It has been getting quite cool at night, and last night was no exception. Jenny lake is at an elevation of about 7000 to 8000 ft, and the Teton peaks range between 12,000 to 13,000 ft with some of the mountains having glaciers. Jenny Lake campground is a very popular tent only campground, and although the facilities are quite limited it is a very difficult campground to reserve. We tried days after days with no luck securing a campsite 6 months prior, but I had happened to check a week later and there was a cancellation that we were able to book. The reason for the popularity (which we realized after arriving) is that a lot of the popular hikes originates from Jenny Lake, and trying to find a parking spot in the morning unless you are already camping here is very difficult. We could see hundreds of cars already parked at the full parking lot and cars, trucks, campervans, and RVs parked in various places on the road where they could and where they were allowed.
It was nice not to have to pack up our tent as we were going to be staying 3 nights. Even more so it was nice able to not to have to drive anywhere and we just hiked over to the visitor centre and the start of our hike. We asked at the visitor centre what they recommended with our kids and they suggested we hike on one side of Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and Inspiration point which was about a 6 mile (~10km) return hike. You could also take a boat across the river essentially directly to Hidden Falls but we decided that was sort of “cheating”.
Toby had been wanting to go for a “real hike” for the longest time on the trip so it was nice finally be able to take them out on a hike vs spending time driving. It wasn’t long until we overlooked “Moose pond” and there was one male moose and a female moose with a calf. We’ve figured out on the trip wherever there is a group of people standing around or cars all pulled off to the side of the road that there is a wild animal there to observe.
We continued on our hike, until we reached Hidden Falls. The hike there was quite crowded and once we recached the point of the ferry dock it became even more so. It definitely took away from the experience but it is peak season after all in a very popular spot.
We back tracked a bit to have lunch on a giant rock Mia had climbed up previously that was away from the crowds. While having lunch we came across an animal that appeared part hamster, part mouse. We learned later it is an Alpine animal named Pika, assuming the basis for Pikachu!
After lunch we had a bit of a climb to “Inspiration Point”, which gave a nice view of Jenny Lake and the sagebrush beyond to the mountain range we had gone over to arrive to Great Teton National Park. It was very sunny and quite hot, and we took shade under the tree. The chipmunks here were very habituated to humans and were crawling all over people looking for food. We decide to continue on the loop of Jenny Lake in the hopes of seeing fewer people and to get back to our site. Soon we found ourselves in full sun as there was a forest fire back in 1999 that had wiped out most of the forest on this side of Jenny Lake. We then got warning from the people going the other way that there was a bear up ahead on the side of the hill. We were extra cautious making noise along the way, but never ended up coming across the bear. We eventually made it to Jenny Lodge where we filled up with much needed water. We checked how much it would be to stay at the nice lodge and it was $1000 US a night for a last minute booking (but it did include breakfast and dinner at their fancy restaurant). Everyone was tired and we decided it was too far for the kids to hike back to the campground from here so Katherine run back to get the van from the campground and I stayed with the kids by the river going from String lake to Jenny Lake. Toby and Mia came across a frog, while Ryo read the Great Teton’s visitors guide. The river was quite warm and since we hadn’t showered the day before as we decided the showers at the campground were way too expensive, so we all hopped in the river and went for a swim which felt great. After all the crowds during the hike we were in our own little private spot with beautiful scenery.
Katherine eventually got back (it was 3 miles but it ended up taking much longer than expected). She had just made the cut off at the campground store to pick up firewood and ice for the cooler (we have a plug in cooler and a rechargeable battery but have pretty much run out with no power for a few days) and we then drove back to our camp site. We had dinner when we got back to site and then walked over to the visitor centre for the Ranger talk at 7pm. The kids learned about safety with wild animals. We met a touring cyclist there who was staying at the hiker biker site and learned that he was cycling from Seattle to New York. It was great chatting to him. The kids had been asking for a campfire but we learned a storm was imminently on its way and we quickly had to head into the tent for the night. It was incredible to hear the wind pick up through the trees. Thankfully being in a sheltered spot with trees we didn’t have to worry about the tent like we did in the Badlands. We then fell asleep to the sound of the rain hitting our tent.
Trip Around The World 
Leave a comment