Close Enough to Solitude.
Before I begin, I should mention that I left out one of the coolest parts of driving around Yellowstone yesterday. We got stuck in a bison traffic jam. But, onto the Grand Tetons.
Kyle has been obsessing over the Grand Tetons for the last month or so. In particular, he wanted to do a 16 mile hike to Lake Solitude. When he called the ranger station last week, they told him the pass was still too snow covered to get to the lake, and the lake was still frozen over.
Our amended plan became getting as close to Lake Solitude as possible, which took us past Inspiration Point and thru the Cascades Canyon trail. We packed peanut butter sandwiches, granola, and craisins, while I carried about 3 gallons of water on my back.
After not being able to get on a trailhead at a reasonable hour last evening, we wanted to get an early start today. Which, of course, we did not. After our breakfast of coffee, grilled sausage and cheese sandwiches, and fruit, we drove to Lake Jenny to take the ferry across. We saw an incredibly large waterfall at the base of the mountain, and then began the 0.7mi climb up to Inspiration Point.
The climb up was rocky, steep, and crowded. As the path bent around the mountain, it provided some nice, steep views of the trees below. The Point gave a nice view of the Lake and surrounding terrain, but the coolest part of the area was the mountains behind us.
At this point, we tried to hike a way off the beaten path to find the huge waterfall at a higher elevation. This caused Tim and Kyle to run directly into a moose. After returning to the beaten path, we set out along Cascades Canyon.
The trail runs directly thru the valley between mountains in the Grand Tetons. The river ran thru here as well, as the path followed the rapids. All of the melting snow off the surrounding mountains was waterfall-ing off into the river, which was quite a sight to see. We walked thru a few forestry areas, which smelled distinctly of Christmas, which is amusing considering that it was 70 degrees and June.
We completed the mostly uphill 3.9mi hike up to the Cascade Forks Junction in about 90 minutes. The view here gave us a second great waterfall view. From here we continued north, hoping to run into enough snow to stop us from continuing. While we did run into a lot of snow, it could have been passable had we not been hungry and 5 miles from the Lake. We broke for lunch on top of a few rocks in a field of snow, with the Grand Teton mountain range surrounding us.
On our way back, Kyle and I decided it would be a great idea to jump into the glacier runoff at a slow moving point. Never felt so cold, but so refreshed. The way back was also mostly downhill, so Tim and Kyle took their time to climb some rock formations along the sides of the trail.
We got down to the lake and ferry just before 5pm. The final count on our hike was 10 miles over approx. 6.5 hours, with a bunch of stops for photos, etc. Pretty good pace.
We drove the half hour to a hostel in Jackson Hole from there, where we got our first showers since Tuesday night, as well as laundry. Grabbed a pizza and some drinks at the Mangy Moose next door, before driving into Jackson to meet up with Raj's friend Ellie. Saw her place and went to Snake River Brewery, but made it a pretty tame night. We also noticed that Jackson is a very pun heavy town. "Bon Appe Thai", "Shear Dimensions", "Thai Me Up", "Wendy's"
We're at the one week mark today, unofficially. Internal discussions were had about our route and how it's timed, and it looks like we're going to have to cut out our day in the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. RIP. Today we make the long haul from Jackson, WY to Bryce Canyon, UT, via Salt Lake City.
Kyle has been obsessing over the Grand Tetons for the last month or so. In particular, he wanted to do a 16 mile hike to Lake Solitude. When he called the ranger station last week, they told him the pass was still too snow covered to get to the lake, and the lake was still frozen over.
Our amended plan became getting as close to Lake Solitude as possible, which took us past Inspiration Point and thru the Cascades Canyon trail. We packed peanut butter sandwiches, granola, and craisins, while I carried about 3 gallons of water on my back.
After not being able to get on a trailhead at a reasonable hour last evening, we wanted to get an early start today. Which, of course, we did not. After our breakfast of coffee, grilled sausage and cheese sandwiches, and fruit, we drove to Lake Jenny to take the ferry across. We saw an incredibly large waterfall at the base of the mountain, and then began the 0.7mi climb up to Inspiration Point.
The climb up was rocky, steep, and crowded. As the path bent around the mountain, it provided some nice, steep views of the trees below. The Point gave a nice view of the Lake and surrounding terrain, but the coolest part of the area was the mountains behind us.
At this point, we tried to hike a way off the beaten path to find the huge waterfall at a higher elevation. This caused Tim and Kyle to run directly into a moose. After returning to the beaten path, we set out along Cascades Canyon.
The trail runs directly thru the valley between mountains in the Grand Tetons. The river ran thru here as well, as the path followed the rapids. All of the melting snow off the surrounding mountains was waterfall-ing off into the river, which was quite a sight to see. We walked thru a few forestry areas, which smelled distinctly of Christmas, which is amusing considering that it was 70 degrees and June.
We completed the mostly uphill 3.9mi hike up to the Cascade Forks Junction in about 90 minutes. The view here gave us a second great waterfall view. From here we continued north, hoping to run into enough snow to stop us from continuing. While we did run into a lot of snow, it could have been passable had we not been hungry and 5 miles from the Lake. We broke for lunch on top of a few rocks in a field of snow, with the Grand Teton mountain range surrounding us.
On our way back, Kyle and I decided it would be a great idea to jump into the glacier runoff at a slow moving point. Never felt so cold, but so refreshed. The way back was also mostly downhill, so Tim and Kyle took their time to climb some rock formations along the sides of the trail.
We got down to the lake and ferry just before 5pm. The final count on our hike was 10 miles over approx. 6.5 hours, with a bunch of stops for photos, etc. Pretty good pace.
We drove the half hour to a hostel in Jackson Hole from there, where we got our first showers since Tuesday night, as well as laundry. Grabbed a pizza and some drinks at the Mangy Moose next door, before driving into Jackson to meet up with Raj's friend Ellie. Saw her place and went to Snake River Brewery, but made it a pretty tame night. We also noticed that Jackson is a very pun heavy town. "Bon Appe Thai", "Shear Dimensions", "Thai Me Up", "Wendy's"
We're at the one week mark today, unofficially. Internal discussions were had about our route and how it's timed, and it looks like we're going to have to cut out our day in the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. RIP. Today we make the long haul from Jackson, WY to Bryce Canyon, UT, via Salt Lake City.
Trying to figure out what my immediate reaction would be upon learning Tim and Kyle got mauled by a moose.
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