewer, thank goodness. At first it seemed like we were back in Yellowstone at Old Faithful with the crowds.
We were leaving this hike for last as it has 1100 ft of ascent to 7820 ft at the top the canyon. We shouldn't have worried, the steepest part of the entire hike is the very first section, up to Inspiration Point. It is a 450 ft climb in less than a half mile of trail. The other four miles is pretty much a gentle slope up the canyon roughly following Cascade Creek. We had already done much of the walk up to Inspiration Point on our loop hike, so we knew what to expect.
Inspiration Point is supposed to give an expansive view east across the lake and the Snake River valley and the Gros Ventre Range beyond and then west to Grand Teton and the other mountains of the Cathedral Group of the Tetons. Today, it was not to be. Five days ago, we had a great view, today there was nothing but haze. The smoke from the wildfires in the east had blown in and settled overnight into the valley and much of the valley and the eastern ranges were totally obscured. Even the close-up view of the Tetons was hazy.
We continued up the trail, with the crowd disappearing. Even so, there were more people on the trail than we expected. But I suppose we should have expected it, since we knew it was a popular backcountry access point. Most of the hikers we met going up were people returning for backpacking trips in the backcountry. There were at least a dozen groups coming down as we were going up. The backcountry campgrounds must have been full last night.
After about a half mile through the woods, the trail opened up into the canyon, with granite walls on both sides. We walked through several talus slopes, with the mountains rising right from the top of the talus. The trail alternated between open canyon along the talus slopes to mature forest as it meandered down to the banks of the creek and then away from it, but you could always hear it. We could see waterfalls coming off the snowfields on the far side of the canyon and streaming into the creek.
The creek itself was alternately a cascade of rapids and wide slow-moving shallows. It was ideal Moose habitat, although we didn't see any.
Our original plan was to hike to the canyon junction, where the North and South Forks of Cascade Creek join. The trail also splits there. The canyon is quite deep there and the trail looks over it from high above. That was the plan. Just before you get to the junction, the trail goes through a rather boggy feeling woods. It also seems to spawn flies. By the time we got to the junction, there were swarms of flies everywhere—not a pleasant picnic spot. We beat a hasty retreat back down the trail stopping at a gravel bar on the creek, probably a half mile down. We could see where Moose had stripped the willows along the shore, but nobody was around, just an occasional hoof print.
After lunch, we continued down, stopping at each talus slope to see if we could see any Pika. It is a small alpine rodent that looks like a cross between a guinea pig and a rabbit. Outside Magazine rated them North America's cutest mammal. They live only at altitude in the cracks and crevices of talus slopes where the temperature doesn't exceed the 70's and there is heavy snowpack in the winter. Needless to say, their habitat is shrinking.
Passing several slopes, we could occasionally hear them squeak, but not see them. As we were about to give up, one popped up right next to Ellen by the trail, but disappeared in the rocks before I could see it. Shortly after that, another came out, running down to the grass near the creek, cutting a bunch off and carrying it back into its den. Pika are hay farmers. They cut grasses and pile them up under overhangs to dry. They collect about 60 pounds each to store away as winter food. They don't hibernate, but live in dens insulated by the snowpack, munching away on their stored silage. Yes, they are cute.
We finished by taking an alternate trail back to the boat dock. It went through the forest and seemed steeper than the one coming up, but it was a bit shorter. The total hike was about 9.5 miles, not much different from our previous hike around the lake. After catching the boat back to Speedy, we returned to Signal Mountain and collapsed. Too tired to make dinner, we slowly strolled over to the Trapper Grill at the Signal Mountain Lodge, next to the campground, to have dinner and our fourth piece of their excellent blackberry pie.
Tomorrow, we start the trek east, starting by going back up to Yellowstone, east to Cody, WY and, hopefully, to a National Forest campground somewhere beyond there.
No comments:
Post a Comment